Monday, May 21, 2012

Music Review-----NEWSIES - Original Broadway Cast Recording

Call me cranky, call me a curmudgeon, call me a flake....call me what you will, but I don't find either the movie NEWSIES or the Broadway Musical NEWSIES all that incredibly entertaining.  The movie is downright dull, but let's focus on the new Hit Broadway Musical.  Although I found the Cast outstanding and energetic, and I thought the choreography was probably the best of this current season, I found the show itself rather lifeless and boring.  I just don't find the plot very compelling.  Newsboys strike...ok, so what?  What the movie had going for it were some great songs by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman.  And that is also what the Broadway Show and especially the Broadway Cast Recording have going for it also.  The songs are pure Broadway and a few are even showstoppers in the theatre!  The Cast Recording is actually more interesting than the show itself.  Menken has written some additional songs that are perfectly fine, but the songs from the film are expanded, reorchestrated, and sung by a Cast of Broadway's finest young singers and dancers.  CARRYING THE BANNER is about as flashy and exciting as any Opening Number currently on the Great White Way and KING OF NEW YORK is an absolute stunner both on the recording and on stage!  Most of the new material is fill-in, but there is a beautiful love duet called SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN that stands out.  Jeremy Jordan is as impressive on CD as in the actual theatre and proves himself to be a Leading Man to be reckoned with.  He is Tony nominated for his performance in NEWSIES.  There are few things more exciting to listen to than a male chorus belting their hearts out and the Boys in NEWSIES certainly deliver!  It's a great Cast Recording and makes more of an impression than the actual experience of watching the Show.  Disney has a huge hit on their hands with NEWSIES and the CD will continue that success as little girls all over the country beg their parents to book a trip to NYC after hearing it!

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