Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 6/6/09
Cast: Tour. Julie Benko as Ilse
Type: Audio
I didn't hate Kyle or Blake as much as usual. Christy, I still only liked in TGO. Julie was very animated as Ilse. A lot of energy and personality into her speaking parts. It's not quite how I like it, but it wasn't nearly as bad as Steffi. And her singing was really pretty and totally compensated for her slightly off action.
Showing posts with label Blake Bashoff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blake Bashoff. Show all posts
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Day 71-1/29/10
Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 3/14/09
Cast: Christy Altomare, Matt Doyle, Blake Bashoff, Andy Mientus, Ben Moss, Anthony Lee Medina, Kimiko Glenn, Gabby Garza, Matt Shingledecker, Steffi D, Sarah Hunt
Type: Audio
Matt ♥
Christy
Kimiko
Gabby
ShiShi
Anthony
Ben
Andy
Steffi
Blake
-I swear that it sounded like Christy said "MelCHior" are the end of I Believe
-Matt sounds so pretttty
-Christy's speaking is so weak and is just annoying to listen to.
-Kimiko's voice, especially speaking, is so high pitched and a little bit squeely. It hurts
-Gabby sounds so bitchy in some of the scenes.
-Shishi's Touch Me is such a disappointment
-Anthony's decent.
-Ben's voice makes me want to die, Andy just falls flat.
-Steffi sounds just stupid when she talks
Date: 3/14/09
Cast: Christy Altomare, Matt Doyle, Blake Bashoff, Andy Mientus, Ben Moss, Anthony Lee Medina, Kimiko Glenn, Gabby Garza, Matt Shingledecker, Steffi D, Sarah Hunt
Type: Audio
Matt ♥
Christy
Kimiko
Gabby
ShiShi
Anthony
Ben
Andy
Steffi
Blake
-I swear that it sounded like Christy said "MelCHior" are the end of I Believe
-Matt sounds so pretttty
-Christy's speaking is so weak and is just annoying to listen to.
-Kimiko's voice, especially speaking, is so high pitched and a little bit squeely. It hurts
-Gabby sounds so bitchy in some of the scenes.
-Shishi's Touch Me is such a disappointment
-Anthony's decent.
-Ben's voice makes me want to die, Andy just falls flat.
-Steffi sounds just stupid when she talks
Friday, January 15, 2010
Day 57-1/15/10
Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 5/18/08
Cast: Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, Blake Bashoff, Blake Daniel, Matt Doyle, Brian Charles Johnson, Skylar Astin, Remy Zaken, Phoebe Strole, Lilli Cooper, Emma Hunton
Type: Audio
So, I'll forgive Lea for sounding so irritatingly polished. If I were to be nice, I'd just say that she's probably the strongest singer. But she's not right for the role. When she speaks, there's not believable way that she's a 14 year old girl. It reminds me of Lost in Yonkers, the grandmother takes care of Bella even though she's all grown up. That's a little more extreme, but the principle of the matter. I've been finding Christine terribly annoying in the stork scene. MWBMR was quite powerful, Lea's strength in her voice is quite a help here. I think all the other girls have been stronger than others in the same role, maybe not including Emma and especially Lilli. I really enjoy Groff's singing. He always looks like a sweet guy, but his voice is powerful with still effortlessness. I love how in ATK you feel his passion. This was a brilliant show overall, despite Blake. Touch Me was wonderful to listen to. So was My Junk, Matt was fantastic in it. The audience for this show was also fantastic. Constant cheering and excitement is actually great to listen to, although the screaming makes some bits hard to hear. There wasn't just enthusiasm for Groff and Lea, but for everyone. Matt got tons of Cheers in My Junk and Totally Fucked. And Word of Your Body Reprise was wonderful. Groff was great and Lea wasn't terrible, and they have pretty good dialogue with each other. And Whispering was also quite good. Totally Fucked got so much applause, there was a second track made for just the applause.
Lea's speech was wonderful and truly made me tear up.
Date: 5/18/08
Cast: Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, Blake Bashoff, Blake Daniel, Matt Doyle, Brian Charles Johnson, Skylar Astin, Remy Zaken, Phoebe Strole, Lilli Cooper, Emma Hunton
Type: Audio
So, I'll forgive Lea for sounding so irritatingly polished. If I were to be nice, I'd just say that she's probably the strongest singer. But she's not right for the role. When she speaks, there's not believable way that she's a 14 year old girl. It reminds me of Lost in Yonkers, the grandmother takes care of Bella even though she's all grown up. That's a little more extreme, but the principle of the matter. I've been finding Christine terribly annoying in the stork scene. MWBMR was quite powerful, Lea's strength in her voice is quite a help here. I think all the other girls have been stronger than others in the same role, maybe not including Emma and especially Lilli. I really enjoy Groff's singing. He always looks like a sweet guy, but his voice is powerful with still effortlessness. I love how in ATK you feel his passion. This was a brilliant show overall, despite Blake. Touch Me was wonderful to listen to. So was My Junk, Matt was fantastic in it. The audience for this show was also fantastic. Constant cheering and excitement is actually great to listen to, although the screaming makes some bits hard to hear. There wasn't just enthusiasm for Groff and Lea, but for everyone. Matt got tons of Cheers in My Junk and Totally Fucked. And Word of Your Body Reprise was wonderful. Groff was great and Lea wasn't terrible, and they have pretty good dialogue with each other. And Whispering was also quite good. Totally Fucked got so much applause, there was a second track made for just the applause.
Lea's speech was wonderful and truly made me tear up.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Day 46-1/4/10
Show: Spring Awakening
Cast: Christy Altomare, Perry Sherman, Blake Bashoff, Steffi D, Andy Mientus, Ben Moss, Matt Shingledecker, Anthony Lee Medina, Sarah Hunt, Krystina Alabado, Gabby Garza.
Christy: My favorite song was TGO, everything else was typical and therefore I wasn't in love with her. Hated her in MWBMR.
Sarah: I hate that in the radical scene, her voice quivers. I also hate that she says goes high when she says "dark" in "there's a part I can't tell about the dark I know well" in DIKW.
Perry: Very good! Love his singing and his acting his great. He had an unfortunate crack in MBN. he was awesome and then it happened.
Krystina: Quite good. I just think she tried to speak as if she were younger by making her voice higher. It just didn't sound natural
Ben: I hate how annoyingly high his voice is
Andy: Sounds like a girl a lot.
Anthony: Fine. Hardly noticed
Matt: Same as Anthony, but was quite weak in TOUCH ME.
Blake: Disklike as usual.
Steffi: Same as Blake
A problem I have with this cast is sometimes their voices just don't mesh. Mama Who Bore Me Reprise doesn't quite harmonize as it should and even when they speak it sounds like they're all saying their own lines, there's not enough playing off of each other. I noticed this in the scene where Martha confesses her secret. Thea says "My uncle Klaus says..." Martha responds "That must be" but the way Krystina and Sarah said the lines, they sounded disconnected. The Guilty Ones was one of my favorites today, Perry and Christy sounded really good together. Also in Word of Your Body Reprise, this must have been recorded onstage because it picks up really pretty harmonies from someone (I think it might be Krystina, but I'm not 100% sure) and it picks up harmonies every now and then in My Junk.
Cast: Christy Altomare, Perry Sherman, Blake Bashoff, Steffi D, Andy Mientus, Ben Moss, Matt Shingledecker, Anthony Lee Medina, Sarah Hunt, Krystina Alabado, Gabby Garza.
Christy: My favorite song was TGO, everything else was typical and therefore I wasn't in love with her. Hated her in MWBMR.
Sarah: I hate that in the radical scene, her voice quivers. I also hate that she says goes high when she says "dark" in "there's a part I can't tell about the dark I know well" in DIKW.
Perry: Very good! Love his singing and his acting his great. He had an unfortunate crack in MBN. he was awesome and then it happened.
Krystina: Quite good. I just think she tried to speak as if she were younger by making her voice higher. It just didn't sound natural
Ben: I hate how annoyingly high his voice is
Andy: Sounds like a girl a lot.
Anthony: Fine. Hardly noticed
Matt: Same as Anthony, but was quite weak in TOUCH ME.
Blake: Disklike as usual.
Steffi: Same as Blake
A problem I have with this cast is sometimes their voices just don't mesh. Mama Who Bore Me Reprise doesn't quite harmonize as it should and even when they speak it sounds like they're all saying their own lines, there's not enough playing off of each other. I noticed this in the scene where Martha confesses her secret. Thea says "My uncle Klaus says..." Martha responds "That must be" but the way Krystina and Sarah said the lines, they sounded disconnected. The Guilty Ones was one of my favorites today, Perry and Christy sounded really good together. Also in Word of Your Body Reprise, this must have been recorded onstage because it picks up really pretty harmonies from someone (I think it might be Krystina, but I'm not 100% sure) and it picks up harmonies every now and then in My Junk.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Day 25-12/14/09
Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 5/30/09
Type: Audio
Cast: Krystina as Ilse.
To be honest, I kind of tuned a lot of this out. So I’ll just touch on some stuff starting with the usual.
-Christy was fine, so was Sarah
-Gabby and Kimiko both were weak as usual, but Kimiko was slightly better.
-Blake wasn’t good as usual.
-Andy and Ben didn’t live up to the hype, as usual.
-Matt Shingledecker will never be good until he actually riffs in Touch Me.
-Anthony Lee Medina was pretty good.
-As usual. Did not like Kyle
Specific Stuff
-Krystina kicked ass in DIKW. So refreshing in comparison to how weak Steffi usually is.
-Kyle was really weak in MBN, he cracked a little bit near the end.
-Christy sounded beautiful beginning TGO, Kyle was decent.
-Blake’s DDS is clearly a personal preference or something. It’s not like he’s not singing strong and he’s not cracking or anything, I just can’t stand the way he sings. Or speaks, I guess.
-Definitely liked Krystina’s Ilse in the woods. She has this sort of adventurous attitude, and excited by all her crazy times. Her “How about you…” was so bright and cheerful.
-And my gosh, her Blue Wind was so strong. The very first line was just gorgeous. It was really perfect in every part.
-But Blake brought Krystina down so much in the duet, he overpowered her and wasn’t as good as she was.
-I think I tuned out the suicide.
-Left Behind was decent, not much more.
-Song of Purple Summer: Um, I think we need Krystina full time Ilse. That was absolutely gorgeous.
Date: 5/30/09
Type: Audio
Cast: Krystina as Ilse.
To be honest, I kind of tuned a lot of this out. So I’ll just touch on some stuff starting with the usual.
-Christy was fine, so was Sarah
-Gabby and Kimiko both were weak as usual, but Kimiko was slightly better.
-Blake wasn’t good as usual.
-Andy and Ben didn’t live up to the hype, as usual.
-Matt Shingledecker will never be good until he actually riffs in Touch Me.
-Anthony Lee Medina was pretty good.
-As usual. Did not like Kyle
Specific Stuff
-Krystina kicked ass in DIKW. So refreshing in comparison to how weak Steffi usually is.
-Kyle was really weak in MBN, he cracked a little bit near the end.
-Christy sounded beautiful beginning TGO, Kyle was decent.
-Blake’s DDS is clearly a personal preference or something. It’s not like he’s not singing strong and he’s not cracking or anything, I just can’t stand the way he sings. Or speaks, I guess.
-Definitely liked Krystina’s Ilse in the woods. She has this sort of adventurous attitude, and excited by all her crazy times. Her “How about you…” was so bright and cheerful.
-And my gosh, her Blue Wind was so strong. The very first line was just gorgeous. It was really perfect in every part.
-But Blake brought Krystina down so much in the duet, he overpowered her and wasn’t as good as she was.
-I think I tuned out the suicide.
-Left Behind was decent, not much more.
-Song of Purple Summer: Um, I think we need Krystina full time Ilse. That was absolutely gorgeous.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Day 13-12/2/09
Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 4/16/08
Type: Audio
Cast: Jonathan Groff (Melchior), Lea Michele (Wendla), Blake Bashoff (Moritz), Emma Hunton (Ilse), Skylar Astin (Georg), Lilli Cooper (Martha), Jonathan B. Wright (Hanschen), Gerard Canonico (u/s Ernst), Brian Charles Johnson (Otto), Phoebe Strole (Anna), Remy Zaken (Thea), Kate Burton (Adult Women), Glenn Fleshler (Adult Men)
It's clear no notes in Mama Who Bore Me are difficult for Lea, but she doesn't sound young at all. There's this professional tone that comes through, and here I can SERIOUSLY hear it and it really bothers me.
For some reason my list says this is Kate, but it's totally Christine. The stork scene was...same old. I've kind of gotten tired of this scene, it's not really all that funny to me.
Mama Who Bore Me sounds fierce. Those wonderful harmonies, I can hear a little of Lea and Lilli especially.
Groff is great, especially in All That's Known. I'm not a fan of Blake's Moritz and I really dislike it with Groff, he and Gallagher had such chemistry.
I like that Gerard's Ernst isn't as high pitched as some of the others. One kind of funny thing was Skylar sort of fumbling with Grossebustenhaulter which made it all the funnier.
The girls scene and My Junk are really cute, but I can't stand Lea in them. Lea's line in My Junk is totally not believably a teenage girl. While the rest are so wonderfully convincing. Anna and Thea are definitely the most familiar characters, and I love the way Remy and Phoebe portray them. Remy gives Thea this spunk, it really shows when she says "we've all got our junk" she kind of says junk like ju-unk which gives a lot of personality. And Phoebe plays Anna as so sweet and very daydreamy. If you remember my criticism of Gabby's Anna being snobby and as if Wendla wasn't cool for not coming to the wedding, the way Phoebe says "orchids and chrysanthemums" is it's her dream wedding or something. And her voice is just gorgeous in her My Junk lines, and like I said the "spend the day wondering what you do..." emphasizes her girly daydream quality. Lilli also plays her part wonderfully, I find the way that she plays along with the rest while having her own desires is really nice. I really like that she likes Moritz based on more than just his looks.
I'll always find the Georg/Hanschen part of My Junk funny, but it's so much funnier when you're actually seeing it.
The journal scene is always very different depending on Melchiors. I like how Groff's take sort of scoffs at the world how it is. It works well with how he's so old (that sounded weirder than intended) and the way he talks to Moritz is like his protege, there's definitely that mentor/mentee admiration.
Touch Me started off great with Groff, then was immediately brought down with Blake. I have to admit, I didn't really even realize it was Gerard as Ernst because I've never found Ernst's solo as amazing as other people's. Brian was great, although whenever I hear or see him I kind of imagine Max!Otto. Skylar was also really good, but what I loved was that you could slightly hear the girls with their harmonies and it was absolutely gorgeous.
The Melchior/Wendla conversation was fine, Word of Your Body was lovely on Groff's part but Lea's voice was irritating me.
The Passed scene was also fine, but it kind of sounded like Blake said "actually heaven must feel like this"
I really love the way Anna and Thea tease each other, it's really cute and believable. Also Lilli does an excellent job confessing her secret, the girls react much better here than they did in the tour recording.
Dark I Know Well was great, Emma and Lilli sounded wonderful together.
The journal scene I find really powerful. Because of the relationship Melchior has with Moritz here, you can understand Melchior's anger at what happened. He's really having this world that he dislikes hurt him, which understandably angers him.
With Groff and Lea both being way too old for the roles, the conversation between the two almost isn't so bad. But wow, when Groff test-swings the stick, you seriously can hear it slicing the air. Reminds me of when I used to whip my violin bow. The beating itself was very disturbing, very loud and lots of yelling. Some odd grunting on Groff's part. Lea's crying was really loud, I'm not sure how I felt about it.
Blake's part of And There Were None is super hard to hear because of the instruments overpowering him. Probably for the better.
I found the harmonies much more interesting in Mirror-Blue Night and I Believe than what was actually happening.
I Believe definitely has beautiful harmonies, especially the girls. I was pretty sure I could hear Eryn a little.
The Guilty Ones was a little hard to hear, as was Don't Do Sadness I think because of the proximity to the band. I'm not a huge fan of Emma's acting, I think she makes Ilse seem a little weird, but her voice is just gorgeous.
Left Behind was awesome, Groff really sings with this sadness in his voice and the harmonies you could hear were beautiful.
Totally Fucked was fucking awesome, Groff always says the opening line with a wonderful punch it's great.
As I said before, I really enjoyed Gerard's Ernst because he doesn't have a very high pitched voice like the actual Ernsts often do. The dialogue before Word of Your Body Reprise was kind of hard to hear.
Gerard sounded great in WOYBR. I'm just going to say this: I don't like how JBW sounds in it. It sounds like he's saying "gawna." I find it so irritating. But this may be my favorite WOYBR that doesn't have Matt in it. Not because of Gerard, and definitely not because of JBW but because of Phoebe! The information for this audio says that you can hear her, but it's not just that you can hear her but she sounds absolutely gorgeous! Seriously, breathtaking. Love that girl.
I'm not a fan of Whispering, I partly think it's kind of a boring song. And also-especially here-Wendla's acting more than she's singing. I mean you can sort of tell that Lea's trying to cry and act upset and it doesn't sound as good as it could perhaps.
Although Groff is good at seeming distraught, his "no"s sounded a little bit constipated.
Those You've Known was decent, Song of Purple Summer was so beautiful. You can hear several people separately. I know I heard Phoebe, Eryn and BCJ. Maybe others as well.
That was fun, see you tomorrow with Addams Family!
Date: 4/16/08
Type: Audio
Cast: Jonathan Groff (Melchior), Lea Michele (Wendla), Blake Bashoff (Moritz), Emma Hunton (Ilse), Skylar Astin (Georg), Lilli Cooper (Martha), Jonathan B. Wright (Hanschen), Gerard Canonico (u/s Ernst), Brian Charles Johnson (Otto), Phoebe Strole (Anna), Remy Zaken (Thea), Kate Burton (Adult Women), Glenn Fleshler (Adult Men)
It's clear no notes in Mama Who Bore Me are difficult for Lea, but she doesn't sound young at all. There's this professional tone that comes through, and here I can SERIOUSLY hear it and it really bothers me.
For some reason my list says this is Kate, but it's totally Christine. The stork scene was...same old. I've kind of gotten tired of this scene, it's not really all that funny to me.
Mama Who Bore Me sounds fierce. Those wonderful harmonies, I can hear a little of Lea and Lilli especially.
Groff is great, especially in All That's Known. I'm not a fan of Blake's Moritz and I really dislike it with Groff, he and Gallagher had such chemistry.
I like that Gerard's Ernst isn't as high pitched as some of the others. One kind of funny thing was Skylar sort of fumbling with Grossebustenhaulter which made it all the funnier.
The girls scene and My Junk are really cute, but I can't stand Lea in them. Lea's line in My Junk is totally not believably a teenage girl. While the rest are so wonderfully convincing. Anna and Thea are definitely the most familiar characters, and I love the way Remy and Phoebe portray them. Remy gives Thea this spunk, it really shows when she says "we've all got our junk" she kind of says junk like ju-unk which gives a lot of personality. And Phoebe plays Anna as so sweet and very daydreamy. If you remember my criticism of Gabby's Anna being snobby and as if Wendla wasn't cool for not coming to the wedding, the way Phoebe says "orchids and chrysanthemums" is it's her dream wedding or something. And her voice is just gorgeous in her My Junk lines, and like I said the "spend the day wondering what you do..." emphasizes her girly daydream quality. Lilli also plays her part wonderfully, I find the way that she plays along with the rest while having her own desires is really nice. I really like that she likes Moritz based on more than just his looks.
I'll always find the Georg/Hanschen part of My Junk funny, but it's so much funnier when you're actually seeing it.
The journal scene is always very different depending on Melchiors. I like how Groff's take sort of scoffs at the world how it is. It works well with how he's so old (that sounded weirder than intended) and the way he talks to Moritz is like his protege, there's definitely that mentor/mentee admiration.
Touch Me started off great with Groff, then was immediately brought down with Blake. I have to admit, I didn't really even realize it was Gerard as Ernst because I've never found Ernst's solo as amazing as other people's. Brian was great, although whenever I hear or see him I kind of imagine Max!Otto. Skylar was also really good, but what I loved was that you could slightly hear the girls with their harmonies and it was absolutely gorgeous.
The Melchior/Wendla conversation was fine, Word of Your Body was lovely on Groff's part but Lea's voice was irritating me.
The Passed scene was also fine, but it kind of sounded like Blake said "actually heaven must feel like this"
I really love the way Anna and Thea tease each other, it's really cute and believable. Also Lilli does an excellent job confessing her secret, the girls react much better here than they did in the tour recording.
Dark I Know Well was great, Emma and Lilli sounded wonderful together.
The journal scene I find really powerful. Because of the relationship Melchior has with Moritz here, you can understand Melchior's anger at what happened. He's really having this world that he dislikes hurt him, which understandably angers him.
With Groff and Lea both being way too old for the roles, the conversation between the two almost isn't so bad. But wow, when Groff test-swings the stick, you seriously can hear it slicing the air. Reminds me of when I used to whip my violin bow. The beating itself was very disturbing, very loud and lots of yelling. Some odd grunting on Groff's part. Lea's crying was really loud, I'm not sure how I felt about it.
Blake's part of And There Were None is super hard to hear because of the instruments overpowering him. Probably for the better.
I found the harmonies much more interesting in Mirror-Blue Night and I Believe than what was actually happening.
I Believe definitely has beautiful harmonies, especially the girls. I was pretty sure I could hear Eryn a little.
The Guilty Ones was a little hard to hear, as was Don't Do Sadness I think because of the proximity to the band. I'm not a huge fan of Emma's acting, I think she makes Ilse seem a little weird, but her voice is just gorgeous.
Left Behind was awesome, Groff really sings with this sadness in his voice and the harmonies you could hear were beautiful.
Totally Fucked was fucking awesome, Groff always says the opening line with a wonderful punch it's great.
As I said before, I really enjoyed Gerard's Ernst because he doesn't have a very high pitched voice like the actual Ernsts often do. The dialogue before Word of Your Body Reprise was kind of hard to hear.
Gerard sounded great in WOYBR. I'm just going to say this: I don't like how JBW sounds in it. It sounds like he's saying "gawna." I find it so irritating. But this may be my favorite WOYBR that doesn't have Matt in it. Not because of Gerard, and definitely not because of JBW but because of Phoebe! The information for this audio says that you can hear her, but it's not just that you can hear her but she sounds absolutely gorgeous! Seriously, breathtaking. Love that girl.
I'm not a fan of Whispering, I partly think it's kind of a boring song. And also-especially here-Wendla's acting more than she's singing. I mean you can sort of tell that Lea's trying to cry and act upset and it doesn't sound as good as it could perhaps.
Although Groff is good at seeming distraught, his "no"s sounded a little bit constipated.
Those You've Known was decent, Song of Purple Summer was so beautiful. You can hear several people separately. I know I heard Phoebe, Eryn and BCJ. Maybe others as well.
That was fun, see you tomorrow with Addams Family!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Day 4-11/23/09
Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 7/26/09
Type: Audio
Cast: Jake Epstein (Melchior), Christy Altomare (Wendla), Blake Bashoff (Moritz), Steffi D (Ilse), Ben Moss (Ernst), Andy Mientus (Hanschen), Claire Sparks (t/r Thea), Krista Pioppi (u/s Martha), Gabby Garza (Anna), Matt Shingledecker (Georg), Anthony Lee Medina (Otto), Henry Stram (Adult Men), Angela Reed (Adult Women), Lucas Wells (Chair of Rock), Perry Sherman (Chair of Rock), Julie Benko (Chair of Rock), Krystina Alabado (Chair of Rock)
This is actually a performance that I saw, so I still sort of remember what it looked like as well as knowing what it sounded like. You might think this is useless because I wrote a very detailed review 4 months ago. But I don't think I was entirely honest.
First thing I assumed when I pressed play, was that it sounded like a stage recording. I have no idea if I'm right. But it kind of sounded like Christy was next to the recorder and when she was moving and putting her dress on you could hear her voice getting further away. Definitely interesting. I thought her voice started pretty nice, as there have been times that I've really hated her voice. I just wish she had been powerful in the end like Lea was. The scene with the mom was cute, I could hear Angela groaning a few times after Christy said something which was interesting. I do feel like Angela may get like Christine Estabrook did and start seeming stale and overacting. This was early for Jake with the tour, but I'm ambivalent about him. His voice is fine and so is his acting, but sometimes it just sounds like lines. I really have a hard time standing Blake. I just don't like his voice when he's acting or singing. I found Anthony's Touch Me solo to be fine, but not a favorite for me. A lot of people don't like Matt Shingledecker in Touch Me, and I agree. He has a good voice, I mean he is hitting those notes nicely. But it's mostly the fact that he doesn't riff that people don't like. I don't understand why Wendla always seems to overpower Melchior in the Word of Your Body. Christy sounds really nice, but I could hardly hear Jake at all. I definitely liked Krista as Martha. When she's telling her secret her voice is softer and more scared than Sarah's which is louder and harsher. Also I loved her voice in Dark I Know Well, I don't actually like Sarah in this song usually but I really loved Krista's pitch. The only problem was that when Martha and Ilse sing together I can mostly only hear Steffi.
I really didn't like the beating scene. I never do, but I feel like Jake didn't help at all.
The failed scene/And Then There Were None were just okay for me, like I said. I don't like Blake. Mirror Blue Night and I Believe were both fiiine. I didn't like how Jake talked during I Believe, his "don't be scared." seemed like a harsh command and his "what?" made it seem like he just wanted her to shut up and let him do his thing.
In my mind Claire's Thea was so much better than Kimiko's. Her Thea seemed truly like a young girl with a crush as did Krista's Martha in My Junk. Gabby as Anna is really painful, even just listening. The way she says her lines isn't like the sweet friend that Anna is set as, but instead a snobby girl. The way she's talking about "decorating the entire sanctuary in orchids and chrysanthemums" and "i hope your mama approves of the man I marry" makes it seem like Wendla's uncool for not being able to go to the wedding like all the others. And her singing in My Junk is just not so good either.
I think Steffi sings Blue Wind quite beautifully, but her acting with Moritz is just not good. She plays Ilse in a way that seems crazy.
Left Behind sounds fine, but a little too high for Jake. As odd as it may sound, I found Totally Fucked a little "meh." Definitely could use more spark or something.
I find both Andy and Ben to be very overrated. I don't like either of their singing voices and I don't think there's anything spectacular about their acting.
Christy's Whispering was pretty, but I think her part in Those You've Known is even better. It's a pity that she was doing it with Blake and Jake because they brought her down. If I could have a time machine and go back to Toronto and get Blake to call out and have Lucas go on, I think that could have sounded quite excellent.
Steffi started out her Purple Summer solo beautifully, then she got a little weaker, and at the end of her part she strengthened up and sounded pretty again.
Song of Purple Summer sounded truly wonderful, the harmonies are gorgeous.
See you tomorrow!
Date: 7/26/09
Type: Audio
Cast: Jake Epstein (Melchior), Christy Altomare (Wendla), Blake Bashoff (Moritz), Steffi D (Ilse), Ben Moss (Ernst), Andy Mientus (Hanschen), Claire Sparks (t/r Thea), Krista Pioppi (u/s Martha), Gabby Garza (Anna), Matt Shingledecker (Georg), Anthony Lee Medina (Otto), Henry Stram (Adult Men), Angela Reed (Adult Women), Lucas Wells (Chair of Rock), Perry Sherman (Chair of Rock), Julie Benko (Chair of Rock), Krystina Alabado (Chair of Rock)
This is actually a performance that I saw, so I still sort of remember what it looked like as well as knowing what it sounded like. You might think this is useless because I wrote a very detailed review 4 months ago. But I don't think I was entirely honest.
First thing I assumed when I pressed play, was that it sounded like a stage recording. I have no idea if I'm right. But it kind of sounded like Christy was next to the recorder and when she was moving and putting her dress on you could hear her voice getting further away. Definitely interesting. I thought her voice started pretty nice, as there have been times that I've really hated her voice. I just wish she had been powerful in the end like Lea was. The scene with the mom was cute, I could hear Angela groaning a few times after Christy said something which was interesting. I do feel like Angela may get like Christine Estabrook did and start seeming stale and overacting. This was early for Jake with the tour, but I'm ambivalent about him. His voice is fine and so is his acting, but sometimes it just sounds like lines. I really have a hard time standing Blake. I just don't like his voice when he's acting or singing. I found Anthony's Touch Me solo to be fine, but not a favorite for me. A lot of people don't like Matt Shingledecker in Touch Me, and I agree. He has a good voice, I mean he is hitting those notes nicely. But it's mostly the fact that he doesn't riff that people don't like. I don't understand why Wendla always seems to overpower Melchior in the Word of Your Body. Christy sounds really nice, but I could hardly hear Jake at all. I definitely liked Krista as Martha. When she's telling her secret her voice is softer and more scared than Sarah's which is louder and harsher. Also I loved her voice in Dark I Know Well, I don't actually like Sarah in this song usually but I really loved Krista's pitch. The only problem was that when Martha and Ilse sing together I can mostly only hear Steffi.
I really didn't like the beating scene. I never do, but I feel like Jake didn't help at all.
The failed scene/And Then There Were None were just okay for me, like I said. I don't like Blake. Mirror Blue Night and I Believe were both fiiine. I didn't like how Jake talked during I Believe, his "don't be scared." seemed like a harsh command and his "what?" made it seem like he just wanted her to shut up and let him do his thing.
In my mind Claire's Thea was so much better than Kimiko's. Her Thea seemed truly like a young girl with a crush as did Krista's Martha in My Junk. Gabby as Anna is really painful, even just listening. The way she says her lines isn't like the sweet friend that Anna is set as, but instead a snobby girl. The way she's talking about "decorating the entire sanctuary in orchids and chrysanthemums" and "i hope your mama approves of the man I marry" makes it seem like Wendla's uncool for not being able to go to the wedding like all the others. And her singing in My Junk is just not so good either.
I think Steffi sings Blue Wind quite beautifully, but her acting with Moritz is just not good. She plays Ilse in a way that seems crazy.
Left Behind sounds fine, but a little too high for Jake. As odd as it may sound, I found Totally Fucked a little "meh." Definitely could use more spark or something.
I find both Andy and Ben to be very overrated. I don't like either of their singing voices and I don't think there's anything spectacular about their acting.
Christy's Whispering was pretty, but I think her part in Those You've Known is even better. It's a pity that she was doing it with Blake and Jake because they brought her down. If I could have a time machine and go back to Toronto and get Blake to call out and have Lucas go on, I think that could have sounded quite excellent.
Steffi started out her Purple Summer solo beautifully, then she got a little weaker, and at the end of her part she strengthened up and sounded pretty again.
Song of Purple Summer sounded truly wonderful, the harmonies are gorgeous.
See you tomorrow!