Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 8/27/07
Cast: Jonathan Groff (Melchior), Lea Michele (Wendla), John Gallagher, Jr. (Moritz), Skylar Astin (Georg), Lilli Cooper (Martha), Blake Daniel (Ernst), Brian Charles Johnson (Otto), Christine Estabrook (Adult Women), Lauren Pritchard (Ilse), Phoebe Strole (Anna), Stephen Spinella (Adult Men), Jonathan B. Wright (Hanschen), Jennifer Damiano (u/s Thea)
Type: Audio
Pretty decent show. Groff sounded wonderful. Lea was decent. John sounded maybe a little too spazy. Skylar was excellent in Touch Me. Lilli was excellent in Dark I Know Well. Lauren was great in Blue Wind but I realized her acting isn't exactly great. JBW was not strong to me, I know some people say he's great but I'm not impressed. Phoebe may be one of the few Anna's who make me really like the character. Blake was great but sounded a little nervous. And Jenn was a decent Thea. She had some spunk to her.
Standout songs were Bitch of Living, Touch Me, My Junk, Totally Fucked, and Song of Purple Summer
Showing posts with label Brian Charles Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brian Charles Johnson. Show all posts
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Day 31-12/20/09
Show: Spring Awakening
Date: 12/18/06
Cast: OBC, Robi as Ernst
Type: Audio :(
My gosh, somehow even though this was 8 days after the beginning it seems as close to perfect as a live performance could be. I'd say the gorgeous quality makes it seem even better. Lea surprisingly did not irritate the living crap out of me. She still sounded overly polished and precocious but I didn't cringe as much as I did last time. And wow, Johnny sounded so much younger and so wonderfully awkward. I imagine him as a kid who's been help back and is just pathetic, but sweet and sad. I realized that I haven't heard Lauren in pretty much forever. Because when I first heard her in Mama Reprise I realized I'd been missing a lot. She tears that song apart. When she comes into Dark I Know Well it adds this haunting that it requires. It seems effortless, like she's really just singing thoughts. Her Blue Wind has a haunting sadness and her dialogue with Moritz almost seems sad with a hope and some sentimental amusement. Her Song of Purple Summer was also beautiful, but the whole ensemble was really what made it good. Groff was good as Melchior. I can't say I buy it, but he sings wonderfully and you can tell he gives the character all he can. Some people weren't bred for a role, but he does pretty well. Phoebe and Remy were both very cute, and man they sound so young! Lilli was good, nothing sticks out that I remember. No one sounds like Gideon's Ernst, but I did quite like Robi's he has a regular/lowish pitched voice but he tunes into this innocence for Ernst which works great. JBW wasn't too bad although I'm still not a big fan. Touch Me pretty much just killed. Brian and Skylar both sounded amazing and just everyone together with all this perfection was soooo WOW. Same goes for Totally Fucked
Date: 12/18/06
Cast: OBC, Robi as Ernst
Type: Audio :(
My gosh, somehow even though this was 8 days after the beginning it seems as close to perfect as a live performance could be. I'd say the gorgeous quality makes it seem even better. Lea surprisingly did not irritate the living crap out of me. She still sounded overly polished and precocious but I didn't cringe as much as I did last time. And wow, Johnny sounded so much younger and so wonderfully awkward. I imagine him as a kid who's been help back and is just pathetic, but sweet and sad. I realized that I haven't heard Lauren in pretty much forever. Because when I first heard her in Mama Reprise I realized I'd been missing a lot. She tears that song apart. When she comes into Dark I Know Well it adds this haunting that it requires. It seems effortless, like she's really just singing thoughts. Her Blue Wind has a haunting sadness and her dialogue with Moritz almost seems sad with a hope and some sentimental amusement. Her Song of Purple Summer was also beautiful, but the whole ensemble was really what made it good. Groff was good as Melchior. I can't say I buy it, but he sings wonderfully and you can tell he gives the character all he can. Some people weren't bred for a role, but he does pretty well. Phoebe and Remy were both very cute, and man they sound so young! Lilli was good, nothing sticks out that I remember. No one sounds like Gideon's Ernst, but I did quite like Robi's he has a regular/lowish pitched voice but he tunes into this innocence for Ernst which works great. JBW wasn't too bad although I'm still not a big fan. Touch Me pretty much just killed. Brian and Skylar both sounded amazing and just everyone together with all this perfection was soooo WOW. Same goes for Totally Fucked
Friday, November 27, 2009
Day 14-12/3/09
Show: American Idiot
Date: 9/10/09
Type: Audio
Cast: John Gallagher, Jr., Michael Esper, Matt Caplan, Mary Faber, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Tony Vincent, Christina Sajous, Declan Bennett, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Miguel Cervantes, Joshua Henry, Brian Charles Johnson, Chase Peacock, Theo Stockman, Ben Thompson, Alysha Umphress, Morgan Weed, Libby Winters, Lorin Latarro, Omar Lopez-Cepero.
I said I was going to be listening to the Addams Family, but I couldn't really hear anything all that well on the one I had, so I'm listening to this instead.
I really like the music. In 5th grade I was a huge Green Day fan. All the time, every day. I even listened to the longer songs (which were around 9 minutes) while running so that I could get my mile time down. I never did. My mile time is 12 minutes.
Annnyyyway, I think John's voice is perfect for the music. Everyone sounds really strong. It all really sounded like kind of a rock concert, very fun.
Oh, but one question:
What the hell was going on?
Date: 9/10/09
Type: Audio
Cast: John Gallagher, Jr., Michael Esper, Matt Caplan, Mary Faber, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Tony Vincent, Christina Sajous, Declan Bennett, Andrew Call, Gerard Canonico, Miguel Cervantes, Joshua Henry, Brian Charles Johnson, Chase Peacock, Theo Stockman, Ben Thompson, Alysha Umphress, Morgan Weed, Libby Winters, Lorin Latarro, Omar Lopez-Cepero.
I said I was going to be listening to the Addams Family, but I couldn't really hear anything all that well on the one I had, so I'm listening to this instead.
I really like the music. In 5th grade I was a huge Green Day fan. All the time, every day. I even listened to the longer songs (which were around 9 minutes) while running so that I could get my mile time down. I never did. My mile time is 12 minutes.
Annnyyyway, I think John's voice is perfect for the music. Everyone sounds really strong. It all really sounded like kind of a rock concert, very fun.
Oh, but one question:
What the hell was going on?
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!