CASTALBUMS.ORG: REVIEW: Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert – Original Soundtrack of the NBC Television Event

Originally Published on CastAlbums.org.

Jesus Christ Superstar TV SoundtrackFew scores have been recorded as many times in as many different interpretations as Jesus Christ Superstar. Perhaps owing to its origins first as a concept album, then as a concert tour, and then as a world-wide stage musical phenomenon (with each country’s production independently envisioned by its own production team) and film (created simultaneously with and distinct from the stage version), this score has never had a standard mold into which subsequent renditions must fit. Further, the recent NBC “television event” is at least the fifth English-language video production of the material, so there was no pressure to preserve a “definitive” rendition. Continue reading

CastAlbums.org: REVIEW: If/Then

Originally published on CastAlbums.org.

Recording Cover

If you enjoy original cast albums in the Goddard Lieberson mold, which is to say, those that reconfigure the songs to be enjoyed without needing to follow the story from which they’re drawn, then you’re well-primed to appreciate If/Then, the new Idina Menzel vehicle by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. The show follows two different life stories of the same urban planner, Elizabeth, exploring how one inconsequential choice might set off two entirely different life paths. These two parallel lives are portrayed in alternating (and occasionally overlapping) scenes on stage, with different color schemes, nicknames (“Liz” and “Beth”) and the hardest working pair of eyeglasses this side of Clark Kent cueing the audience which timeline they are seeing.  Continue reading