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Snow Patrol released a compilation album a few months back called “Up to Now”. Apparently it is not their “Greatest Hits” compilation, but more a compilation of songs over their past albums that documents their style and growth for the past 15 years, since apparently they’re going to switch styles and try for some new sounds in their next album, so they’re releasing this as a milestone. 3 new tracks on the CD, 1 of them is a cover, below:

Any one recognize who did the original version of this song? I definitely know the song when I heard it, but couldn’t pinpoint who did the original and where I heard it from since it was somewhat different. Search for the name online if you can’t figure it out… which is what I did eventually 🙂

Guess I’ll do some musical reviews too after reading the Rent review sadd3j and teewee made. I’m definitely piling up on the number of Playbill programs I have =), but this will be another way of keeping track of what I’ve saw. Oh and I decided to be a season subscriber to one of the musical theaters here too ;).

I went to see a touring, revival production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific last night. Rodgers and Hammerstein are definitely the classical Broadway masters – the “Andrew Lloyd Webber of the ’50s”, to help paint the picture. Rodgers is the composer and Hammerstein is the lyricist, and they collaborated on a whole bunch of musicals including Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, Carousel, The King and I and of course, South Pacific. Random trivia bit: Richard Rodgers is one of 2 people in the world that has an EGOT + Pulitzer prize =P.
Anyhow… South Pacific is a very classical broadway show I would say. The music is very complete but classically styled – a lot of reprises of themes, which makes it very well rounded. Amazing baritone lead with his French accent and the soprano lead is fairly decent. There’s a surprising amount of French dialogue in the show – one of those instances that I’m glad I got a Canadian education, where at least I could understand enough of what they’re saying to catch the gist of what’s happening. Otherwise, the story was very flat – nothing dramatic like Rent or Wicked (granted it is a little unfair to compare to my 5 star musical selections), and people just fall in love at first sight – not a lot of character development. There’s also a very unexpected theme of racial prejudice that shows up in the second act regarding interracial marriage. My initial thoughts were since South Pacific is an older musical from the ’50s, maybe segregation is still a big issue back then and hence the characters made a big deal out of interracial marriage – but on further thought, that seems to be something we (especially as Asians) still struggle with nowadays.
The musical is just shy of 3 hours long with intermission, which is quite lengthy, especially when the plot isn’t moving. 3 stars for me.

This week’s pick is definitely something I’ve been looping a lot in my playlist lately. One Republic’s “All the Right Moves” – has a “Phantom-esque” theme to it – I think I’ve watched this video like 10x already!

One Republic is not an unheard of band anymore (thanks to “Apologize”) and this track comes out of their sophomore album (do I speak like an American now?) released last Nov (2009). I gotta say – One Republic is on my top 3 favorite bands (you can guess what the other 2 are) and primarily because of Ryan Tedder (their front man), who is probably my favorite artist. He’s definitely a talented performer (can sing and plays multiple instruments, piano being one of them), but I think I like him most because of his songwriting and producing background – he writes One Republic’s songs, but moreover he pens a number of chart toppers for MANY other artists (Beyonce, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis, to name a few). He definitely has an identifiable style in his arrangements, which I probably appreciate the most. For example – listen to the arrangement for “All the Right Moves” above – the instrumental at 2:40, then the piano/vocal solo at 2:53, then the double snare to drums/vocal at 3:06, then the cutout “Yeah, we’re going down” at 3:18… ah so creative!

Ryan Tedder’s bio is very inspiring as well – a story of tenacity. He was an intern at Dreamworks singing demo tracks, and was soon offered a publishing deal, but he wanted to be an artist (more than just background producing work). So at age 21, he entered some MTV hosted singer-songwriter competition ran by Lance Bass (N’Sync), and he ended up winning the competition. As a winner, he’s supposed to get a contract with a recording label, but this did not materialize as Lance Bass’ company folded soon after the competition – Setback #1. After that, he continued to work behind the scenes doing production work for other artists, apparently working with Timbaland from 2002 to 2004.

2002, he formed One Republic with his high school buddy, and at that point he had the choice of being a producer, or going to be an artist. “I was offered two publishing deals within two months of being in Nashville…I could have just written songs and lived a carefree life, but I knew that I had to be an artist. I wanted to form a rock band and create my own sound.” And then Setback #2: “The band had previously been signed to Columbia Records, and their album was due to be released in 2006, but this did not occur. Tedder explained, “Crap happened. People got fired. Labels merged and politics abounded”.[24] Subsequently, the band was released from their deal with Columbia, and they were signed by Timbaland in the summer of 2006 becoming the first rock band to be signed to Mosley Music Group.”

Hehe too bad he isn’t an outspoken Christian (not sure if he is one), or else another ++! But he was brought up by an extended family of missionaries and pastors, so maybe, who knows!

I suppose I will follow sadd3j’s format for writing this review. As I recall, the last time I went to Canon/Pantages theatre was to see Wicked, and while the production wasn’t great that night, the theatre was quite comfy and it was still all-round good times. Unlike Wicked, the seats this time were much better, granted we bought them the first day tickets went on sale, so seat selection and dates were not a problem–Sarah and I sat dead centre, front row balcony (AA), so it was a near-perfect view. And as a side bonus, because my glasses prescription is quite up to date, I was able to see things relatively sharp.

The production itself was fairly similar to the original recordings. There wasn’t much deviation on the instrumental side of things (ie: I think it was the second time when we saw it, I’ll Cover You (reprise), the keyboardist put in a few more chords in the chromatic minor opening, this keyboardist didn’t put any extra embellishments. I did pay more attention to the guitarist and bassist this time and noticed they actually changed their guitars midway through songs, which made me wonder what about the songs required changing the whole instrument and not just changing sound patches. Songs like Without You, was particularly excellent because the bass sounded extra smooth and mellow yet the notes were distinct and clear. It made me want to come home and try it out (I’m sure I’ll be disappointed at my own attempts and give up shortly). On the vocalists side of things, the only things I noticed on several occasions was when Roger screamed in (What You Own and Another Day), he would come in at a higher note which almost felt like he was offkey, but then he’d bring it down to the correct register. Not sure if this was a mistake or intentional because I can’t say it was a positive. Overall, no hiccups, no technical issues (re: Mimi’s wireless mic breaking up during the second time we saw it).

For the cast review, I thought of writing all my thoughts down before reviewing what sadd3j had said to see if our findings would be similar or not, but I just lazied out and ended up glancing over the review quickly. I can say my findings are more or less similar.

Mark – Seriously amazing, it was like listening to the original broadway recording (OBR), really couldn’t have asked for more from him. During Seasons of Love, the way he claps and such is very much like from Live from Broadway at the end when they bring out the original cast. I thought that was a nice touch, to see his little mannerisms that make him Mark. its actually him!
Roger – Was he also the original? Either he isn’t and thus explains why it didn’t sound like OBR or it was technical. I think that because of the octive he sings in, being in the same range as the instruments, I found it was hard to hear his voice when the instruments came in hard (Another Day “who do you think you are.. barging in on me and my guitar-those parts were hard to hear as his voice was overpowered by instruments). I kept telling myself that I just need to adjust to him, but I think even by What You Own, it still didn’t feel fully settled.
Collins – He was the same as Live on Broadway, which at first (when I saw Live on Broadway), I thought was not as good as OBR, but I think his voice does grow on you and it was overall very good, he was able to do justice to I’ll Cover You (reprise)
Angel – excellent, no qualms about him
Joanne – Initial impressions was that she wouldn’t live up to OBR, but I think overall not bad, I’d put her on par with Collins and Angel
Mimi – Aside from Mark, Mimi would be my second vote to best voice. The timber of her voice is different from OBR because its not as raspy (maybe that’s what Sam meant by sweeter) but it was still very distinct. She was clear and never overpowered by instruments
Maureen – Again agreed about the piercing-ness, in fact if I didn’t read his review, I’d say the problem with her channel was having too much high end and not enough body to support. This was particularly evident in Take Me or Leave Me, Maureen’s parts weren’t very tolerable because it sounded more like high pitched screams.
Benny – suffice to say that he is no Taye Diggs
Other cast members – the male soloist for Seasons of Love was weak. Voice lacked that presence and command that the song demanded. By comparison, the female soloist was much better than him.

I think one of my goals was to take Sarah to see RENT live at least once to change her negative perception of it and I think this production has now made her to a RENT lover convert.

May as well write down the experience. It’s easy enough to say that it’s the best version I’ve seen.. which in hindsight, isn’t that hard. The first sitting we were too unprepared to really judge it, the second sitting had mr. happyfeet conductor.

The Canon/Pantages theatre has always been one of my favorite theatres, maybe because it feels historic and it’s been around a while. The foyer remains quite grand, although I remember it being even more so when Phantom was there, probably due to the richness of the show itself and being myself being younger and wider-eyed. It does require good seats though, as the cheaper seats are waayyy back there and the stage gets lost under the balcony.

The sound mix was quite excellent, the volume shocks you a bit at the beginning but it calms down as I think Rent is the loudest song. The band was tight and the conductor was great on the timing (my only gripe would be La Vie Bohemme got a little slow in the middle and that seemed to kill a bit of its tumbling-over-itself momentum that it usually has) but it picked up and ended fairly strong. The set (while basic anyway) was pretty impressive and I thought it would be dumbed down more, but it’s the same, except maybe the Christmas tree is a little less 3D than it was at the Nederlander.

Onto (most) of the cast!

Mark – was amazing, it was like listening to the soundtrack.
Roger – not sure if it was his levels? His voice seemed to lack some body (compared to the soundtrack and movie version anyway).. I was a little disappointed, but you can’t help but cheer when they sing Rent and What You Own.
Collins – was fantastic! Same guy as from the “filmed Live on Broadway” version, he was better live.
Angel – also from the “Live on Broadway” version, was great.
Joanne – at first thought it was an understudy, but reading the insert into the programme I think is an actual replacement. Very good as well, great voice.
Mimi – Great voice, fits the role well. Sam said that her voice was “sweeter” sounding than the original Mimi, but overall I thought she was good.
Maureen – easily the weakest, I definitely think she could have been cast better. Her voice was kinda piercing/bordering on annoying and was missing some of that Idina-Menzel-Maureen-machoness? It’s also kinda silly, but she’s too short heh.
Benny – was forgettable, nothing spectacular but was good enough not to stand out as bad.

Anyway, will be interesting to see what jkha thinks after tonight. I’m really glad to have seen this cast and definitely think it was worth it.