Urinetown (2001 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
List Price: Our Price: $6.90 You Save: $3.09 (31%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.91 (click here) Category: Music CD See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store CD DetailsEdition: Music CDFormat: Cast Recording CD Release Date: 2001-08-07 Music Label: RCA Victor Broadway Soundtracks:
Music reviews of Urinetown (2001 Original Off-Broadway Cast)Music Review: Ingenious but often smug and ideologically confused
If there was ever a show which one might admire and yet on some level actively dislike, "Urinetown" might be the one. Admittedly, the score is tuneful and catchy, and the melodies are sometimes surprisingly beautiful (when they aren't overly Kurt Weill-esque). The orchestra--sounding like a combo of maybe five--does wonders with the score. "Look At the Sky" and "Run Freedom Run" are stirring, "Don't Be the Bunny" and "Snuff that Girl" are as musically irresistable as they are lyrically biting, and the cast performs with vigor. (Special props to Hunter Foster, who's just sensational.) Yet ultimately the show is so relentlessly snarky and pleased with itself that it begins to paint itself into corners, and then resort to philosophies that are downright bewildering. When things get really black in Act II and Officer Lockstock and Little Sally patronizingly try to answer the rhetorical question "What kind of a musical is this?", one is tempted to yell at the stereo: "Clearly, one written by people who've never seen 'Sweeney Todd' 'Phantom of the Opera' 'Les Miserables' 'Follies' 'Cabaret' 'West Side Story' 'Into the Woods' or even 'Carousel,' which bumped off its hero in Act I!" "Urinetown" thinks it's daring and "edgy"--which is why people who claim to hate musicals often love it--but its plotting is ridiculous, and at the end the bookwriters basically throw up their hands and resort to a sort of chipper nihilism. They then berate the audience and the listener for daring to enjoy themselves, like some sort of grim Soviet-era brainwashing; however, the entire plot of the show revolves around freedom for individuals and rebellion against the powerful--which then results in environmental apocalypse. Do the writers of this show seriously believe that a fascist intersection of government and business that suppresses humanity is the only thing PREVENTING enviromental meltdown? (The show never seriously addresses reducing overpopulation; that would detract from its ability to chastise the audience at the end of the show.) "Urinetown" ultimately is about nothing but its own cleverness, like the brainiest kid in the classroom who's "too cool" to be emotionally engaged or make a difference; its only real goal is to make a listener or audience member go, "Wow! I'm such a bourgeois loser for thinking I can make a difference politically in the world, and liking 'Hairspray!'" If you want real cynicism and pitch-black comedy, go with Kander and Ebb's "Cabaret" or "Chicago"; if you want sucker-punch tragedy, go with Sondheim's "Follies" or "Sweeny Todd."
|
||
|
Music Genres Bestsellers in Broadway & Vocalists CDs George Shearing, Mel Torme - Elegant EveningSHEARING,G/TORME,M; Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD Best price: $7.11 Price in other shops: Stan Getz - Spring Is HereRelease date: 1993-01-11; Music CD Price in other shops: Rosemary Clooney - Girl SingerRelease date: 1999-04-01; Music CD Best price: $8.97 Price in other shops: The Blenders - NogRelease date: 1998-10-20; Music CD Best price: $9.73 Price in other shops: Brave Combo, Tiny Tim - GirlTIM,TINY/BRAVE COMB; Release date: 1996-03-19; Music CD Best price: $10.36 Price in other shops: Belleville a Cappella Choir - Southern Journey, Vol. 11: Honor The Lamb - The Belleville A Cappella ChoirRelease date: 1998-02-10; Music CD Best price: $83.93 Diane Schuur - Love SongsRelease date: 1993-05-11; Music CD Best price: $4.00 Price in other shops: Nat King Cole - Love Is the Thing [Vinyl]Release date: 1996-11-19; Music CD Best price: $169.99 Linda Ronstadt - Linda Ronstadt: Greatest HitsRelease date: 1998-01-13; Music CD Price in other shops: Buddy Rich, Sammy Davis Jr - Sounds of 66Release date: 1996-09-17; Music CD Price in other shops: |
Similar CDs Follies (New Broadway Cast Recording)Release date: 2011-11-29; Music CD Best price: $12.02 Price in other shops: Sunday in the Park with George (1984 Original Broadway Cast)Release date: 2007-03-20; Music CD Best price: $6.95 Price in other shops: Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Original Broadway Cast)THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE; Release date: 2002-06-11; Music CD Best price: $8.88 Price in other shops: Little Women The Musical (2005 Original Broadway Cast)Release date: 2005-05-03; Music CD Best price: $12.10 Price in other shops: The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Original Broadway Cast)Release date: 2006-06-06; Music CD Best price: $13.03 Price in other shops: The Producers (2001 Original Broadway Cast)Release date: 2001-04-17; Music CD Best price: $2.39 Price in other shops: The Book of Mormon (Original Broadway Cast Recording)Release date: 2011-06-07; Music CD Best price: $10.05 Price in other shops: Urinetown: Vocal SelectionsHL USA; Hal Leonard Corporation; Published: 2004-11-01; Paperback; Book Best price: $13.49 Price in other shops: Avenue Q (2003 Original Broadway Cast)Release date: 2003-10-07; Music CD Best price: $9.18 Price in other shops: by Mark Hollmann, Greg Kotis Faber & Faber; Published: 2003-02-19; Paperback; Book Best price: $7.85 Price in other shops: |