The Beautiful Game (Original 2000 London Cast) [Cast Recording]

Ben Elton, Beautiful Game, Lee Michaels, Andrew Lloyd Webber | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 13, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Musicrama/Koch
• ASIN: B000056WUZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #488,563 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. Beautiful Game - The Company

3. Clean The Kit - John, Thomas, Mary, Cronies

4. Don't Like You - Mary, John

5. God's Own Country - Mary, Protestant Girl

6. God's Own Country - (Protestant March) - The Company

7. Let Us Love In Peace - Christine, Del

8. The Final (A Game Of Two Halves) - The Company

9. Off To The Party - The Team and Father O'Donnell

10. The Craic - The Company

11. Don't Like You (reprise) - Bernadette, Ginger

12. Our Kind Of Love - Christine

13. Let Us Love In Peace (reprise) - Bernadette, Mary, Christine, Father O'Donnell and Company

14. The Happiest Day - John, Mary and Father O'Donnell

15. To Have And To Hold - John, Mary and Company

16. The First Time - Mary, John

17. I'd Rather Die On My Feet Than Live On My Knees - Thomas

18. God's Own Country (reprise) - Mary, Christine, Del

19. The Selection - John and the Team

20. Dead Zone - John and Internment Camp Inmates

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A vibrant and moving piece of theatre, February 7, 2001

By 

Clare (La-La Land) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful Game (Original 2000 London Cast) (Audio CD)

I was lucky enough to be see the original cast of this show in London, and after the show, knew I had to have the album so I could constantly play the gorgeous score to myself over and over, and relive the wonderful experience! Unfortunately, the CD pales a bit in comparison to the live production; most CDs do so, but I found that this one especially does. That is the main reason why I didn't give this five stars. Josie Walker gave a tremendous, heartbreaking performance onstage, and while she still shines on the CD, it doesn't do her justice. Another person's review mentioned that the vigor of the opening title song is for the most part lost, and this is also true. But the lovely, engaging melodies are not lost, and the passionate performances by the entire cast (but especially Josie Walker) make this CD worth it. Ben Elton's lyrics are simple, sometimes a little irritating (mainly in "Don't Like You"), but I found them to be very powerful and starkly poetic much of the time. In summation: if you love Andrew Lloyd-Webber, this is a CD you should not be without. If you don't like ALW, buy it anyway, because I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OLC Recording Falls Short, February 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Beautiful Game (Original 2000 London Cast) (Audio CD)

"The Beautiful Game" is Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest contribution to London's West End Theater community and the community of Really Useful Group theaters. The show takes place in Belfast between 1969 and 1972 during the time of the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. The story centers on the friendships and budding love relationships of a high school aged team of Irish football players and how these relationships become effected by the violent conflict surrounding them. The CD contains all of the songs and their reprises as well as a libretto that contains the lyrics. The libretto lacks any scene synopses, which might aid the listener in their appreciation of the score and understanding of the story line.

On the whole, this CD does not capture the raw power and driving vocal energy of the original London cast. The opening number "The Beautiful Game" is about as close to an Irish drinking song as you can get and still be musical theater. In the London production, the cast sang with a zealous, hearty lust on the verge of shouting. They were staged on the lip of the proscenium. Their feet pounded the stage floor where the music dictated (cast members actually jumping and stomping the floor with both feet). There was an "in-your-face" energy that teen-agers have on the day of the big homecoming game. Their sound was HUGE. Although the lead rock guitar and drums sound strong and crisp on this cut, the ensemble members sound distant and muted, as if they are located in the back of the room. The vocal strength of the cast is nearly lost by this overpowering imbalance. Hannah Waddingham, an incredibly talented singer with a powerful voice who sings the show's featured love anthem, "Our Kind of Love", becomes drowned out twice by the orchestra at the song's climax. Josie Walker (also a wonderful singer who gives a very strong performance as the female lead, Mary) reprises this song in the Finale but again the recording becomes orchestra-heavy as she holds her final note just before the modulation into the ending of the song. Although the listener WILL recognize their talents, neither cut does justice to the powerfully strong singing these women actually produced in performance.

The score to The Beautiful Game has some very nice melodies, but lacks variety. Almost every song could be the national anthem of someone's homeland. Even the love ballad "Our Kind of Love" sounds as if it could be played (sans lyrics, of course) while standing on the medallists' pedestals of the Olympic Games. The only variations are the very melodically repetitious "Don't Like You", "Let Us Love In Peace" and "All The Love I Have" which comes as the second to last number in the show. The latter has a lovely romantic melody, which I would like to have heard as a stronger melodic theme throughout the score.

Ben Elton's lyrics are humorous in places and serve well to develop the characters in Act I. By Act II however, they become preachy and overly dramatic Lyrics like, "You're in the death zone. Satan sits on his throne. Even the strongest are frightened" made me think more of Uncle Scar and the hyenas rather than the very real violence of the Northern Irish conflict. The wedding song, "To Have And To Hold" has a feel of having been written specifically to be pulled from the score and used at the matrimonials of musical theater enthusiasts for years to come. The ensemble vocals in this number sound as if they were recorded by the Robert Shaw Chorale and seem out of place with the youthful energy found in the rest of the recording.

Although there are some fantastic new talents on this recording (Josie Walker, Michael Schaeffer and Hannah Waddingham in particular), this is an OC recording I definitely would have passed on had I not wanted a momento of having seen the production.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of ALW's very best, January 20, 2001

By 

J M Church (Highland Hts,, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful Game (Original 2000 London Cast) (Audio CD)

I saw this show while in London recently and was blown away by the story, the cast and the music. The musical is about the fortunes of the players in a teenage soccer team in Belfast in 1969, the start of "the troubles". It shows how some embrace the strife, some run away, some try to remain aloof; but all are affected. The songs, sung in an attractive Irish brogue, convey the passion and raw emotion of the characters. There are more sweet love songs than in any other Webber musical, yet they are needed as there is much in the show that is ugly and sad. Buy the CD. See the show.It is an experience not to be missed.