Customer Reviews

High Fidelity (2006 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After listening to this CD you are going to ask youself how did this play not have an extended run on Broadway. The score is a jewel in the tradition of "RENT." I can't get a number of the melodies out of my head. This score has it all! Excellent and fun lyrics and catchy tunes. I just can't understand critics. If a musical isn't completely unique it gets trashed. I read some of the reviews and could not believe what I read. Good Songs, Good Acting, Good Chemestry, Good Creative team, etc, etc, etc. So what was wrong? Well, the answer, is nothing! So if you want to listen to a wonderful musical score and scratch your head on why the producers turned chicken and dumped a wonderful play you must purchase this CD.

This is a wonderfully done recording of a show that was definately a flop. The music is entertaining, the lyrics particularly good. While the piece doesn't hold together as something that was worth 125.00 a ticket on Broadway, it certainly is fun listening. The music is pop rock, in the vein of The Wedding Singer (a much superior entertainment as a show). While I didn't like the show live, I enjoy the recording and have listened to it more than once. It is worth having in your Broadway collection, and it will surely be a show that is done across the country in community and college theatre, where new works are sorely in need (whether or not they are any good).

I saw this show in previews and was fairly impressed, but after listening to this album a few times, I realize what a fantastic gem of a musical this really was. The music soars and the lyrics are the smartest and funniest I've heard in years. It helps if you relate to the material, which is directed at underachieving 30 somethings. Right now, I'm particularly fond of "Ready to Settle". A rare bonus is that all of the tracks are great.

Though this show was very badly misdirected on Broadway, it has fared much better in later productions, including a rave-review, sold-out run with New Line Theatre in St. Louis in 2008. The score is not only outstanding theatre music but also very smart, very authentic evocations of the rock artists that "Rob" loves -- The Who, Pat Benatar, Lyle Lovett, Talking Heads, Ben Folds, Springsteen (one St. Louis review called the song "Goodbye and Good Luck" "the best Springsteen song Springsteen never wrote"), and lots more. Kitt and Green know and love pop music and treat it with great respect and great humor. And the book is one of the smartest, funniest, leanest, and most honest scripts a major musical has had in quite some time. Don't let the wrong-headed original New York production fool you -- this is one of the best musicals written in the last decade.

The book is great. The movie is great. The musical, with a clip here, more
oomph there, clip a few places...should be great.

My friends and I just don't know why this show wasn't a big hit: reasonable story line (as Broadway musicals go); fine acting; really good production values; and -- as this album shows -- really good, clever songs.

The cast recording of "High Fidelity" confirms the flop show had a good pop score by Tom Kitt and Amanda Green, but was hampered by an ill-fitting plot. Based on the Nick Hornby novel and film adaptation about a record store owner's evaluation of his past relationships, the musical shares the same whiny self-assessment I found tedious in the film version (I haven't read the book). Another problem with the show is that its characters are all huge rock fans, and rock music is central to the plot, but the songs here are musical theater through and through. Fine by me, except it's just too hard to believe these characters would listen to, let alone sing, these songs. But there is good stuff here, if you set context aside. The eight minute opener "The Last Real Record Store on Earth" is a catchy highlight (though on first listen, I was a bit distracted by star Will Chase's vocal resemblance to "Weird" Al Yankovic.). Overall, most of the songs are enjoyable, the cast is good, and the smart lyrics are certainly above average. There's also a bonus track included called "Too Tired," well sung by Jenn Colella. The song was cut from the show, which is too bad, because it's one of the best songs on the cd. Maybe Kitt and Green can use it in their next show, which I suggest should be about a musical theater gift shop owner.

Alright, I really wanted to like this recording, Hi Fidelity is one of my favorite books and I love the movie very much. The cast recording is highly disappointing. The lyrics are bad, really bad. The music is catchy and if you are a fan of the book and or movie its kind of neat to hear the parts of the story in song but honestly the only good part of this cast recording is leading man Will Chase playing Rob.

Listening to the CD of "High Fidelity" presents a quandry. Although the music is tuneful and rock, it's soft rock at its' softest. Since the main focus of the story revolves around a used vinyl record shop, it's curious that the score doesn't contain at least one or two high energy, all-stops out numbers. This may have been a calculated risk on the part of the composer but it didn't succeed and the show didnt even last a week on Broadway. The score is blessed with literate and intelligent lyrics by Amanda Green and since lyrics are meant to compliment the music and vice versa- in this instance the lyrics for this score outshine the music.

The cast are unknowns but Will Chase is good as Rob, the perpetually unlucky-in-love record shop owner. He rates his romantic disasters like a top ten Billboard music chart.

The CD makes for pleasant listening but considering the storys locale it should have been a blast.

I rated 4 stars because despite my reservations Tom Kitt the composer and especially Amanda Green the lyricist are talented and probably have a future in music ahead of them.