Customer Reviews

Nine - The Musical (2003 Broadway Revival Cast)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This revival recording of "Nine" is superb. I actually prefer it to the original Broadway recording and the London concert version (which are both fine). Maury Yeston's music and lyrics are among the best for any modern musical, and the cast here is ideal.

The performances are exemplary, from Antonio Banderas as womanizing film director Guido Contini and Mary Stuart Masterson as his long-suffering wife Luisa, to Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski, and the rest. Their singing easily matches or surpasses the previous casts, and their acting on the whole is stronger. They just feel more assured to me. Banderas also sounds more feasibly Italian than previous Guidos, which is useful in terms of the character. For their part, the women put on fake accents, which has the potential to be a distraction, but here didn't bother me at all.

Highlights from the score and this album include Banderas's charismatic rendition of "Guido's Song," Krakowski's sexy "A Call from the Vatican," Benanti's almost impossibly-beautiful version of "Unusual Way," and Masterson's bitter and expertly acted "Be On Your Own." The orchestra here is smaller than previous versions, but this doesn't detract in any significant way. The strength of the music and the performances comes through just fine.

Nine is one of my favorite musicals. This is the best recording of it out of the three recordings you can buy. Antonio Banderas can sing! He surpasses Raul Julia on the OBC and Jonathon Pryce on the OLC as Guido Contini by far. "Guido's Song" is phenomenal on how he gets his confused feelings across. But the real gem of this album is of course THE WOMEN! The amazing Chita Rivera (West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Kiss of the Spider Woman) is perfect as Liliane La Fleur. Her "Folies Bergeres" is the best you will ever hear. Laura Benanti (Into the Woods) brings an incredible Italian flair to Claudia Nardi. Her "Unusual Way" is unbelievable in it's feeling. Mary Stuart Masterson, in her musical debut, IS the Luisa Contini we've all been waiting for. Her "My Husband Makes Movies" is fantastic and her "Be On Your Own" sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. My personal favorite on the album is Jane Krakowski (Once Upon a Mattress, Company, Grand Hotel) as Carla, Guido's mistress. Her "Call From the Vatican" is so sensual and sexy and is awesome from start to finish. Her "Simple" is great as well. Other great songs are the hilarious "Be Italian", and the touching "Only With You". Nine is a must have for any musical theater lover and will be in your CD player forever.

WHAT A GREAT CD! This revival has a lot to live up to due to the expectations of a top-notch cast and every performer gives there best. Owning all three cast recordings, I can say vocally, Antonio Banderas is the Best Guido compared to Jonathan Pryce and Raul Julia. He has a rugged sexiness in his voice and his irisistable charm to many women is very believble. As Carla, Jane Krakowski is amazing. She has obviously trained her voice a lot since Grand Hotel. Her range is incredible, as the role of carla demands, and her take on the character is sexy, funny, better than Anita Morris, but not quite as strong as Becky Normand in the London Concert Cast or Alice Ripley in the recently released Maury Yeston Songbooks (Also released by PS records). Mary Stuart Masterson shines in the role of Luisa, Guidos long suffering wife. She Sings "Be on your own" the best I've ever heard it performed. Chita Rivera and Myra Lucretia Taylor also give show-stopping performances. With a rich score, lucious orchastrations, and a talanted and beautiful and sexy cast NINE is finally brought to the glory it deserves.

This is the recording for which I have been waiting 20 years! I have always loved the music of Maury Yeston's NINE but have never been completely satisfied with any recording I had heard: not the original Broadway cast, the Australian cast or the Jonathan Pryce recording from London.

This brand new recording absolutely blew me away. Antonio Banderas is the greatest of all Guidos. He sings beautifully, with terrific musicality and superb diction, and gives a tremendous amount of soul, passion, and heart to his portrayal of Guido. Mary Stuart Masterson is heartrending and commanding as Luisa and also sings very well, her "Be On Your Own" is shattering in its dramatic effect, Jane Krakowski is fantastic and alluring as Carla, and Laura Benanti as Claudia must possess the most beautiful soprano voice on Broadway today. The duet between Benanti and Banderas "In a Very Unusual Way" is sublime and haunting. And to have Chita Rivera, who has 1000 watts of star power, as Liliane LaFleur is incredible luxury casting.

I saw the show about 1 month before I heard the cd, and I can say that the cd, conveys all the excitement, warmth and humanity of the highly praised and very successful Broadway production.

The cd is long, about 79 minutes of music, and there is a good use of spoken dialog to help convey the story for those not familiar with the show. It is a treat to get the complete "The Grand Canal" sequence, and one can see how brilliantly constructed is this scene. The cd booklet is beautiful, gorgeously illustrated and with (a rarity) the complete lyrics of all the songs. Sonically the cd is excellent, and special praise must go to the ravishing orchestrations (and excellent playing of the orchestra), as well as the extremely strong work of the other performers -- all who are excellent.

I know that Amazon only allows me 5 stars to rate this cd, but I would easily give it 10 if I could. One of the most important cast albums of the past 10 years!

Buy it -- you will love it, and return to it many times.

NINE is one of my fave shows. We enjoyed a very fine production of NINE in Australia in 1987-1988 from which emerged an excellent original cast recording on Polydor label. That version migrated to the TER/JAY label about 10 years ago and was written up by Kurt Ganzl as the best version of the show on record at that time.

I looked forward to this new recording, encouraged by the stellar casting and by the generally impressive qualities of today's Broadway cast recordings. Initial impressions were positive. The score had not been hacked about or rearranged in any major way, except perhaps for the Follies Bergere song which had been extended. However, I then noticed the glaring omission of one of the funniest and most interesting songs on earlier cast albums, "The Germans at the Spa". Is it in this revival of the show and simply omitted from the CD? For whatever reason the song has been omitted and it remains unfortunate.

More generally the new recording has some desirable features. I liked Antonio Banderas. I thought he made a convincing Guido and coped admirably with the demands of the score. I had seen his segment on the telecast of the TONY AWARDS and had been impressed. It is also beautifully produced both sonically and in the CD packaging and presentation. Some of the women shine and I agree that Jane Krakowski is absolutely outstanding. I also agree that the role of Luisa comes across as hard and unfortunate. I will be in the minority but I was also unimpressed with Chita Rivera. Her Liliane lacked the variety and fineness of touch of her predecessors in the 1982 Broadway recording and the Australian recording.

I disagree with some of the others who have written suggesting that NINE is anything other than a top draw Broadway show. I have long thought it one of the cleverest, most musical shows of recent times. This recording shows why it may be that, but it does so less satisfactorily than the Raul Julia 1982 and the Australian 1988 versions.

Who cares about some bad accents. This cast is entirely better than those who came before them on the 1982 cast recording. Though the original cast, led by Raul Julia, were great actors and gave their roles thrilling performances in their own rights, these performers easily outdo them. Their vocals are far superior, and their acting is fine for this recording even if the accents do get a bit tiring.

Antonio Banderas comes across well as Guido Contini, the famous filmmaker, as do the other leads: Chita Rivera, Jane Krakowski, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Laura Benanti. I'm seeing this on Broadway in August and I only hope it's as good live as it is on disc. Standout tracks include "My Husband Makes Movies" and "Be On Your Own," both sung wonderfully by Mary Stuart Masterson, "Guido's Song," and "The Bells of St. Sebastian."

I highly recommend this disc, as well as the original, but I think this CD is a great point of entry for those hoping to enjoy this musical. The music is brilliant, and these performers bring out the best in the material.

This new Broadway Revival of the early eighties Tony winner for Best Musical just won the Tony for Best Musical Revival, and this recording shows why. "Nine" was an exceptional new show in 1982, deservedly defeating the flashier but emptier "Dreamgirls" in the Tony race. However, the Original Cast Recording had some notable flaws. To begin with, only an abbreviated version could fit on the vinyl of that era, meaning that many songs were edited and some dropped completely (this has been corrected on Columbia's glorious new, 2 CD restoration). The other problem, not so easily corrected, is that most of the key roles were rather poorly sung, detracting from the overall impact of the score. Actors on a stage perform their roles visually as well as audibly, and the first cast of "Nine" was reported to be fabulous. But on a cast recording, all you have are the vocals and, sadly, they weren't up to the task (Raul Julia's problem with pitch and intonation mars every one of his songs). This new cast recording corrects that problem in what is now the definitive version of this score. Antonio Banderas is a surprisingly gentle, likeable presence, on stage and on this CD, and he sings with wistful uncertainty and bel canto emotion. His Guido is more of a lost soul, making the overall effect more poignant and moving. The female actors who support him are a marvel, with the exception of Chita Rivera who, on this recording, is barely able to hit or sustain any notes. However, the 70-something performer is a wonder in the current production, kicking her legs higher than anyone her age has a right to. Jane Krakowski is a funny and fun presence, even here, though her showstopping exit on "Call From the Vatican" has to be seen to be believed. Laura Benanti has only one song, "Unusual Way", but it's a humdinger, and she once again proves herself to be one of Broadway's up-and-coming leading lights. Then there is Mary Stuart Masterson, the big surprise of both the show and this recording. Everyone knew the woman could act, but who knew she had a trump instrument in her kit to sing the daylights out of her songs. Her Luisa is actually the anchor of the show, and you feel her presence when she's absent. Her song stylings are plaintive, and the tones she gets out of her throat put the legendary Karen Akers to shame. All in all, this cast recording caps a revival-filled year on Broadway as the biggest glory of all. Though some of those revivals had their problems, so many great new recordings of classic shows were produced that any Broadway afficianado should be in heaven. And this CD is the jewel in the crown. This "Nine" is a ten!

I have had the pleasure of listening to three verisons of this outstanding musical. Each one has its own different aspects to it. I know one of the few reasons this cd may get a bad review now and then is due to the fact people will be comparing it to the original. I wish people like that would get over comparing things. BE OPEN! Anyways, this verison is great. Mr. Banderas is amazing, Jane Krakowski is something else(supposedly not as good as Anita Morris, but she is as good in her own way), Mary Stuart Masterson breaks through on the Broadway scene with such grace, Laura Benanti is just remarkable, and let's not forget Chita Rivera(WOW). The rest of the cast sounds great. I am so excited to get to see this show. The cast recording is so majestic. Yeston score and lyrics are full of emotion and are strong. This cd needs to be in your collection.

WHAT A GREAT CD! This revival has a lot to live up to due to the expectations of a top-notch cast and every performer gives their best. Owning all three cast recordings, I can say vocally, Antonio Banderas is the Best Guido compared to Jonathan Pryce and Raul Julia. He has a rugged sexiness in his voice and his irisistable charm to many women is very believble. As Carla, Jane Krakowski is amazing. She has obviously trained her voice a lot since Grand Hotel. Her range is incredible, as the role of carla demands, and her take on the character is sexy, funny, better than Anita Morris, but not quite as strong as Becky Normand in the London Concert Cast or Alice Ripley in the recently released Maury Yeston Songbooks (Also released by PS records). Mary Stuart Masterson shines in the role of Luisa, Guidos long suffering wife. She Sings "Be on your own" the best I've ever heard it performed. Chita Rivera and Myra Lucretia Taylor also give show-stopping performances. With a rich score, lucious orchastrations, and a talanted and beautiful and sexy cast NINE is finally brought to the glory it deserves.

This new Broadway revival of NINE comes via London's Donmar Warehouse, and is directed by David Leveaux. It has a uniformably-strong cast, headed by Antonio Banderas making his Broadway stage debut.

Antonio Banderas takes on the central character of Guido Contini, a film director who is haunted by the many women in his life: his patient and loving wife Luisa (Mary Stuart Masterson), his mistress Carla (Jane Krakowski), his once-and-future muse Claudia (Laura Benanti), his manager Liliane La Fleur (Chita Rivera), and his mother (Mary Beth Peil).

Mary Stuart Masterson, also making her Broadway musical debut, has a gorgeous voice with an enviable belt, which she puts to great use in her two big numbers "My Husband Makes Movies" and "Be On Your Own".

Jane Krakowski takes on the role of Carla, (which is virtually owned by Anita Morris from the original Broadway cast), and gives it her own spin. She sings a show-stopping "A Call From the Vatican", arguably the musical's high-point.

Chita Rivera does well by the character of Liliane (finally we can understand all the lyrics to "Folies Bergeres"!), while Mary Beth Peil adds a lovely weight to the character of Guido's influential mother. William Ullrich is perfect in the role of the younger Guido.

Laura Benanti is a gorgeous Claudia, singing a heartfelt rendition of one of Maury Yeston's loveliest creations, "Unusual Way". Benanti also makes good with the sobering "Simple".

This new cast album of NINE is a must-own for all Broadway fans!