Promises, Promises [Cast Recording]

Kristin Chenoweth, Sean Hayes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 21, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: SONY MASTERWORKS
• ASIN: B003L9KA6G
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,091 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COMPLETELY WON OVER......BUT......, June 24, 2010

By 

Robert F. Powers "show maniac" (Quincy, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Promises, Promises (Audio CD)

I have always been a big fan of the 1968 musical "Promises, Promises" with its "different", for Broadway, Burt Bacharach/Hal David score. I was a bit wary that they would tinker with the original orchestrations for this revival but I was pleasantly surprised they haven't. Sure they have somewhat softened the brass and added voices to the unseen, scat-singing chorus but the results work just fine. "Promises, Promises" is one of those rare shows where dialogue, jokes and musical numbers hum along in perfect synch, like a finely tuned car, but this production has thrown a few curves in the road.

The female lead, Fran Kubelik, played by Kristen Chenoweth is short-changed in musical numbers so this revival has added a couple of Bacharach/David numbers, "I Say A Little Prayer" and "A House Is Not A Home" for her to sing and how, why or where they fit into this finely tuned show I can't figure out but they adjust to the curves well but adds a little excess baggage to the trunk of the finely tuned car.

Sean Hayes as Chuck Baxter has a very unusual, to say the least singing voice. Although he sounds like an elf with blocked nasal passages and a pronounced vibrato, strangely enough it fits with the vulnerability of his character. And his duet with Miss Chenoweth on "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" is charming.

The musical numbers featuring "Knowing When To Leave" which is a tricky song to sing, "Where Can You Take A Girl" "She Likes Basketball' "Whoever You Are" the title song, "Half As Big As Life" "Our Little Secret" and even the silly "Turkey Lurkey Time" in fact the entire score is just fine and a lot of fun.

And for a change a revival that for the most part doesn't monkey around with the original but I still wonder how "I Say A Little Prayer" and "A House is Not A Home" fits the show.

P.S. Just for the record, "A House Is Not A Home" was the title song for a movie about a whorehouse. The lyrics are pretty generic but knowing and having seen the original movie, when Kristen Chenoweth sings about the "house" I think back to a movie where scantily clad babes are lounging around the "house."

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Promises, Promises, Kept, June 21, 2010

By 

D. Lebow "Eclectic Supply" (La Mirada, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Promises, Promises (Audio CD)

I have always loved this show and its music. For a long time there was no CD available and now both the original and a new cast recording are there for you. The Burt Bacharach and Hal David collaboration from the late 50s until their break-up in 1973 provided us with a decade of hit after hit. At the height of their powers, they joined with David Merrick in 1968 and produced Promises, Promises. Now, over forty years later, we finally have a new Broadway version. The rhythmic melodic score and story moving lyrics has been made even more exciting by the new orchestrations and expanded role of the vocalists in the pit. Additionally, two additional Bacharach-David hits, "I Say A Little Prayer" and "A House Is Not A Home" have been added to the show. However, the best things about this new album are Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth

See my complete review at [...]

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy the CD, See the Show!, June 22, 2010

By 

R. P. Jones (Greenville, RI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Promises, Promises (Audio CD)

I saw this show on June 6 and was captivated on every level. The top-notch writing, music and production values are topped only by the magnificent performances, most notably the sensational Kristin Chenoweth.

I also have the original 1968 recording with Jerry Orbach and Jill O'Hara and I can say that Sean Hayes, Ms. Chenoweth and cast have more than done justice to the original. This recording also includes a few delightful tracks that were not on the original, particularly "Say a Little Prayer".

A very funny, very touching story about two decent, lonely people looking for real love in a cruelly casual world, "Promises, Promises" is just as relevant today as it was forty years ago. If you can get to New York this summer, don't miss this show at the Broadway Theater.