So I spent all day hunting for the In The Heights soundtrack, and I couldn't find it! HMV was like we can order it in for you, but with tax it'll be like 41 dollars. I'm so sad! Especially when all the places I went had the new cast recording of Grease. FAIL.

Grease makes me want to hurt people. I hate that show with the fire of a thousand suns.

In general or just the revival?

I want to see "In the Heights" but I think I'm going to try to catch the Les Mis revival in Philadelphia instead. "In the Heights" will be around for a while, no doubt. Plus people have said this production has new sets and costumes which I'm eager to see. I love Les Mis but it's always been a bit lacking in that department. (The best part of the Broadway revival was probably Cosette's new dress.)

Oh, I just remembered, has anyone heard Adam Pascal's new album? I'm wondering if it's any good.

In general. The whole teenaged sexcapades crap just annoys me and the fact that Sandy can only keep anyone's attention by dressing like a hooker at the end always pissed me off. So of course, I was forced to watch the movie at every sleepover and band trip growing up and then when I was working in a residential facility, one of the residents used to insist on watching it EVERY WEEKEND that I worked. I can stand some of the music on its own but the book makes me stabby.

I know! I was horrified that they had that AND Kathie Lee Gifford's musical about happy orphans, and fucking BKLYN but not that or Passing Strange or Xanadu or even Crybaby which were all ones that I was looking for. Disappointing, since they have such an otherwise immense collection.

I have a lot of affection for Grease in general but none for that revival.

I haven't heard Adam's new album but I've generally liked his solo stuff. Its got to be better than Idina's new single. I love her but...no. That sounds like something they would play during the cooldown in my yoga class along with that "Sometimes its hard to pray, but I DOOOO IT ANYWAY!" song.

ETA: I totally bought the special edition of Newsies though, and this is how sad I am, that same copy? I have come close to buying on many occasions over THREE AND A HALF YEARS! No one else has even touched it. Their loss.

My assessment of the Rent-ers solo stuff usually goes like this:

Daphne
Adam
Idina
Anthony

Sometimes Idina and Adam switch places. I don't really like Idina's new album either. I mean, it's not bad, it's just not memorable.

I am neutral on Grease myself. Cute songs, but no overwhelming love.

Anthony, God bless him, he tries. He really does. I think hes hampered because he doesn't have the voice that a lot of the rest of the cast, and his solo stuff isn't as interesting as Daphne's.

I really like Heather Headley's non Broadway stuff. And Kristin Chenoweth's is a lot of fun.

I like Anthony's voice so much and I think it's really interesting in a Michael Stipe kind of way, but his songs just didn't do it for me. Idina's voice grates on me after a song or two.

One more In the Height video: only because L-MM's t-shirt pwns.

I meant more in a his songs aren't that interesting kinda way. I feel bad cause I like him so much. I love Idina's voice in musical theater, its a great voice, but I think her own music is...not good.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is awesome.

What does the bottom half of the t-shirt say? "I'm so scared"? And my, that choreographer is hot.

Yeah, Anthony's songs kind of blow. I think he knows that though, because I think his album came out a while ago and he's never tried to make another one, not that I know of. But he's so totally on about everything else though. I used to love reading his myspace entries. And he looked good at the Tonys.

Idina's songs were never really my cup of tea, but they used to better than they are now. I think she was sort of encouraged to go the lite FM route to expand her audience. (I like the song from Beowulf a lot though.)

Yup.

Aw, I didn't mind the revival, but that's probably because it was the first (second... and third...) time seeing Les Mis that I was actually old enough to fully appreciate the show. Plus Norm Lewis's voice blew me the hell away.

Passing Strange is only out on itunes now - I don't think the actual CD comes out until the end of July. Which is killing me because I refuse to buy anything from evil evil itunes (it wouldn't play on my fauxpod anyway) but I'm desperate to hear the music again. Eh well twist my arm, maybe I'll just rush the show again sometime this week and hope that tides me over. In the meantime I have it preordered through Amazon for ten bucks.

I need to get the In The Heights cast recording too, but I was kind of waiting to get it until after I saw the show again. And due to ticket availability I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Crybaby doesn't have a cast recording and may not ever release one. Which is sad; I saw the show two more times (I loooove going to closing shows) and the music really grew on me.

I actually didn't hate the revival cast; that's just how much I love the dress. :)

:pout: Are even the nosebleed seats hard to get?

That sucks! Where's Sh-K-Boom when you need them?

Thanks for the links Spidey. Hee. I used to watch Saved by the Bell when I was a kid but I don't really remember any actual content. The sad thing is for a split second in that video you linked to, I actually thought the person was serious when they said they knew all they needed to know about drug addiction from it. I'm starting to think if I totally forget his first name Lin-Manuel gets any cooler, he may explode.

Well you never know! I mean even Bright Lights, Big City, got a cast recording, like 6 years after it closed, and it never even got put on Broadway. And by that point Patrick Wilson was a big Broadway star, and rising film star, so he didn't have to do it.


I neeeeeeed to get my hands on Passing Strange.

The only thing keeping me going until I get the Passing Strange OBCR in my grubby little hands is this: PS on MySpace

I just did a quick search for In The Heights tickets this Wednesday night and pulled up a few seats but nothing really worth paying full price for. They used to offer discounts but obviously that's not happening anymore. And their lotto (for cheapo front row seats) has been crazy even since previews. So seats aren't impossible, but definitely harder to get now.

I know, right?! I'm hoping they take pity and get this Cast Recording out there (hell it worked for High Fidelity which was open for like 2 minutes) but I heard the producers are going to have to front a ton of money so they may decide it's just not worth it. The only thing that may help their case is a possible tour in '09. Up until then, I only have my PERFECTLY LEGAL (tm Kiran) souvenirs to help me remember Crybaby.