Search - Carol Woods, Faith Prince :: Breakfast at Tiffany's: World Premiere Cast Recording

Now Make it a Play!

09/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a 1996 studio cast recording from the most hyped show that never opened on Broadway. Never opened because of terrible previews, a bad book, and a poor choice of MTM as the lead. After listening to the outstanding tunes on this 2-CD set, it is clear that a singer with a strong stage voice could have made the show a hit. Too bad Faith Prince was only ten at the time! The material is incredible, with tunes that rival the best from any musical. I highly recommend this disc, and only wish that the show could be finally put on stage!!!"

Highly Enjoyable!

gellio | San Francisco, CA | 09/01/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, I want to address some comments made by the previous reviewer Gina R. Dalfonzo (Springfield, VA USA).



1). "Who that saw the movie would think that Faith Prince could pull off the role of Holly Golightly? But she does it with flair! If you can push Audrey to the back of your mind for a while (difficult, I admit-she's my favorite actress) and think of this as a stand-alone version of "Tiffany's," Prince's performance is thoroughly enjoyable. She brings a lot of spirit, humor, and poignancy, and of course that wonderful voice of hers, to the part."



I agree wholeheartedly that Prince gives a riveting performance here. I am absolutely blown away by her voice and her characterization. She starts things out wonderfully with, what I view as the scores best song, "I've Got a Penny." I do not have issues putting Audrey to the back of my mind, it's hard to compare the two actresses when one is a singing role and one is not. I was never really a huge Prince fan, but this cd is definitely making one of me.



2. "And John Schneider is terrific-as the romantic lead who appears in only six numbers out of 33 (and in three of those, he gets only a few seconds)! If you look at the liner notes, it seems that when they tried to reconcile two different versions of the show for this recording, some songs that would have been his got handed over to other people. It's a shame, because he's got a great singing voice and, by the sound of things, could act circles around George Peppard (who I've always thought was too laid-back in this role). Schneider and Prince make perfect sparring partners in "Who Needs Her?" And "The Bachelor" is a hoot-especially for those of us who know him best as the quintessential family man on "Smallville"! "



John is fantastic, but I'm not sure how the reviewer concluded that some of John's songs were handed over to other singers. The liner notes clearly state that two versions of the show were combined, with the songs being placed together in an order that makes the most sense. If you look at what songs were in what version, than Sally's role is not bigger than John's. All Sally's solos are not in both versions. To get a true picture of the show, you would have to listen to each version by programming the tracks based on how they are very clearly indicated in each synopsis.



3. "It's silly that a secondary character like Holly's friend Mag Wildwood gets more time than the leading man, especially when nearly all her songs convey the same message. (You used to be a good girl, now you're a bad girl. Thanks, Mag, but we heard you the first time.) The same goes for Holly's ex-husband, Doc. Sally Kellerman and Hal Linden both do an excellent job in their respective roles, but all the repetition gets annoying. "



Again, Sally's role is not bigger than John's. What we are seeing is that Sally's songs were replaced from the first version to the second version. Therefore, we get more songs for Sally than John, but again, programming the versions based on how they are laid out in the synopsis clearly makes sense. Also, the songs are similiar in theme because 1/2 of them were replacement songs from the first version. It makes sense to me that they would want the newer songs to continue the themes of the songs they are replacing.



I will say that Sally steals the show on this cd. She is absolutely fantastic and her vocalizations completely blow me away. She is awesome!



4). My suggestion: Someone needs to stage a concert version of this one. There's so much good material here and it's so well performed, it could probably find a good-sized audience. Get as many of the stars from this recording as possible; in particular, do anything necessary to get Prince, Schneider, and the great Jonathan Freeman, who also doesn't have enough to do in the recording. Cut most of the songs for Doc and Mag and give most of the extra time to Schneider, but save a little for Freeman. And then put it on PBS so we can all enjoy it!



I disagree. As much as I love the music and the performances (there is not one weak link in the cast), I can understand why this show didn't work. It would take extensive re-writes to make it work. While there are brilliant songs (many) there are some real hokey ones, like "Lament for Ten Men" and "The Party People" - very enjoyable musically - but lyrically horrible.



All in all, this is one fun show featuring great music sung by thrilling voices. If you want to be entertained, pick this puppy up....but don't over analyze it. It works best if you just enjoy the beautiful music and beautiful voices.



(By the way, whoever compiled the track list was pretty careless. Freeman is listed as a soloist for at least two ensemble numbers in which I can't hear him at all, Schneider and Prince aren't listed for one song in which you can clearly hear them, and so on.)



"

Great cast, good songs, a few flaws

Gina R. Dalfonzo | Springfield, VA USA | 05/05/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Who that saw the movie would think that Faith Prince could pull off the role of Holly Golightly? But she does it with flair! If you can push Audrey to the back of your mind for a while (difficult, I admit-she's my favorite actress) and think of this as a stand-alone version of "Tiffany's," Prince's performance is thoroughly enjoyable. She brings a lot of spirit, humor, and poignancy, and of course that wonderful voice of hers, to the part.And John Schneider is terrific-as the romantic lead who appears in only six numbers out of 33 (and in three of those, he gets only a few seconds)! If you look at the liner notes, it seems that when they tried to reconcile two different versions of the show for this recording, some songs that would have been his got handed over to other people. It's a shame, because he's got a great singing voice and, by the sound of things, could act circles around George Peppard (who I've always thought was too laid-back in this role). Schneider and Prince make perfect sparring partners in "Who Needs Her?" And "The Bachelor" is a hoot-especially for those of us who know him best as the quintessential family man on "Smallville"! It's silly that a secondary character like Holly's friend Mag Wildwood gets more time than the leading man, especially when nearly all her songs convey the same message. (You used to be a good girl, now you're a bad girl. Thanks, Mag, but we heard you the first time.) The same goes for Holly's ex-husband, Doc. Sally Kellerman and Hal Linden both do an excellent job in their respective roles, but all the repetition gets annoying. My suggestion: Someone needs to stage a concert version of this one. There's so much good material here and it's so well performed, it could probably find a good-sized audience. Get as many of the stars from this recording as possible; in particular, do anything necessary to get Prince, Schneider, and the great Jonathan Freeman, who also doesn't have enough to do in the recording. Cut most of the songs for Doc and Mag and give most of the extra time to Schneider, but save a little for Freeman. And then put it on PBS so we can all enjoy it!(By the way, whoever compiled the track list was pretty careless. Freeman is listed as a soloist for at least two ensemble numbers in which I can't hear him at all, Schneider and Prince aren't listed for one song in which you can clearly hear them, and so on.)"