Martin Guerre [London Cast Recording]

by Martin Guerre [London Cast Recording]

Overview

For their third musical following Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg chose the true story of 16th-century Frenchman Martin Guerre, who left his village for many years only to be replaced by an impostor. The story has been the subject of several artistic treatments, including the films The Return of Martin Guerre (1982) and Sommersby (1993). But for Boublil and Schonberg, whose large-scale musicals tend to be hung on large-scale subjects like the Vietnan War, it seems slight, a modest mystery with a sexy tag (Guerre's wife, you see, has accepted the impostor). Not surprisingly, then, the writers have tricked out their version with weightier concerns, to wit: In this telling, the story is told against the backdrop of the early struggles of the Reformation, so that the issue isn't so much, "Is he or isn't he Martin Guerre?," but instead, "Is he a Catholic or a Protestant?" And in this version, there's no mystery at all -- the impostor doesn't even intend to deceive the villagers, but their desire for Martin Guerre's return (so he can sire a Catholic heir) overwhelms him. When the musical opened in London on July 10, 1996, it was savaged by reviewers, and after limping along for a few months was substantially revised for a more successful reopening on Nov. 11. This London cast album, recorded from July to September, thus captures a show in transition, which may help explain why the lyric sheet doesn't quite match what's sung. The onstage difficulties of the story are less bothersome on record, though the plot remains difficult and not very interesting to follow. The main problem is that, despite the usual over-orchestrated musical bombast disguising relatively simple, repetitive melodic lines (closer to Philip Glass than Mozart), there are no memorable songs on the order of Les Mis's "On My Own" or Miss Saigon's "The American Dream." In fact, much of the score sounds like outtakes from Les Mis, in the service of a much smaller and less comprehensible story. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	07/22/2008
Label:	First Night
UPC:	5014636207028

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Martin Turner   Primary Artist
Julian Sutton   Primary Artist
Paul Leonard   Primary Artist
Rebecca & Company Lock   Primary Artist
Rebecca Lock   Primary Artist
Marcus Cunningham   Primary Artist
Iain Glen   Primary Artist
Matt Rawle   Primary Artist
Sheila Reid   Primary Artist
Michael Matus   Primary Artist
Michael & Company Matus   Primary Artist
The Orchestra   Primary Artist
Iain & Company Glen   Primary Artist
Ann Emery   Primary Artist
Susan Jane Tanner   Primary Artist
Allen Walley   Double Bass
Graeme Scott   Viola
Sue Lynn   Violin
Susan Sutherley   Cello
Dermot Crehan   Violin
Stephen Williams   Double Bass
Ferenc Szucs   Cello
Marcus Tilt   Keyboards
Bjoern Petersen   Violin
Carol Slater   Violin
Gwilym Hooson   Violin
Mark Pharoah   Violin
David Charles Abell   Conductor,Musical Director
John Higginbotham   Trombone (Bass)
Peter Collyer   Viola
Donald Weekes   Violin
Helen Cooper   Violin
Jeremy Williams   Violin
Clive Howard   Viola
Bernie LaFontaine   Clarinet,Clarinet (Bass)
Nigel Charman   Percussion
Dave Wythe   Horn
Julian Fairbank   Percussion
Dean Foley   Horn
Edward Hardy   Lyre
Stephen Clark   Lyre
Dave Archer   Trumpet
Tracy Holloway   Trombone
Paul Sherman   Double Bass
Skaila Kanga   Harp
Kathleen Stevenson   Flute,Piccolo,Flute (Alto)
Chris Davis   Horn
Juliette Lewis   Oboe,Cor Anglais
Justin Pearson   Cello
David Daniels   Cello
Dave Lee   Horn

Technical Credits

David White   Music Supervisor
Martin Turner   Performer
David Caddick   Engineer,Producer
Nick Davies   Associate Director
Eric Jordan   Assistant Engineer
David Charles Abell   Recording Conductor
Sheridan Morley   Liner Notes
Seann Alderking   Assistant
Erik Jordan   Assistant Engineer
Michael Le Poer Trench   Photography
Nicholas Allott   Executive Producer
Darinka Nenadovic   Production Administrator
Claude-Michel Schoenberg   Engineer,Producer,Composer,Producer
The Orchestra   Performer
Bob Avian   Choreographer
Julian Sutton   Performer
Alain Boublil   Composer,Lyricist,Producer,Adaptation
David Hunt   Engineer
Jonathan Tunick   Orchestration
Herbert Kretzmer   Lyricist
Toby Wood   Assistant Engineer