Just amazing: a new musical with heart
Inigo Santamaria Ruiz Azua | Spain | 07/12/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
""A view from here" is a must recording for anyone interested in the future of musical theatre. Not only does this CD introduce us a hot new composer (Timothy Huang) but also sets a new future for musical theatre, heavily rooted in those times when the "theatre" part was much more combined to "musical theatre" than nowadays. You've got all the elements here: a good and simple story, a full-dimensional character and a perfectly integrated score. A great CD!!"
The Perfect additon to my CD Collection...
Dms | 08/31/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I saw this show in New York and fell in love, how excited was I to find it on CD! If you love Musical Theatre but are not familar with this show or the Composer Timothy Huang, trust me you won't be dissapointed. (Track 4 Five Days / Unstoppable is my favorite)"
Great New Theatre From A Great New Composer
TOL | Long Island, NY | 05/10/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I really liked this CD - for a lot of reasons. First, I really love to hear new music from talented emerging composers. I often scan amazon for new musicals that I've never heard of before, and that fit my personal tastes - which tend to be a bit more melancholy and melodic than maybe some others might prefer. When I came across this show, it seemed to fit the bill. Beautiful piano melodies, wonderful lyrical content, and a story with a lot of heart. The samples sounded like they were attached to songs that would be right up my alley - and I can say, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I was not disappointed. As I listened, I was reminded a little bit of The Last Five Years, but I also felt the newness and originality of Adding Machine (which is a little known musical that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND). The story is a bit choppy, but it features a lot of introspection, and a fair amount of comedic story-telling that will take you away from the soliloquy just long enough to keep you interested. Timothy Huang does an excellent job on both the music and lyrics and it will quickly become clear that this is a composer that we should be hearing a lot more from - if everything goes well.
So, all in all, I am really happy with my purchase. But I do have a few minor complaints, which will certainly seem like nitpicking, but, instead, I hope they are taken as constructive criticism for a very talented and ambitious production team. The first minor criticism has to do with the minimalistic instrumentation. The score features only piano and trumpet - and the latter is only featured very sparingly. Now, for some scores, like The Last Five Years, this approach seems perfectly natural. But, for this one, it somehow feels unfinished. This may just be a matter of personal taste, and it is certainly not my place to question the motivations of the composer. But I somehow can't help but feel like this soundtrack was just a first pass at a much larger vision. My second comment is along sort of the same lines, and has to do with the very limited cast of one. Again, I feel like I am missing a lot of the story because we are only presented with one character. It just feels a little lazy to me - like it would have been too much effort to hire an entire cast. Again, this is only my opinion. Lastly, I was rather unimpressed with the "pitchiness" of the performance. There were some parts, in fact, that were rather hard for me to listen to. Now, don't get me wrong, it's clear that Shon Wiley can sing his heart out. But the recording, once again, feels a little lazy - like certain parts that should have been re-recorded, simply were not. This is never more evident than on the last track, which is, in fact, much better performed by the composer on the bonus track (which I absolutely love, by the way - almost as much as I love the fact that it was included).
Overall, it may sound like I am being harsh in these last comments, but I really am not. Nitpicky, maybe, but not harsh - because, the fact is, I really love this CD, I really admire this composer, and I really want this show to succeed. And, it's because of all this that I want it to be the best that it absolutely can be.
So, with that, I say: Best of luck to this very inspiring new composer and to a very heartfelt and enjoyable new show!"
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1