I love this musical. The singing is beautiful, the music is superb, I can't believe the low rating a couple people gave it. This cast recording is gorgeous and haunting, I love it

Ok,it is indeed a welcome effort to do a musical with Lorca's work as a basis. La Chiusa in the past used the classics as basis for musical (e.g. Medea, The Wild Party). however, in this one, it is completely unmemorable. the instrumentation is not good, singing and melody is not good. there are musicals that to have irregular melodies but works eventually. this is not one of them. the darkness of the material was more of an obstabcle rather than a facet of the material. it did not work here. A broadway "big bang" is so obvious even with the use of basic instrumentation. Bernarda Alba needs to be tight and cohesive so it would not be BORING.

There is a good modern opera based on lorca's life with margarita xiu as a central character (played by a wonderful DAWN UPSHAW). This is Golijov's Ainadamar. it has excellent performers, and fabulous orchestration. it is in spanish but the liner note has translation. i bought mine in itunes and i got together with the music a listener's guide. BUY THAT one rather than this recording. you would understand the material, enrich your knowledge, and enjoy the music.

Considering that the curtain will soon be going up for another season on (and off) the Great White Way--both Xanadu and Night of the Hunter are being considered as Broadway musicals--let's prepare by looking at a triumvirate of recently released 2006 off-Broadway cast albums.
First on the list: [title of show], a small, endearing, light piece about writing a musical, under pressure, to make a festival deadline. The show runs 90 minutes, and Jeff Bowen (music and lyrics) and Hunter Bell (book) have infused the work with more in- jokes about musical theatre than and slights at pop celebs/culture than you could shake a baton at. One gem reserved for Barbara Harris fans: "Who wants to see Paris Hilton in The Apple Tree? A love letter to that Great American Art Form, musical comedy, [title of show] is also about the fear and bravery involved in all creative arts. Kinda silly and kinda cute, it's long on charm--a fascinating and wildly creative work that's about . . . wildly creative work.
Next up: A musical based on the disturbing 1975 documentary Grey Gardens, the house in East Hampton where Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edie--respectively, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and once the brightest lights in the pre-Camelot social register--lived for years with 52 cats and little (or no money) until the 28-room mansion, and the ladies, fell into wild disarray. The film is wisely used here more as a reference point; the musical uses events from the Beales' lives to explore love, aging and the passing of time. The first act takes place during their heyday in the '40s, the second act during the hard, moneyless times of the '70s. Mary Louise Wilson and Christine Ebersole are wonderful as the two ladies, capturing their love and sadness completely.
Last and best: Michael John LaChiusa's Bernarda Alba. Based on Spanish poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca's La Casa de Bernarda Alba, the show is a dark, bold, sweeping statement about love and control, sung by an incredible cast, led by the magnificent Phylicia Rashad as the indomitable matriarch in a house of women. The music is rich and complex, the story heartbreaking.
This trio proves that musical theatre certainly isn't dead--it's alive and vibrant and varied. All deserve a listening--or several.

it might not be kander & ebb's hispanic approach, it might not be glittering jerry herman sound, it might not be the big lloyd webber showdown - it's bleak, it's rough, and it's sad. it's not the record that i will listen to while having a nice evenig with friends around.

the music catches the drama of the action - which is the most important thing a theatre score must do - be it jerry herman, be richard rodgers, be it leonard bernstein, be it sondheim or lloyd webber - or lachiusa.

i'm just always happy when i can listen to a musical score which widens the boundaries of the genre.

musical theatre doesn't need the hummable melodies, and it doesn't need to have a happy ending - we've got that in hollywood and in the blockbuster shows, it needs daring scores.

and lachiusa's bernarda alba is one of those.

This musical is certainly on the dark side but I find it to be very well written. I believe Lachiusa is far ahead of his time. Musically the CD is wonderful and the cast is great. Lauren Shoop, Sally Murphy, Daphne Rubin-Vaga and Phylicia Rashad are great. LaChiusa picks difficult material to write about but he always succeeds. This is one of the hidden treasures of Musical Theater. If you like "The Wild Party" and "See What I Wanna See" this is a great add to the collection.