First Prerecorded Vocals

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 1:38am

Come to think of it, what was the first Broadway show to use prerecorded vocals? Was it "The Phantom of the Opera?" Or were there some in "Cats?" Some other show? Does anybody know?

[temms]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 9:56am

There were prerecorded vocals in the original "Follies", so it's been happening since at least 1971.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 10:32am

IN 1977 a New York Times story "A Critic gets that Synching Feeling" discussed that some of Liza Minnelli's vocals in THE ACT had been pre-recorded. The show's publicist argued that the dance routine war so strenuous that a few segments of the vocals were on tape so they could be heard.

Many of the ALW shows use pre-recorded vocal tracks. In fact, I'm sure that if he had his way the cast would record the entire score once - analogue, not digital - and then they would hire no-names to mime to the tracks.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 11:50am

Most of the stuff in Phantom that is prerecorded just makes sense. Especially the final note in the title song and yet people still insist that Andrew hates women. Whatever.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:00pm

To me it NEVER makes sense in live theatre to use pre-recordings to dub in high or problematic notes. In a joke situation (SINGING IN THE RAIN, VICTOR/VICTORIA - two very 3rd rate stage musicals) it is fine.

ALW seems determiend to destroy every bit of live theatre magic and replace it with "canned" product.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:05pm

So it's not okay to do it in shows you have respect for, but it's okay to do it in shows you don't like?

[Neverandy]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:07pm

A large amount of Crawford's stuff in Dance of the Vampire was pre-recorded. It happens a lot.

[Bwayidiot]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:10pm

In the original SWEET CHARITY it was reported that at least one of Gwen Verdon's songs was prerecorded as the dance was too strenous for live singing.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:11pm

I understand why certain notes and phrases are pre-recorded in theatre, but it's a shame it can't all be live. I'm sure there's at least one actress who can hit Christine's note night after night. Putting the fact that ALW must hate women aside, he just didn't write the most accessable score for a woman in Phantom. But because he did that he obviously hates woman and has set out to ruin all of their voices.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:13pm

Wow, "Follies?" I hope it was in the backing vocals and was not a lead vocal. That's disturbing.

"Sweet Charity?" Mmmmmm. I will have to ponder this one.........

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:16pm

I'm sure there's at least one actress who can hit Christine's note night after night.

There's no doubt most of them could, but that doesn't mean that they should.

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:27pm

"There's no doubt most of them could, but that doesn't mean that they should."

Sorry, maybe I should've clarified my statement. I'm sure there's at least one actress who can sustain the note night after night and not damage her vocal chords. People have some crazy voices.

But to insure certain mishaps won't happen, a pre-recorded note will have to do for now.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:34pm

So it's not okay to do it in shows you have respect for, but it's okay to do it in shows you don't like?

How did you discern that? I don’t like SINGING or V/V but my point is that in both cases the dubbing is part of the joke.

frontrowcentre2 is an ignorant moron who pretends he knows what he's talking about when he doesn't.

I have been a theatre reviewer and broadcaster for 30 years now. What are your credentials?

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:41pm

In the original SWEET CHARITY it was reported that at least one of Gwen Verdon's songs was prerecorded as the dance was too strenous for live singing.


- As a huge Gwen Verdon fan, I have never heard that. It was known that she would cut songs on certain nights, to save her energy. Most notably "Where Am I Going?".

[Jon]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:51pm

Are we counting Barbara Harris' dubbed high note at the end of "Gorgeous" in THE APPLE TREE?

Actually, I don't know if it was recorded, or if it was sung live over an offstage microphone by one of the chorus ladies.

[jv92]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 1:10pm

"Loveland" from Follies was pre-recorded as was part of The Mirror Number.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 1:22pm

I know parts of the Mirror Number were prerecorded because it was a group of older women who were having trouble getting the dancing down; if the singing was prerecorded, then there was one less thing to worry about.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 4:06pm

Gwen Verdon NEVER used any prerecorded tracks during her run in SWEET CHARITY. As the previous poster stated, Gwen would have them remove "Where Am I Going?" at performances she wasn't up to performing it.

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 4:15pm

Sutton Foster had a part of "Show Off" prerecorded in the Drowsy Chaperone.

:)

[Bwayidiot]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 4:18pm

I am a great fan of Gwen Verdon too. I was only writing about a story that was going around at the time of SWEET CHARITY. I'm sorry if it is untrue. I was not trying to state a deragatory fact about Miss Verdon
Updated On: 10/13/08 at 04:18 PM

[philly03]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 4:21pm

There were a few lines in Jekyll & HYDE that were pre-recorded from the Original Cast to use later. The wedding hymn at the end was recorded with Linda Eder, and is sometimes miscredited as Luba Mason or Coleen Sexton, although neither could hit the notes perfectly or sound the way that Frank wanted that short segment to sound. Some of hte "back-up" vocals (like at the end of the Alive Reprise) were prerecorded as well.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 5:48pm

I love Linda Eder's "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" for Jekyll & Hyde. It was neat that they still used it even after she left the show so it was like she was still a part of the show even though she was no longer performing as Lucy.

[philly03]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 6:01pm

^^
"There were a few lines in Jekyll & HYDE that were pre-recorded from the Original Cast to use later. The wedding hymn at the end was recorded with Linda Eder, and is sometimes miscredited as Luba Mason or Coleen Sexton, although neither could hit the notes perfectly or sound the way that Frank wanted that short segment to sound. Some of hte "back-up" vocals (like at the end of the Alive Reprise) were prerecorded as well."

[dayao]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 6:09pm

The practice of dubbing and/or pre-recording on stage goes much further back than one would think:
The famous Irish tenor Chauncey Olcott began his performing career in the late 1890’s singing behind a scrim dubbing his predecessor, William Scanlon, a once great singer well past his prime who was unable to sing at a St. Patrick’s Day concert but did not want to disappoint the audience. Scanlon later returned the favour by publically proclaiming Olcott to be his logical successor and Olcott would go on to become the greatest Irish tenor at the beginning of the 20th Century.

As frontrowcentre2 pointed out, there are instances in a live show where dubbing is part of a gag or plot point, in which it is necessary to either dub the actor on stage with a pre-recording or live with an off stage singer.

The 1970’s musical, SOMETHING’S AFOOT, which was a spoof of the Agatha Christie Miss Marple murder mysteries, required a barrage of pre-recorded sound effects but also at the end called for a full chorus to sing the last line of the finale. Since by this time most of the cast had been dispatched and there were no choral numbers in the show, in the production on which I worked, we pre-recorded the entire cast singing this line, which was then doubled and tripled by the sound technician and was played to augment the members of the remaining cast on stage singing live. So in this case it was a combination of live and Memorex because it would have been ridiculously expensive to hire a full chorus to sing one line in the finale of the show.

In the non-musical comedy, LEND ME A TENOR, the plot calls for the character of Max to sing along with a pre-recording of the tenor he is replacing. Usually both Max and the tenor are pre-recorded. In the Southern California production I attended, James Anest, a real operatic baritone, played Max. Because of his fantastic vocal range which extends into tenor territory, Anest sang live on stage as Max with a pre-recording of his own voice as the tenor Max is replacing, sung just differently enough to give the illusion of two different singers.

As far as that soprano note in Phantom is concerned, even an average genuine operatic soprano could manage it while doing her nails at the same time; so could Musical Theater sopranos like Julie Andrews, Marguerite Piazza, Carol Lawrence, Florence Henderson and Ann Blyth. The fact that it had to be pre-recorded only manages to reveal the sad fact that we have so few singers of this caliber being employed in Musical Theater today. And yes, if the singer can hit the note live, she should and if she can’t, she should not be in the show.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 6:33pm

Thanks, philly. I was actually commenting on that the first time you posted it. About how much I liked it... ?