"Summertime" is too high?- Page 2

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 7:25pm

This kind of argument is like when I hear that strong sopranos shouldn't play Johanna in Sweeney Todd because she's "fragile." Drives me crazy.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 7:40pm

"I took the whole thing down."

And she did.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 8:14pm

I'm pretty sure Nikki can sing it in the original, that's why they hired her.
But the musical director may be talking about the reprise.

They should bring in Maya Angelou who played Ruby in the European tour, she'd know what to do.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 8:43pm

Doesn't Bess sing the reprise?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 9:28pm

In this production? Who knows?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 9:42pm

What these idiots don't understand is that Gershwin CHOSE the high key because it sets a very striking particular mood.

Here is the opening from the 1993 British video production that used the 1988 Glyndebourne recording. That's Harolyn Blackwell's gorgeous voice singing "Summertime"--IN THE ORIGINAL KEY--although it is actress Paula Ingram playing the part:

http://youtu.be/R_HAc9e6R-c

Any music director who doesn't understand why the song should be heard that high has no business anywhere near Porgy and Bess.

She should be sent back to music school.

Updated On: 8/13/11 at 09:42 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 9:57pm

In this 1994 concert version with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Kathleen Battle gets applause after the first few notes:

http://youtu.be/UYlIHI35oak

The applause is not for her entrance. It is for the iconic sound those first three notes and the word "summertime" make.

Equally iconic is the high note at the end.

In a lower key, the effect is diminished.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 10:31pm

So apparently "THE GERSHWIN'S Porgy and Bess" will open with "EDITH PIAF'S Summertime" avec l'accordéoniste!

I'm totally with PalJoey on this one.

I like opera but I come from a musical theater background; I'm used to key changes.

But Gershwin chose the range of that opening number very specifically to set the mood, culture and even weather of Catfish Row.

Every time one of these new collaborators opens her mouth, she expresses some new contempt for the original work and its creators.

And lowering the key so it won't wake the baby is the worst sort of petty literalism for somebody charged with the responsibility of handling the music of a POETIC drama and its world. It certainly shows no concern for or awareness of the intentions of the original authors.

RED ALERT! RED ALERT!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 10:41pm

Of course, the song can be sung in any number of beautiful ways, but none of the below renditions--as great as they are individually--would start the opera in the same exquisite way:


Billie Holiday

http://youtu.be/d7ENPQzlUpY


Ella Fitzgerald

http://youtu.be/1j6avX7ebkM


Janis Joplin

http://youtu.be/dgFWibrTAKQ

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 10:46pm

Thanks for the reminder, joey. I haven't heard the Joplin version for decades, but I loved it from the first time I heard.

Of course you are right: it has nothing to do with "P&B".

[musikman]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 1:15am

I just checked my calendar. It says August 14th not April 1st....

I mean really? REALLY?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 1:22am

Wait. So a soprano will wake the baby, but an accordion won't? Huh? And I can understand lowering the key because they're going for a more "musical theater" vibe instead of a operatic sound, so maybe they're trying to put it more in her belty range? But if it's a lullaby, then I guess, I don't really understand the need to take it down.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 1:34am

The song STILL has to make it to the back row (unless they plan on super-titles). To do that and still remain a lullaby requires a mimimum of theatrical suspension of disbelief. I suppose the good people at A.R.T. don't trust us simple-minded theatre goers to make that adjustment. They certainly don't seem to trust it themselves.

[Alm]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 2:24am

[delurks]

This actually might not necessarily be a bad idea. The reason Dierde Murray gives (or at least the way she articulates it) is too stupid for words; but it might not be a bad idea.

The problem with staging almost any pre-1960s musical (or, in this case, opera-turned-musical) today is that, for economic reasons, it simply isn't possible to hire a big enough orchestra. Even if they really, desperately wanted to be as true as possible to original arrangements, they'd have to downsize the orchestration. Which would make a difference. When Gershwin orchestrated "Summertime", he was counting on having enough strings to create a really lush sound. If you take a part like that and try to play it with too few instruments, it just makes the whole song sound like it's trying to be something it can't.

They can't do the original arrangement properly, so there's something to be said for writing an arrangement that they actually can do.

And even if they could do the original arrangement properly, it still might be interesting to hear a new arrangement. Just because the original version of something is great doesn't mean good things can't come out of doing it differently.

I'm not saying their version will be any good. But it's possible.

One other thing: In the right hands, an accordion can sound wonderful in a dark lullaby. The Beatles proved that with "Cry Baby Cry".

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi3hBsZB6Fo)

Updated On: 8/14/11 at 02:24 AM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 7:49am

Alm's argument makes sense. I wish those of the collaborators did as well.
Updated On: 8/14/11 at 07:49 AM

[trentsketch]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 8:14am

Alm, I say what I said about the book changes. I don't mind adaptation or arrangement or change. I mind that they are calling it "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," which suggests that it's the REAL version of the show. This is anything but. The idea that singing the lullaby so high would wake the baby seems misguided to me, though I'm not opposed to the accordion.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 10:24am

I don't wear a hat, but if I did, I would take off my hat to the de-lurked poster named "Alm."

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 12:30pm

I wonder why an alto is less likely to wake the baby than a soprano. The ethereal nature of the original key sets exactly the right haunting feeling for all that will follow. Couldn't we just rely on the actor to make us believe the baby is still asleep?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 1:01pm

Theatre requires a suspension of disbelief.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/14/11 at 1:14pm

"Ethereal." Exactly.