Scores lowered to fit certain actors?- Page 2
Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
#25re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 10:43amMarylouise Burke sounded like a toad in the ItW revival... the casting directors should've gone with someone who could sing the F# instead of taking it down to practically baritone range.
#26re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 10:44am
Howard also sings to higher keys in Phantom.
jonartdesigns
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/04
#27re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 10:47amin addition to "as long as you're mine" they also dropped "dancing through life" down a ton for taye, and from what i've heard it seems they raised that song up a bit for sebastian on the tour
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
timote316
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/04
#28re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 10:48amSebastian sounded really good on tour. I didn't notice a change in the key, though.
FosseBoi
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/30/04
#29re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 11:05am
I likes Sebastians acting, but he really didnt sing.
In "A Chorus Line" they had to adjust the song "Music and the Mirror" for the Cassies. I'm sure shes not the only one, but Ann Rienking had to have the song lowered. Also, there was a lady in the London cast, I think it was, that didnt have a strong voice so they had to have all the girls off stage sing a certin parts. I cant remember what hey were called. I'm sure Margo knows and can help with out with this London thing.
"I've always secretly longed for an actress to get to the top of the cherry picker and projectile vomit all over the guards below."- Wonderwaiter in the "Defy Gravity?" thread.
~~~~~~~~My dream? Sutton Foster as Cassie in A Chorus Line
JasonGreen
Understudy Joined: 11/18/04
#30re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 11:58amI know the casts of The Producers get the songs in keys comfortable for their range..."Flaunt It", "'Til Him", "Betrayed", "Haben Sie", "Bavaria", "That Face" have all been raised and lowered for different actors and understudies.
Marguerite Chauvelin
Broadway Star Joined: 7/19/05
#31re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 12:02pmThey made the score higher for Rex Smith in as Chauvelin in Pimpernel, which is why "Where's the Girl?" lost all it's hypnosis on me (Terrence Mann's version is amazing to me).
If Percy Blakeney were in Les Mis....
Percy: Sink me! If it isn't Javvurt!
Javert: Zsah-vair, it's pronounced Zsah-vair.
Pecry: But it's spelled J-A-V-E-R-T Javvurt.
Javert: Repeat after me Zsah...Zsah....
Percy: Oh! Zsa-Zsa! Like the Gabor sister! Well I personally have always prefered Eva.
Javert: (Looks for gun)
Percy: Sink me! If it isn't Javvurt!
Javert: Zsah-vair, it's pronounced Zsah-vair.
Pecry: But it's spelled J-A-V-E-R-T Javvurt.
Javert: Repeat after me Zsah...Zsah....
Percy: Oh! Zsa-Zsa! Like the Gabor sister! Well I personally have always prefered Eva.
Javert: (Looks for gun)
#32re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 12:48pmLiza Minnelli in Victor/Victoria
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
philcrosby
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/04
#33re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 1:02pmJerry Herman adjusted keys for every one of his Dollys and Mames. Why shouldn't the lead sound great?
showtunesguy89
Swing Joined: 6/1/06
#34re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 1:16pmLet's see. Scores have been lowered for numerous actresses and actors. Some examples include Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard for the part of Norma (the song "As If We Never Said Goodbye" was lowered), for Susan Egan in Cabaret for the part of Sally (the song "Cabaret" was lowered a half-step down), and for Boyd Gaines in Company for the part of Robert (the song "Being Alive" was lowered to adjust to his bass-baritone voice).
jimmycurry01
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/28/05
#35re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 3:23pmI don't know about scores being lowered to fit understudies, but i read an interview with sondheim once and he said that he transposed the score of sunday in the park after Bernadette and Mandy were cast, it was not originaly written for either of their vocal ranges.
ThankstoPhantom
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
#36re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 4:16pmI actually liked Burke's frumpiness...it made the character more real for me than a beautiful voice like Merle Louise's.
How to properly use its/it's:
Its is the possessive. It's is the contraction for it is...
#37re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 4:24pm
"I actually liked Burke's frumpiness...it made the character more real for me than a beautiful voice like Merle Louise's."
You mean Barbara Bryne.
But I can understand what you mean. While I much preferred Bryne's Jack's Mother, I like Burke's take on the character. It just takes some getting used to.
And Burke is HILARIOUS in the film "Series 7"
#38re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 4:34pm
Bette sang all the original Merman keys for Gypsy. And has been the only major Rose to do so. I know she was very proud to sing the original keys.
I'm sure Patti will sing the original keys also.
What Sweeney songs were lowered for Patti?
Some of the material was taken up a bit for Christina Applegate in Charity.
#39re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 5:38pmOh yeah--here's another one: Boyd Gaines in the revival of "Company". They brought Robert's songs WAY down.
#40re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 5:41pmBen as Antony in the new sweeney sings a much lower key than what the original score is.
...What happened next, was stranger still, a woman breathless and afraid, appeared out of the night, completely dressed in white. She had a secret she would tell, of one who had mistreated her. Her face and frightened gaze, my mind cannot erase...But then she ran from view. She looked so much like you...
picturetaker9211
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/06
#41re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 5:46pmThis doesn't ahev to do w/ Boradyway too much, but in the Rent movie, I think the score for Without You is lowered for Rosario since her voice is so deep.
"Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, take the moment & making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
-Gilda Radner
-Gilda Radner
bigrab1018
Leading Actor Joined: 10/9/05
#42re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 5:46pm"Oklahoma?" was lowered for Mylinda Hull in DRS.
"Billy, put down that phylactery...we're Episcopalian." - Spelling Bee
thevolleyballer
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
#43re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 7:09pmI remember Joey McIntyre singing "As Long As You're Mine" about a half a step lower than Norbie does on the album. And he also had a little country flair to his voice.
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#44re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 7:12pmI know when hasselhoff did TITH in J/H, the ending was changed as he could not hold a note that long
Poster Emeritus
#45re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 7:39pmALAYM was raised for them. They went much higher at the end and David hits higher notes than Norbert.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird
#46re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 7:57pmi have no idea if this is true or not, but i have heard that in Wicked, on occasion Defying Gravity is dropped a half step or so if the performer's voice isn't in best form... is this true?
#47re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 8:00pm
Victor/Victoria had different keys for understudies. You fit the song to the performer's range.
One should be very careful not to confuse the changing of the key with talent. It's about where a song sounds best on each performer. It's not an Olympic track event where if so and so can't hit that high note, they aren't golden.
Is Madonna as good a singer as Patti LuPone? Not by a long shot. But this has nothing to do with key changes.
jsg03jd
Broadway Star Joined: 11/24/04
#48re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 9:59pmAll the actresses who followed Patti LuPone in SUNSET BOULEVARD had the keys of the major songs lowered: Betty Buckley, Diahann Carroll, Elaine Paige and, of course, Glenn Close. LuPone (other than Streisand on her Back to Broadway CD) is the only singer who belted D's in both WITH ONE LOOK and AS IF WE'VE NEVER SAID GOODBYE.
#49re: Scores lowered to fit certain actors?
Posted: 6/2/06 at 10:06pmYou also need to keep in mind that even the Original Broadway casts don't necessarily sing the scores in the key they were originally written in. Keys are always adjusted to best fit the singers voices; it's very rare that a composer writes something in one specific key and insists that it not be changed.
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