Defying Defying Gravity- Page 2

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 7:26pm

Yeah, the girls do have decent voices, but I think that little girls, in their zeal to sing all of Wicked, don't understand that "Defying Gravity" is a horrible song for young vocal cords.

[ShizamM]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 7:27pm

here ya go people, TRY IT.. it's FUN!!! 'The Balducci Levitation' I'm doin' it as we speak & let me tell ya no effect compares to having an ordinary everyday object seemingly defy gravity - HAVE FUN! i'm gonna try the 'Swiss Movement' next...

https://www.magiccty.com/selflev.html

Updated On: 7/27/04 at 07:27 PM

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 10:16pm

their voices are relatively strong for their age.

But my GOD-

LEARN TO ACT!!!

[shira467]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 10:18pm

Honestly, the girl playing Elphie wasn't terrible at all. But belting above "D" just isn't for everyone. Maybe as she gets older, sure. But for now, if she does that, she'll have no voice when she hits 20. But I think she's got good chords to start with.

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 10:19pm

I want to nominate those guards for a Tony. They seriously had me laughing for about 10 minutes.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/27/04 at 10:21pm

For a young age, they were great. Just need to keep hand movements to a minimum.

Updated On: 7/31/04 at 10:21 PM

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 7/31/04 at 10:17pm

I found out who they are:

From Broadway.com:

Broadway, meet the Labbadia Sisters! Two Connecticut girls—Melissa is 15, Jessica is 12--the Labbadias are aspiring musical theater performers. Or at least, that's what I'm picking up from their website (!), which features audio clips of Melissa belting out “My Strongest Suit” and the girls teaming up for “In His Eyes” from Jekyll and Hyde and Wicked's “For Good.” Speaking of Wicked, there's amazing video of Melissa and Jessica performing the entire “Defying Gravity” scene that ends Act One of the show. All dolled up for a voice recital, Melissa (Elphaba) in is black and Jessica (Glinda) in white—get it?! They even have two well-dressed boys standing in for the Oz guards!

[EyEs In The SpotLight]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 3:46am

The first half of the song wasn't all that bad... but the second half wasn't all that great...

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 4:11am

Here is what I saw and heard on the video, if you care. Two very passionate, talented and attractive girls giving one heck of a performance in front of a very amateur photographer with an even less competent accompanist. Give them a break. They are not bad at all. In fact I think they are quite good.

And, by the way, I have noted all the names of people who said bad things about these girls so that you may NEVER criticize anyone on this board for being too cruel without having to answer to me!

And to the girls on the video…GO! You rock! You moved me and gave me chills. Seriously.

[InTheMoney]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 6:30am

Good for them having a go. But if they're looking for a Broadway career it probably isn't a great idea putting it on the web. Their voices are fairly good, though "Glinda" was completely overpowered by "Elphaba",who could probably use a little more control, and if she carries on shouting the high notes like that rather than belting them properly she'll lose her voice. She needs to stop singing in her throat.

The performance could use some work. There was too much moving around and turning away from each other during the spoken sections (it was like watching a merry-go-round!) and the older one needs to learn "less is more" with the hand gestures.

They could both do with proper singing coaches and performance/acting lessons. The physical confidence they clearly both have will certainly be an advantage but they need some intensive training to teach them how to use that and their voices. And to teach them how to pick their songs. Defying Gravity is definitely NOT a song for teenagers.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 9:42am

Good on ya Sueleen! Our own Neighbourhood Watch Program! LOL

[Kelliexo90]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 11:04am

The Elphaba had a really good voice, but the hand movements...oh. I know its already been said, but oh god. I really liked most of the singing though. How do you sing through your throat? I don't meant o like, change this thread.. but could someone give me a quick explanation.

[InTheMoney]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 12:37pm

It's to do with where you place the sound when you sing and where the sound comes from. For example, if you sing a really low note and place your hand on your chest, if you're singing it right you should feel it vibrating there. As you go up through your range, the vibrations higher until your head voice is (as the name suggests) focused in your head. The notes should vibrate in your throat as you go through your passagio/break.

The Elphie in that video isn't supporting her voice properly with her diaphragm which means that the sound is focused in the throat. You can hear the difference when someone sings too high in their throat - the sound is tight and the only way to get volume is to "shout" the notes because you can't use the diaphragm to punch them out. To be fair, I don't think she makes the best use of singing piano that she could. If she sang a little quieter to begin with then she wouldn't need to crescendo to quite so high a volume and she may be able to sing them through properly.

Her big problem seems to be breathing. If you don't breathe properly everything else goes to pot. She seems to be taking more snatch (quick shallow "top-up" breaths) breaths rather than deep breaths into the diaphragm. And the higher you sing the better supported it needs to be.

Don't know if that quite makes sense - someone else may be able to explain it better.

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 12:39pm

Those girls were great. I really liked the one with the pierced tongue, and I thought it was wonderful when she walked out of the light. Good move!

[shesings]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 12:41pm

They're little kids! Who cares how their vocal technique was?!? I mean I have to admit I was amused - the guards made me want to pee in my pants! But why are we giving out vocal advice? I listened to some more of their stuff and its pretty good. The 11 year old especially. Now if only they hadn't asked the kid from Better off Dead to play one of the guards... then again I'm glad they did, it added a lot of entertainment to my day!

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 12:41pm

I liked the really fat one better.

[OhSoWicked]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 1:26pm

Oh jeez guys, come on...that girl is a POSTER here, don't be mean!

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 1:27pm

I didn't mean the girls were fat -- I meant the chubby guard. I wasn't being mean. I thought the girls were great.

[InTheMoney]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 1:38pm

Yes they may be "little kids" (though the older one is only 6 years younger than me), but by putting it on the Net they open themselves up to criticism about their performance. Personally, I'd rather give advice than just say "it was dreadful" - far more constructive. And I don't think their age is an excuse to only say nice things - that would be far more damaging in the long term. Looking at their website, 'twould appear they want to be on Broadway. In which case they better start learning to take criticism and advice cos they'll get an awful lot when they enter "the business".

Besides which, if it were me, I'd want to know what people thought of my technique.

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 1:39pm

the hand motions were too much, but elphaba's voice was very good, i.m.o.

[OhSoWicked]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 1:50pm

I didn't mean the girls were fat -- I meant the chubby guard. I wasn't being mean.


LOL, oh!

[shlamdiddly]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 2:33pm

"Good lord, there were more hand & arm movements than in Deaf West's Big River"

HAHAHA that was hilarious!...it did look like bad sign language though...And then there is the whole body moving...swaying...stepping randomly...hunching...leaning...so on...OY

Updated On: 8/1/04 at 02:33 PM

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 6:31pm

Okay, you guys do realize that the girl who played Elphie is a member of this site right?

[ponine24601]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 7:40pm

..which would be the reason why i didn't say anything.

[shesings]

Posted: 8/1/04 at 7:44pm

Hopefully if Elphie Jr. is reading these posts she realizes that almost everyone is saying that she ahs a great voice. Chubby guards or not. Crazy arms or not. the girl can sing and thats something to be proud of. Hopefully she can take the rest of the criticism as a learning tool.