Anna Kendrick sings On the Steps of the Palace (Full Audio Only)

[PastorErnst]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 9:20pm

Anna Kendrick - On the Steps of the Palace Updated On: 12/3/14 at 09:20 PM

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 10:04pm

Anna sounds terrific!

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 10:06pm

She knocked it out of the park!

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 10:10pm

Flawless. I LOVED her last note!!

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/3/14 at 11:41pm

I thought she sounded good but was surpised at the last note being a belt instead of head voice. Sounds amazing though.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:38am

Although I think Anna sounds terrific during the whole thing, I was so distracted by the lyric changes. I get that she's singing the song in the present tense, but as someone who knows the lyrics to Into the Woods like the back of my hand, changing "any guide" to "collide" was slightly jarring. And when she mentioned in an interview that the brought the whole song up a whole step, I figured she had no clue what she was talking about...I didn't think they'd actually done it. Great job to her!

[HorseTears]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:54am

She sounds great. A few of the higher notes sound a bit iffy - she's definitely pushing herself - but it kinda works for the character and the song.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:54am

Keeping the song in past tense in the movie would RUIN, and I mean absolutely ruin, the flow of the story. It would be a jarring slam on the breaks. I hope they do this in the same way the shot the runaway scene in THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:12am

I was so curious I just checked on the piano, turns out she's only a half step higher than Kim Crosby and Jacqui Dankworth (since the Broadway revival has the weird ending with Lara Benanti going up a third for). I wasn't saying I disagree with the way they altered the scene itself -- her reflecting on this event in the film would be Boring -- my mind was simply surprised by the unknown, something that I don't often go into musicals with; any show I've seen I've usually heard dozens of time on the cast album, I like to save surprise for my television-watching. Did I hear that we will see Jack in the land of the giants and Little Red go into the belly of the wolf?

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:12am

double post

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 02:12 AM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:14am

Gypsy101, it was also pretty jarring how she went back and forth from "You" to "I."

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:46am

"Or then what if I am what a prince would envision? But then how can you know who you are til you know what you want, which I don't, so then which do you pick?"
You're right, she's changing between you and I about twice a line. I'm surprised Sondheim didn't do a more consistent change...are we sure was this him changing the lyric and not some producer?

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 02:46 AM

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 4:04am

Correct me if I'm way off, but isn't she using "I" when specifically talking about her situation and then using "you" for the more broader, general (or everybody) sense?

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 6:12am

@GiantsInTheSky2 Yes, you're correct that she is probably being grammatically correct, but the song's original point of view using "you," instead of both "I" and "you," was more pleasing to the ears, if only because there isn't a constant shifting in tense.

The song's happening right now! I'm talking about you. I mean me. You? Me. Both of us together.
She's out of our hair!

[dave1606]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:27am

There is some video here too:

http://www.whatsonstage.com/video/first-look-at-anna-kendrick-singing-and39on-the-st_234.html

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:32am

i am on TEAM ANNA here...she did knock it out of the park!

[Kad]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:32am

The lyrical changes make perfect sense. She's using a general "you" because the idea is applicable to everyone. No tense is being changed.
IE: "How are you expected to choose between the chocolate cake and the ice cream? What if you want fruit, like I do? I don't know what to do!"

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 10:32 AM

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:02am

That is a mind-bogglingly good rewrite. It's so present and vital and in the moment...something I never thought the song could become.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:29pm

I. Love. This.

[tazber]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:31pm

Me too!

I posted my love for this in the main thread.

I was very nervous after the fiasco that was Nine, but everything I've seen so far from ITW has me completely confident that they got it right.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:38pm

I have a bunch of friends whose opinions I trust who've seen screenings and have had wonderfully positive things to say. I was offered tickets for the screening, but my Christmas night has been planned around this for so long that I actually went bonkers and turned them down.

Plus, I simply cannot be objective about INTO THE WOODS. It's meant to much to me in my life that even a bad production (and oh how I've seen bad productions) have reduced me to tears.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:39pm

This is great. Anna sounds wonderful. Perhaps now people can move on from all the critical skepticism.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:48pm

If Anna Kendrick isn't in the cast of the future WICKED film, I think I'm going to break my antique clock in anger.

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:53pm

That. Was. Brilliant. I was so nervous about hearing the last note but I absolutely loved it.

I'm the same way as you, SonofRobbieJ. This musical never lets me down and I'm simply reduced to tears every time I listen to it.

[RW3]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:26pm

I know that Anna said that she wants to do other stuff beside musicals, but she is definitely my pick for Glinda in the inevitable Wicked movie. In addition, she sounds phenomenal.