Anything Goes - title song

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 2:31pm

This is perhaps a dumb question, so bear with... but I was watching the Anything Goes title song rehearsal footage that's been on YouTube for a while, and Sutton Foster takes her last note up and belts it (perfectly). Then, in the TV commercials that have been running in the NYC area, she takes it down and then kind of swings it up a fifth, mid-note. And in the footage from Good Morning America, it's just down the octave altogether. I find it hard to believe that someone who's as capable a singer as she is would have to take it down or do that swing-up, since she nails the belted higher note so perfectly in that rehearsal footage. So...what gives? I haven't seen the show yet, but did they really change it to make it, well, less impressive? That seems so odd to me! I'd imagine that perhaps she was just under the weather at GMA, but it doesn't explain why they'd put that swing-note in the commercials!

(A little break from all of the Tony talk today!)

[Bwaynerd]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 2:35pm

lol a break from all tony talk!

[theatreguy]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 4:25pm

At the final preview she did the slide up. I thought it sounded great.

[Patash]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 5:23pm

I know many singers who would have a bit of trouble doing it at 8 or so in the morning which would explain the GMA one, but maybe the commercials were taped at that ghastly hour also?

I'll admit that doesn't make any sense, since they could just retape it if there was a problem. Another thought is that those high notes really don't sound as great on air (TV) as they do live, and it might have been an artistic choice to make it sound more "friendly"?

[BwayTday]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 5:44pm

I'm pretty sure the slide is her permanent thing to do on that note. It goes up to the same D so I don't see the problem.
Updated On: 5/3/11 at 05:44 PM

[i_love_megan]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 5:56pm

She had been battling a sinus infection the whole week leading up to the GMA performance, and I think she still had something going on for a bit after GMA.

[walt1896]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 7:57pm

And in classical music terms that slide they settled on up to the high note is called a glissando: very prominent in jazz in the 20's and 30's (often called a "gliss") it is a swell through the chromatics between notes, the "bend" or glissando Sutton does in that final belt is stunning.
Updated On: 5/3/11 at 07:57 PM

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 8:51pm

She does the gliss live during the show, and it sounds amazing. Meanwhile, that performance of the title number is amongst my favorite moments in a theatre, ever.

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 6/8/11 at 2:40pm

A very belated thank you for the replies! A gliss would make total sense (and be very Sutton), but that's not reaaaallly what's happening in the commercials. It's really just kind of a 'bounce' from the lower note to the higher note, which always makes me cringe when those spots come on. It just doesn't sound good to me (which is saying a lot as I generally love Sutton's voice). I guess it's technically a super-fast glissando... and maybe she now does it a little more gradually in the show, which I agree would sound fantastic. This is all small potatoes in the scheme of things. Thanks for obliging!