Debbie Gravitte Singing Defying Gravity- Page 2

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 1/22/06 at 10:58pm

Yes.

This is definitely one of the best solo CDs.

HER renditions of most of the songs are so different (SO refreshing).

I LOVE IT!

P.S. I love the "Thank you" in WHEN YOU'RE GOOD TO MAMA. DRoMP is insane as well.

Also, I have MEMORY on repeat. She does ana amzing version!

Updated On: 1/22/06 at 10:58 PM

[John Murdock]

Posted: 1/22/06 at 11:04pm

i am utterly dismayed at you the conissuers of broadway music find pleasure in tearing apart someone just beacuse you feel thier version of a song isnt the same as someone else. Debbie Gravitte is a personal friend and your comments are just unsettling.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 1/22/06 at 11:09pm

Sadly, some (not all) Wicked fans only like screeching, wailing, and riffing. Debbie is clearly on an American Idol. But she is my idol, and I adore everything she does.

Sometimes the unique ones in the world have to face such scrutiny. Sad, really.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 1/22/06 at 11:26pm

Ditto to what BobbyBubby said, to quote Mr.Albert Einstein: "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
Gravitte's a gem, and she sure knows how to make a song her own. All of the renditions of "Defying Gravity" I have heard sound exactly the same, only Gravitte can steer away from the Idina Menzel version (the one version of the song in the American Idol style I thoroughly enjoy) and still make it work perfectly well.
I ask again, why is this woman not on Broadway right now? The Broadway stage needs more Debbie Gravitte's.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 1/22/06 at 11:30pm

Plus she is acting through her whole CD. Acting! ::gasp::

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 12:49am

Yeah, I know how that can be a shock to some people.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 2:05am

I don't mean to start a feud, but, I just hate when ppl think that since someone likes to hear a women belt the sh*t outta some notes that they must be stupid or immature. I really like hearing some good belting, and to me it just seems like her version of DG lost some power. I know this is a CD and she's not actually performing this song in the show, but to me it just didn't do anything. On the other hand, her "Memory" is great. I really like her version of that song. I think I'm just not a fan of her voice quality on DG.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 2:13am

None of the American Idols on Broadway today are belting, they're pushing. Even when they sound alright, it still isn't what you'd call belting. Merman was a belter. Gravitte is a belter. Lillias White, Mary Testa, and Carolee Carmello can belt as well. Shoshana Bean or Idina, belters? Not really. I like Idina, but still, she isn't a belter. Belting has to sound natural, and almost effortless. Straining to hit a note, even if you hit it, isn't belting.

Julia Murney and Sherie Rene Scott are the leaders in the newish, and few, crop of belters.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 2:45am

Rentboy, don't get me wrong, I confess that when I saw Wicked very very early in its run (meaning I had never listened to the songs) and I heard Idina singing that high note at the end of "Defying Gravity" I teared up a little. She was magical in the show, I think. But, that's not the only way to see "Defyin Gravity," the song does not need that American Idol-style to get the message across. Let me deviate a little to get the message across, have you seen the show Chicago? It is completely stripped-down, no big scenery, no period costumes, it's only the actors out there with an orchestra, period. And somehow the show gets its message across perfectly well because the audience is forced to be focused in the score and the book. Same with Gravitte's "Defying Gravity," she strips it down from all that big screaming and screeching style, and makes it personal, and manages to make the theme of the song work very well. I respect her a lot for her take on the song, my number one "Defyin Gravity" is Idina's because the woman sure knew how to be Elphaba, but Gravitte's is my number one too because it belongs in a completely different category.

[alterego]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 3:57am

Some of the posters on this thread worry me. I wonder how they would have felt many years ago when Broadway tunes became popular from singers who did their own interpretations of said songs rather than do a copy of how it was sung in the show it originated from. I'm talking about singers like Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, The Andrew Singers, Peggy Lee, Streisand, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Julie London etc. They all sang showtunes and all have had chart success with these songs. I wonder if people would have jumped up and down and complained that they were sung/arranged as they were originally. I think not. If a song is to have a life beyond a show it often needs a diffeent spin on how it was originally performed.

I don't have this CD but I'll do something about it now, I want it to hear what the fuss is about! Updated On: 1/23/06 at 03:57 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 9:18am

Bobby, I couldn't agree more with your post about belting.

It's a shame that some people think screaming + straining = belting.

Which is most certainly not true.

Patti LuPone's belt always amazes me. But along with the performers you listed Bobby - I would say Luba Mason and Ruthie Henshall are two other fantastic singers with an effortless belt.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 1:59pm

Yeah, I saw the Chicago tour and loved it. Anyways, Yeah I see what ya mean Foscas. I mean Debbie does belt towards the end. I guess I was just expecting a more emotionally charged, anthem type song, which to me it is w/in the context of the show. I understand her stripping it down and making it more "relaxed." Her voice just doesn't do much for me on that song. Like someone said in another thread, she does a lot of classic vowels and whatnot, which I think detracts from the song. However, on the other songs on the recording she sounds great. Just that song or that version or something about that song just didnt' do it for me.

[uncamark]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 5:46pm

I will say that generally, Ana Gasteyer didn't do Elphaba melisma-manic in "Wicked" in Chicago and was very effective doing so. Having heard her do Celine Dion on "SNL" and do her role as Mae in the Showtime "Reefer Madness" with that over-the-top style, I was afraid that's how she would treat Elphaba, but she didn't. In fact, if the movie is made, I'd love to see her with Kristin in it.

As for Debbie Gravitte, haven't heard her in a while, but she's a great old-school Broadway performer and I'd love to hear her album. I did have some problems when she did an appearance on "The 700 Club," but I guess I can forgive her for it and hope Pat Robertson didn't make any comments about killing anyone when she was on.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 7:05pm

alterego -- I think that a lot of those posters you are talking about wouldn't be Broadway fans then BECAUSE this type of singing wasn't really prevelant.

I LOVE this CD -- I can't believe no one mentioned the Blues in the Night track -- it's fantastic -- I even love the orchestrations on that one!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 7:13pm

Mama Morton was originally played by a short white women who belted, the late great mary McCarthy who also sang Who's That Woman? in Follies.
Debbie is more of that ilk and a great talent.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 8:26pm

I am so hooked on this CD it's not even funny!

Well, maybe a little!

Her voice is just so easy to listen to over and over and over...

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 8:40pm

So I have yet to listen to Gravitte's version of this song, but I got so excited from all the talk you guys are having that today I went to an used CD store (where all the great Broadway albums are) and to my surprise I found her Alan Menken album at $5.99, of course I bought it, I am amazed at the kind of performer she is. Her rendition of Menken's songs is soooo great! I really admire her now and can't wait till I get money to buy her new album. Did you know she performed "Cabaret" for a ceremony honoring Hal Prince? I was gonna get that album too but it was $20.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 8:51pm

I love her Menken album too. Her MGM album is great as well.

[elmore3003]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 8:55pm

Debbie Gravitte is a dear friend and I'm proud to be involved slightly with this recording: I have two orchestrations on this album, including "Memory" which is receiving some nice compliments, and I would listen to Debbie sing the phone book. Some posters on this site need to remove the braces from their brains and broaden their minds.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 8:58pm

elmore - I like the ending of MEMORY, actually. It has a much more typical-Broadway, non specific ending...compared to the JELLICLE theme.

Great job!

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 9:13pm

elmore-Congratulations on those orchestrations, this is really one of the best solo albums by a Broadway performer that I have ever bought.
Ray-I discovered Gravitte through her Alan Menken album. "I Wanna Be A Rockette" is a true gem, and for the people who say Gravitte doens't belt, then listen to her singing some of the songs in that album, she sure knows how to belt a song, just not scream.

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 9:15pm

Wow, go elmore go!

I'm hoping I'll be able to see her again really soon. God I love her.

Hear hear to Foscas.

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 1/23/06 at 9:34pm

<== Debbie can do no wrong. I've seen her perform many times (almost obsessively) and I've never heard a bad note or bad rendition of a song. Her voice is thrilling. I saw her do Mama Morton, and though it didn't show her talents, she sang the hell out of "When You're Good to Mama". She is my favorite performer, and her Menken album is the best album ever. "Daughter of God" is amazing. Debbie love!!