Is it true Broadway singers lip-synch for some shows?- Page 2

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:29am

That was bad!

[winston89]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 1:34am

I don't remember where I read this, I think it was playbill.com. But, in any event as far as the Tonys are concerned, the leads usually sing live while they record the ensemble.


defygravity24, I don't think that the problem comes from off stage singing. I think that the problem that people have arises with vocals being pre recorded. That it takes away the element of things being live.

Also, isn't there an equity rule that says that if there is to be pre recording in a show it has to be a recording of the same actor or actress that is onstage. A basic example of this would be Phantom. That they have two different recorded vocals for Christine, one for the lead and one for the alternate.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 2:30am

Nobody seems to really know the answer to this, but was the EVITA Tony performance lip synced? I've heard various rumors but no one seems to know.

Updated On: 2/6/10 at 02:30 AM

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 3:19am

Sutton Foster's "I don't wanna show off" during the drinking water bit.

I know its MEANT to be tracked obviously, but it still counts!

[Oldschool]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 11:02am

"You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray is tracked. It's a modern patter song with a lot of active dancing. The performers come off stage completely winded even with the tracking.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 11:11am

I would rather hear it sung well than live. I mean with all the over amplification who can really tell anyway, right?

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 11:15am

I wonder if it is not sung live, though, can you really say you saw the show "live"? I mean that is like people saying they have "seen" a show 20 times when what they really mean is they watched a bootleg of the show 20 times.

It is a dilemma. Or is it ironic?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 11:56am

"You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray is tracked. It's a modern patter song with a lot of active dancing. The performers come off stage completely winded even with the tracking."

Wrong.
They are singing and dancing the entire thing.

[Dantes]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:04pm

After playing in many West End and UK tours as well as then working at a theatre for 5 years seeing all the toring shows come in i can say in the UK (And Broadway) its pretty standard practice.

We had a click track in Fame for 3 songs (Dancing On The Sidewalk, Hard Work and Fame)

Shows which came to the Palace Theatre Manchester where i worked nearly always did. We used to hear them testing the click tracks prior to letting the audience in

The worst offenders were
The Wedding Singer (over 8 songs for the ensemble were pre recorded)

Singing in the Rain

We Will Rock You (nearly every song with Ensemble in)

Mary Poppins (Steppin Time and Anything can Happen)

Mamma Mia (Most of the ensemble numbers)

Miss Saigon (About 4 songs)

Footloose (ensemble bits on Holdin out for a Hero, Lets Here it For the Boy, Im Free and Footloose)

Flashdance - (4 songs)

And thats just a few

[turquoisefish]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:06pm

I don't know for certain but I would have thought that a number like You Can't Stop the Beat would be sung live with a backup playing too rather than just relying on the recorded track.

The place I have noticed it most is in shows with children in. In the recent UK tour of Evita the little girl who sings a solo was clearly miming. It seems that the Kenwright production of Whistle Down the Wind that was on a couple of years back in London used recordings for the children apart from the leads. In Long Overdue for a Miracle and When Children Rule the World it was obvious that some of the voices in the solos didn't belong to the little children delivering the lines.

I think it is fine to use recordings to boost the sound in high energy dance numbers and for short sections, like in Phantom of the Opera, where the lead is busy but it shouldn't be used for the whole show or anything like that.

[turquoisefish]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:12pm

Dante, When I went on the tour of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane they were testing the voiceover that is near the end of the show (So Frodo Baggins boarded the great ship...). It was really odd hearing it out of context, I'd guess it would be the same with the click tracks.

And I don't care if the Wedding Singer was on click for the ensemble, I still loved it!

[gypsy4]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:36pm

Who cares if some small elements are pre-recorded sometimes it's impossible it's still live theatre it's not like a theme park show. cheep sets canned musicians and canned vocals and recorded dialogue. 100% of the time. if Broadway was to come to that I don't know what would happen
Updated On: 2/6/10 at 12:36 PM

[phantomcrazy14]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:44pm

Jeez, sorry to cause all this talk I just was wondering. I can see for the crazy dance numbers pre-recording. Just wondering but is the part when Elphaba flies in Wicked pre-recorded? This lady sitting behind me was saying (annoyingly loudly) it was. I saw it on a matinee with Julie Reiber (who was a stand-by)

[gypsy4]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:48pm

Defying Gravity! has never been pre-recorded explain all the riffing some of the actresses do? it's live!
Updated On: 2/6/10 at 12:48 PM

[phantomcrazy14]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:51pm

Haha sorry didn't mean to offend. And I know what you mean, I've seen some videos on Youtube when you can tell the actresses are struggling a little bit.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 12:52pm

Yea, and she doesn't "fly", she is standing on a cherry picker.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 7:37pm

c

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 7:39pm

I've been wondering about the Evita Tony performance, too. If they were lip synching, then Patti LuPone is one of the most convincing lip synchers I've ever seen.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 8:17pm

Just wondering but is the part when Elphaba flies in Wicked pre-recorded? This lady sitting behind me was saying (annoyingly loudly) it was. I saw it on a matinee with Julie Reiber (who was a stand-by)

No, those vocals are always live.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 11:31pm

i think last year's disastrous sound mixing at the tonys we can safely say that the tony numbers are done live.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 2/6/10 at 11:46pm

" It's a modern patter song with a lot of active dancing."

You say modern patter song, I say "River Deep, Mountain High" rip-off.

[AlfieByrne]

Posted: 2/7/10 at 12:27am

You can tell that some moments of that Evita performance was prerecorded. She closes her mouth a bit too early before the note ends in one instance.

[Colle]

Posted: 2/7/10 at 8:24am

I am curious to know, which songs in "Miss Saigon" are tracked?

[singingadream]

Posted: 2/7/10 at 8:48am

In regards to You Can't Stop The Beat, the ending of the song is defiantly tracked.

[Oldschool]

Posted: 2/7/10 at 10:35am

TheatreDiva, I must emphatically disagree. I know the soundman for one of the tours and was told that it was tracked. Now how much of the tracking ends up in the mix on any one night will vary with the performer and how well they're doing that day. Having sat in the wings one evening, I can assure you that they are both being tracked and are glad for it because how winded they are coming off stage.

Even the dancers for the Kirov come off stage winded. I've seen it. I don't get what all the complaining is about, unless its breaking the glass of fantasy. There seems to be so much scuttlebutt about singers who dance and are being tracked -- Madonna, Brittney, etc. No one can dance full out and sing full out simultaneously. Nothing was more telling for me than seeing the best ballet dancers come off stage at the Kennedy Center and have them be winded. So how do you think modern dancers are going to do when they're asked to sing as well?
Updated On: 2/7/10 at 10:35 AM