Longest Sustained Note

[adamgreer]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 10:53am

Jason Danieley is always posting on facebook about his attempts to break the record for holding that note. I believe his record is somewhere around 35 seconds.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 10:56am

Danieley and "Both Reached for the Gun" came to mind first.

I also believe some Elphabas have attempted to crazy-extend the final note of any one of their three big songs ("The Wizard and I," "Defying Gravity," and "No Good Deed".

[Tag]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 10:58am

I don't remember exactly, but there is audio of Ramin from Les Mis (maybe a final performance or something) where he holds a note 30 or 40 seconds.  Maybe someone here will remember what I'm talking about!

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 11:00am

Tag, sounds like that would have been the ending of "Bring Him Home."

[nolanativeny]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 11:00am

There may be longer ones but I always think of "Make Them Hear You" from Ragtime and (this one is longer I think, or at least it feels so) the end of "Before The Parade Passes By" from the movie recording. That one is almost (almost!) an unnecessarily long one. 

[Anshel2]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 11:16am

Streisand's I Got Rhythm from her Musical Instruments TV special? A Piece of Sky from Yentl?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 11:23am

 Cuccioli's last note of This Is The Moment

[Tag]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 11:27am

The Guinness World Record for the longest sustained vocal note is 1min 52 seconds!

[ggersten]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 11:40am

"We looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv...... you" ?

Posted: 9/21/16 at 1:57pm

I can think of two that quite memorable -- Beth Leavel singing "As We Stumble Along" in The Drowsy Chaperone -- at the end of the song -- "As we stumble . . . fumble . . . bumble . . . pa-lumble . . . as we stumble . . . AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA -- long."  I saw that show so many times and the length of that note was never the same.  Being relatively new to theater, just watching her sing that one song made me understand why the orchestra must be live, and also made me wonder about "Contact," how different it would have felt with a live orchestra.

The other indelible note -- at the end of the first act of Andrew Lippa's "The Wild Party" at City Center Encores a while back. Steve Pasquale sings the word "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" so big, so high, so loud -- the audience just screamed its approval as the curtain slammed down.  Holy mackeral, what a moment. 

[Petralicious]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 2:17pm

Christine Dae  at the end of Phantom of the Opera! SING!!! SING!!! SING FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!

 

"

 

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 2:57pm

Ethel Merman during the song "I Got Rythmn" in the show "Girl Crazy". This is the way she tells the story:

 

"'In the second chorus of 'I Got Rhythm,' I held a high C note for 16 bars while the orchestra played the melodic line - a big, tooty thing - against the note. By the time I'd held that note for four bars the audience was applauding. They applauded through the whole chorus and I did several encores. It seemed to do something to them. Not because it was sweet or beautiful, but because it was exciting. Few people have the ability to project a big note and hold it. It's not just a matter of breath; it's a matter of power in the diaphragm. I'd never trained my diaphragm, but I must have a strong one. When I finished that song, a star had been born. Me.''

Updated On: 9/21/16 at 02:57 PM

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 9/21/16 at 3:00pm

Barbara Streisand seems to hold the last note in "Before The Parade Passes By" from "Hello Dolly" for like a full 30 seconds.