NINE - "Unusual Way"
NINE - "Unusual Way"
TalkinLoud
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/09
#1NINE - "Unusual Way"
Posted: 11/15/09 at 9:52pm
Nor sure why it says Griffith Frank and not Daniel Day-Lewis? Maybe it's not his character. I'm not really familiar with the musical.
Not much of an accent, but he sounds great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCNHGZWZKL4
#2re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/15/09 at 9:55pm
Yes, I was just going to post this. This is NOT DDL and NOT the song as it appears in the film.
David Foster produced this track and this is his new protege, Griffith Frank. apparently. This is a POP COVER version of the song that will appear on the soundtrack along with a cover version of the classic 60s pop song "Quanda, Quanda, Quanda" performed by the Black Eyed Peas in addition to all the songs as done in the film.
P
Updated On: 11/15/09 at 09:55 PM
#2re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/15/09 at 9:58pmI believe recordings of "Unusual Way," "Cinema Italiano," and another song by Griffith Frank are floating around on the internet. They aren't performed by the people who will actually sing them in the film (though the real versions of "Cinema Italiano" and "Take It All" are available online as well).
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#3re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/15/09 at 10:11pm
Nicely done! Even if I don't think it's going to "shake up" the pop charts today.
Beautifully produced and performed.
And this is one hell of a good song, period.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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#4re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/16/09 at 12:59am
I really love the Brain D'Arcy James sang it on The Maury Yeston Songbook...love this song period!
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#5re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/29/09 at 10:44pm
I've just heard the complete version of this, my favorite song from the score as performed by Nicole Kidman in the film and I cried, cried that such a beautiful song was ruined.
This is one of the reasons I despise the "Hollywood" mentality. Instead of doing the material justice they opt for the almighty box office dollar and cast people who are inappropriate for the role. They wind up transposing the song to service the actor and not the character and wind up ruining the material.
I see film as a perfect opportunity to immortalize material. To capture it in it's best possible form for future generations. Now don't get me wrong I don't mean the film has to be an exact replica of the stage version but I do believe when it's adapted for the screen it should be done with a little more respect for the material.
Casting Kidman in this role who sings this song was just wrong. So wrong.
#6re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/29/09 at 10:51pm
Marquise you are flat WRONG, at least as far as my opinion is concerned.
I think Kidman's version is the most cool, chilling, sensual and sexual take on the song. I chose those words very carefully after much thought. AT FIRST I was unsure, but I realize this, along with Brian D'Arcy James version, gets at the truth in the song.
Benanti's version will always remain a vocal delight and the counterpoint is gorgeous, but Kidman gets to the very root, dare I say soul, of what the song is really about.
This is a great song and I was ready to hate Kidman, I really was. She was the one thing I was not looking forward to and I must admit that the first time I heard the entire soundtrack all the way through, this was the track, along with "My Husband Makes Movies" and "I Can't Make This Movie" that I feel reached an emotional level never equaled even in the show on stage. I have never felt the lyrics as much as in Kidman's take, either. You even have to admit the lyrics are usually lost with the original vocal line of this song, as Yeston himself points out.
Again, just my opinion and I get where you are coming from as a purist of the show. But the film is not the show and the film score has very little to do with the stage score.
Only 5 songs remain relatively unchanged from the stage show ("Guido's Song", "Be Italian", "Folies Bergere", "Unusual Way" and "My Husband Makes Movies") and of those 2 have substantial lyric changes.
P
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#7re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/29/09 at 10:59pm
I know the film is not the stage show, If there is any one who is an advocate for a film version of a stage show to be opened up cinematically it's me.
The film score owes itself to it's stage incarnation because that is what it's based on. If it didn't then they would have tossed out every single song originally written and composed an entirely new score.
What you are hearing as sensual and cool and chilling I'm hearing as someone struggling with a song and just not cutting it.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Updated On: 11/29/09 at 10:59 PM
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#8re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/29/09 at 11:17pm
This was one of Biggest fears with this movie because I am Not a fan of Kidman's, and UNUSUAL WAY is one my favorite songs.
I plan not to hear it until I see it in context with the movie.
#9re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:13amOk...I have a question. You said that only the latter two spongs were changed with subtle lyrical issues...Is Stephanie(Kate Hudson), still in "Folies Bergere" or would you say "Cinema Italian" the new extended version of the song.
"I think lying to children is really important, it sets them off on the right track" -Sherie Rene Scott-
#10re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:15amThe movie Stephanie is not the same as the stage show's Stephanie.
#11re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:21am
The only song that has no changes at all is "Unusual Way and even that is missing Guido's part. Everything else has minor to major changes.
Stephanie is not in "Folies Bergere". There are back-up dancer/singers though.
"Cinema Italiano" has nothing to do with the "Trouble With Contini" patter contrapuntal verse in the original stage version. The point of the song is actually the exact opposite, praising his films for their originality versus the stage version's Stephanie calling him "the king of mediocrity, a second-rate philosopher who thinks that he is Socrates, etc."
P
Updated On: 11/30/09 at 01:21 AM
#12re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:24am
I posted this in another thread somewhere; at the talk back with Kidman that I attended she said the song was originally recorded in the original key and the day before the filming they decided to take it down an octave. Presumably some of the reasoning behind this was to make the song more understated, conversational and the lyrics easier to understand.
So even if a 'better' singer was cast in the role, I don't think the song would have been given the musical treatment it is on stage. That's the price for adapting intimate musical (soprano) numbers for the art of film.
What Kidman brings to the role, outside of her skills as an actress is real Hollywood glamour. They (I believe) really needed a bonafide movie STAR in this role with an astute vulnerability - and thats what she delivers
Updated On: 11/30/09 at 01:24 AM
#13re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:26amYa that is what i figured....I heard everyone is technically in "Folies Bergere"...is that true
"I think lying to children is really important, it sets them off on the right track" -Sherie Rene Scott-
#14re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:30am
"They (I believe) really needed a bonafide movie STAR in this role with an astute vulnerability - and thats what she delivers "
How do you think Catherine Zeta-Jones would have been in the role, if she actually accepted it?
#15re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:35am
I think Catherine Zeta Jones would have been too strong. The part of Claudia is so small - its basically one scene in the film. And in that scene we have to see a woman vulnerable to a man she loves but in his eyes can only be his muse. Kidman fits that kind of aloof/mysterious goddess like etherial quality perfectly. I'm not sure Jones could have projected that quality.
Truth be told the role Jones was most suited for was Saraghina. No complaints there though as Fergie is fabulous in the part.
Updated On: 11/30/09 at 01:35 AM
JP2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/2/07
#16re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:35am
So, is NINE the new CABARET?
Updated On: 11/30/09 at 01:35 AM
#17re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:42amIts one part CABARET, one part CHICAGO, 4 parts 8 1/2, and 2 parts the film version of FOLLIES that hasn't been made yet.
#18re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:45am
Yes, JP2. That was exactly what I first told a good friend. If that is damning praise, well, than so be it. CABARET is the best movie musical since the MGM era as far as I'm concerned so NINE being compared in that way is a high compliment, at least for me. For purists, they need look elsewhere if they want anything closely resembling the stage show.
P
JP2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/2/07
#19re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:56am
Ah, yes I figured. Though I meant more in a sense of the majority of the score being cut/replaced with new songs. Characters having different personalities, names, etc.
I haven't seen the film yet, obviously, and can't quite comment on the quality.
Updated On: 11/30/09 at 01:56 AM
#20re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 2:06amThe film of NINE is also a lot closer to the original 8 1/2 film than the stage musical - so in some ways its actually more of a return to the source material.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#21re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 5:19amNINE can't be the new CABARET. CHICAGO is the new CABARET.
JP2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/2/07
#22re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 12:33pmI think you missed the point of comparison. Chicago is pretty faithful to it's stage counterpart.
#23re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 12:59pm
Lovely arrangement!
I hate the vocal tho.
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Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#24re: NINE - 'Unusual Way'
Posted: 11/30/09 at 1:14pm
The arrangement is lovely. The vocal KILLS it though. Even though the song was brought down an octave it's just the overall vocal interpretation I find lacking.
I am a fan of some of the new material though, especially CINEMA ITALIANO although it's style is a little removed from what's interpreted in the rest of the score.
I also am very impressed with Penélope Cruz' take on A CALL FROM THE VATICAN. Fergie's vocals on BE ITALIAN blow all her predecessors out of the water and I am including Kathi Moss.
I am basing my opinion on the song itself not on the film as a whole. Before my point of view is taken out of context and skewed by others on this board I am not so much the "purist". I am all for re-interpretation, re-imagining just so long as the original material isn't done an injustice. I haven't seen the film and I am not in any way shape or form judging the film as a WHOLE. That would be ridiculous as I haven't seen the film as a whole yet. I am basing my opinion about this one song and this one song ONLY.
I feel I had to explain myself because there are some people on this board who are in a very bad habit of not reading a post in it's entirety and then misconstruing one's original intention/opinion.
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