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"Summertime" is too high?

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#1

"Summertime" is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 1:07pm

This is from Dierdre Murray, musical adaptor of the upcoming Diane Paulus "Porgy and Bess". I got the quote from another site.

"At the beginning of the show, Clara is singing 'Summertime' to her baby. But when I listened to it, I asked myself, 'Why is she singing so high? That would wake the baby up. It has to be a lullaby.' So I took the whole thing down. And then I decided that I wanted to use an accordion, because whenever I hear an accordion it always transports me someplace else—a folkloric place that doesn't have machines. So the show now opens with Clara singing 'Summertime' as a duet with the accordion."

To me there is no more thrilling opening to a show - musical or opera - than Porgy and Bess's harsh honky tonk piano music suddenly dissolving into the langorous beauty of Clara's high floating soprano singing to her baby on a hot summer night. Why on earth would they mess with one of the great moments of the piece and add an accordian!!!

Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

#2

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 1:13pm

Nooo, I hate when they transpose "Summertime" down. Let sopranos have it!

And that accordion thing is stupid, IMO.

Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#3

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 1:15pm

This is currently being discussed on the larger P&B thread. Some people have contributed interesting responses. It seems like a totally pig-headed idea.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

#4

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 1:15pm

I guess we should just be glad that she isn't similarly transported by bagpipes.

#5

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 1:28pm

"Whenever I hear an accordion, It always transports me some place else"
Me too, Poland.

Updated On: 8/13/11 at 01:28 PM

#6

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 1:54pm

If they're using an accordion for the show's opening
number,I wish they'd do "Valse Milieu".

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

#7

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 2:12pm

OK, that's it! I take back all of my "let's wait and see!" Now I stand proudly with Sondheim!

Enough is f***in' enough!

What is this Faubourg Catfish?

#8

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 2:24pm

""Whenever I hear an accordion, It always transports me some place else"
Me too, Poland. "

Just passed a sip full of coffee through my nose!

Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!

#9

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 2:26pm

"Fish are jumpin', 'cause dis song was too high."

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#10

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 2:42pm

I agree with Mallardo 100%. The description given of the proper opening is just perfect. And to think that I actually played the accordion when I was a kid! I wonder what the next surprise will be from the music department!!!

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

#11

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 2:48pm

"Ooooh, your daddy's rich, and your ma is a mezzo ..."

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#12

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 2:54pm

And Porgy can make his final exit singing "Grand Knowing You".

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

#13

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 2:59pm

In John Doyles' version,
Clara actually plays the accordion.

Updated On: 8/13/11 at 02:59 PM

#14

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 3:02pm

That is really funny.

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

#15

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 3:02pm

And NOT that well.

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

#16

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 4:12pm

best 12 and Curtain Pulldown, you made my day! very funny!

#17

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 4:54pm

I'm all for naturalism, but getting a little out of control, aren't we?

I know you. I know you. I know you.

#18

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 4:57pm

I'm still optimistic about this project (mostly because of Audra) but yikes. These kind of changes are just...bizarre. I'm glad they're not opening cold on Broadway. If the changes made are reviled in Boston, they may rethink them for Broadway. I hope...

"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim

#19

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 6:19pm

When I saw this report on the other thread I honestly thought it was a joke.

The remarks from the creators of this new version just keep getting worse...

#20

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 6:27pm

Who the F*CK is she to decide the song is too high?

#21

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 6:31pm

I don't mind them taking the song down - Audra will be amazing no matter what - but the accordion is a stupid idea. I hope I end up eating my words, but I don't think I'll enjoy THAT revised an opening.

#22

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 6:33pm

It won't be Audra singing it though. She's Bess. Clara is a relatively minor role and "Summertime" is her moment.

Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!

#23

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 6:34pm

Nikki Renee Daniels will be singing "Summertime".

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

#24

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 6:36pm

Um, Clara sings the song, not Bess. Although, an accordion COULD be evocative when Bess sings it to the baby in the quiet aftermath of the hurricane. But I doubt it.

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

Updated On: 8/13/11 at 06:36 PM

#25

'Summertime' is too high?

Posted: 8/13/11 at 6:56pm

Can't they just cast someone with a really pretty head voice? That won't sound harsh for a lullaby, would it? And do people actually belt this song in the original key? And if we're all being Punked! by Ashton Kutcher, I'll hunt him down and kick him square in the hoohoodilly.

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