lip synching

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 9:45pm

after learning that the title song of POTO is lip synched, what other shows lip synch? i know mamma mia does it in the end, what other shows? hehe im jus curious! =D

[wiggum2]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 11:01pm

Why do they lip-sync POTO? IIRC there are not dancing or anything that would wind them.

[PJ]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 11:02pm

The cast of Mamma Mia! lipsyncs at the end? Well I'll be damned. I honestly couldn't tell and I was in the front row of the mezz. Learn something new everyday..

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 11:02pm

there are certain scenes where they use body doubles...... NOT the actual principals.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 11:13pm

Ya...someone told me there are too many sound issues in the Mamma Mia finale.

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 11:15pm

That is so weird! Why would they lip sync? Do they record the song before-hand and then just play it? What happens?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 11:17pm

Mamma Mia -- they sing along.. not technically lipsyinc..

and yes, they record it beforehand......

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 11:19pm

Don't they have microphone effects and stuff?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 9:14am

and the intellegencia of theatre audiences around the world are making MAMA MIA the number 1 musical?

These are the dark days on the planet Earth.

Yours for live singing on Broadway (an no body mikes)!

[InspectorJavert]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 9:38am

the reason that they lip sync in POTO is because of the numerous doubles they use on the stage. they use, i believe, two in the title song, and three in the "masquerade" number

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 9:40am

This was absolutely the first thing I noticed while watching MAMA MIA! and the main reason I can't recommend it to anyone. It is PRE-RECORDED! The vocals are so layered and "mixed," even when only two or three people are "singing" (e.g., "Dancing Queen") that there is no missing it. I thought I should have just gone to a good drag show for free at a bar where they lip-sync and it would probably be more entertaining. There were times when the cast would gamely sing along and then other times when they didn't. I thought that wow, when you're in MAMA MIA! you only have to sing when you feel like it. If you don't the audience will hear the pre-recorded vocals anyway! How nice. How freakin' lazy! What a huge JOKE of a "live" performance. As Bulldog says, dark days.....

Updated On: 1/3/04 at 09:40 AM

[magruder]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 9:48am

A number of shows use or have used click tracks to bolster onstage singing during particularly difficult staging or choreography.

[alterego]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 9:56am

Probably more shows use 'click tracks' than you wish to know about. This has been going on for years. I remember years ago in Barnum they had 11 tracks that were mimed.
In Phantom the big note that Christine does (in the title song) is mimed. Mamma Mia it is so obvious that much is mimed. Often in shows it is during numbers where the cast is moving around a lot and so that lyrics can be heard and understood, parts of songs are pre recorded, and the cast will sing over the tracks to give a bigger sound.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 10:02am

While a bit more dubious, using tracks is the same cheat as shows using pit singers or backstage singers to compensate for heavy dancing that made the singers unable to carry the ball at the same time. That's been going on forever (even in the Sacred Days before the evils of rock and/or roll,) click tracking is just the more technological (and cheaper) way to do it.

[magruder]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 10:03am

Dreamgirls had moments of click tracks (the payola "steppin' steppin' steppin'" section of "Stepping to the Bad Side" and parts of the Act Two opening) but the cast does sing on top of these pre-recorded vocals as well.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 10:11am

You hit the nail on the head with one word from you post JohnPapa, "cheaper". Kind of like how they were trying to get it where they weren't required to have pit players for the shows on Broadway. I would never go to a show without a pit orchestra. Grrrrr.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 12:14pm

What about Liza, the click track queen?

[BwayLover]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 12:55pm

I can't speak for other shows, but I know that the only recorded part in "Mamma Mia" is the finale, and that is really because of all the dancing. They may have recorded background vocals, but the leads all SING all their songs every night. As a person who's seen it more than once, I've come to recognize little changes in phrasing and word emphasis that was different every time I saw it- which means they are definitely live.

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 3:38pm

Well lets not forget Dance of the Vampires, and Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria. And the tapping in 42nd St is click tracked.

[MusicalComedyMan]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 3:38pm

Well lets not forget Dance of the Vampires, and Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria. And the tapping in 42nd St is click tracked.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 3:56pm

I personally would rather have trouble hearing somebody sing then have them lypsinc! I do know that Mamma Mia has a mic booth backstage...that is where the "back up vocals" come from. The ensemble is really singing that backstage.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 4:49pm

Yeah, I remember the Mamma Mia ensemble appeared from behind the set piece of an old perfromance on the rosie o'donnel show. Rosie said, "lets hav an applause for lousie pitre..........and the ensemble." I also agree that i would rather hav trouble hearing somebody sing than have them lysinc! =D

Updated On: 1/3/04 at 04:49 PM

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 5:44pm

I've gotta say it...Chinkie. Do you go out of your way to write in a way that is unreadable? You might be saying something interesting, but who the hell can tell?

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 6:36pm

Gotta agree with iflitifloat. This is not an AOL instant message.

[Becky]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 7:18pm

Then you have the foreign production of RENT that cast some famous supermodel that couldn't sing as "Maureen", and she had to lip sync her numbers. Ugh.

For once I agree with Broadway Bulldog, here's to a lip sync-less Broadway