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re: Nothing against Houdyshell, but from a singing perspective? Upgrade. (nm)

Posted by: AlanScott 04:36 pm EDT 03/12/14
In reply to: re: Nothing against Houdyshell, but from a singing perspective? Upgrade. (nm) - NewtonUK 04:26 pm EDT 03/12/14

Yeah, but you still better have good singers for Adelaide, Sky and Nicely-Nicely. They need to seem like interesting people, too, but they gotta sing. Sky isn't rangy, but the voice better be pleasant and he better have a good sense of line.

Adelaide is such a good role that a passable singer who's an excellent actress can get away with it, but someone who's an excellent singer and an excellent actress is better. Vivian Blaine was known much more for being a singer than an actress when she was cast and, according to some accounts, the role was then built up considerably for her when they saw she could also act. But the character is a singer, and Blaine was one of the best singers of her type in Broadway history.

And Nicely-Nicely is mostly singing. He doesn't say a whole lot so he better sing well, especially when it gets to "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat."


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re: Nothing against Houdyshell, but from a singing perspective? Upgrade. (nm)

Posted by: Chromolume 05:26 pm EDT 03/12/14
In reply to: re: Nothing against Houdyshell, but from a singing perspective? Upgrade. (nm) - AlanScott 04:36 pm EDT 03/12/14

But the character is a singer

Indeed. Maybe the singing at the Hot Box doesn't need to be Carnegie hall quality, lol, but the fact is she IS a dancer/singer at the club.

And indeed, I can't imagine a production where the Sky and Nicely don't have real singing ability. And if that last line of "Fugue For Tinhorns" is really going to land, you need a Benny and a Charlie who can deliver the goods too - not just hit the notes, but really SING that last "right here."

Conversely, I've seen productions where indeed the Sarah must have been cast on her singing ability first - but the acting was sub par. So having a "singer" in the role is not all you need.

As for Cartwright, as originally written, it's a non-singing role. (I don't know if she joined in with the ensemble by the end of "Sit Down" or not, but there are no solo moments of any kind.) The solo high C moment, added for the Lane/Prince revival, is really a stolen moment from the original version of "Brotherhood Of Man," when the also usually non-singing (until that moment) Miss Jones joins in with the song, and holds a high F over the men singing "Oh, that noble feeling...").

Which I suppose is why the Broderick revival of How To Succeed felt they had to do something else instead, so they made Miss Jones a "real" gospel singer.


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And speaking of Benny . . .

Posted by: AlanScott 05:46 pm EDT 03/12/14
In reply to: re: Nothing against Houdyshell, but from a singing perspective? Upgrade. (nm) - Chromolume 05:26 pm EDT 03/12/14

Johnny Silver was never going to sing Cavaradossi or Tristan or even Eisenstein, but he had a good character tenor. For NBC's Television Opera Theatre in the 1950s, he sang Goro and Dr. Blind.


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re: Nothing against Houdyshell, but from a singing perspective? Upgrade. (nm)

Posted by: Chromolume 05:33 pm EDT 03/12/14
In reply to: re: Nothing against Houdyshell, but from a singing perspective? Upgrade. (nm) - Chromolume 05:26 pm EDT 03/12/14

The solo high C moment, added for the Lane/Prince revival, is really a stolen moment from the original version of "Brotherhood Of Man," when the also usually non-singing (until that moment) Miss Jones joins in with the song, and holds a high F over the men singing "Oh, that noble feeling...").

Just so no one has to correct me on this, lol, I *do* know she sings before that moment in the song (she in fact starts the "oh, that noble feeling" section on her own, before the guys join in) - but it's the "holding the big high note over the full company" aspect of the number I was focusing on. ;-)


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