Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 07:48 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 07:44 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday - Chromolume 05:59 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
|
|
|
| Okay, I appreciate your responses, and have another one for you, Chromolume (or anyone else who thinks they may know). Years ago, I was sitting at the bar at Sardi's with a gent, whose portrait was nearby on one of the walls. I'm not sure if this is true, and it's the only time I ever heard it, but we were discussing the show "Nine" original cast, and he said that shows put the keys like a half-step (or a whole step) above someone's optimal tessitura, to make it somewhat harder for them so as to register for the audience more as "excitement". I don't know about this, though I do maintain that Raul Julia, as excellent as his acting and overall performance was in "Nine" was struggling with some of his songs. They really should have been put in lower keys, as he had problems with the tessitura and the high notes on the several times I saw the show. But what about this gent from Sardi's contention? Have you ever heard of it? | |
| reply to this message |
| re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 12:15 am EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday - PlayWiz 07:44 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
|
|
|
| *Years ago, I was sitting at the bar at Sardi's with a gent, whose portrait was nearby on one of the walls. I'm not sure if this is true, and it's the only time I ever heard it, but we were discussing the show "Nine" original cast, and he said that shows put the keys like a half-step (or a whole step) above someone's optimal tessitura, to make it somewhat harder for them so as to register for the audience more as "excitement". * I haven't heard it phrased that way exactly, but I have heard that, in the era before body mics and high-level voice amplification, keys tended to be placed at the very top of a performer's vocal range to aid in projection and audibility. I have a very clear memory of Robert Morse telling me, during an interview, that Frank Loesser would bring the lead actors into a Broadway theater -- ideally, the theater where the show would be playing -- to set the keys there. And I thought that really spoke to the brilliance of Loesser. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday | |
| Posted by: Unhookthestars 12:48 am EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday - Michael_Portantiere 12:15 am EST 02/19/19 | |
|
|
|
| For what it’s worth, I remember watching the “Masterclass” documentary series on HBO many years ago. In the episode starring Patti Lupone, she encourages one of the young musical-theater aspirants who was having trouble conveying emotion or generating excitement in her performance to try singing the song again in a higher key to raise the physical stakes (i.e., as your “gent” said, to make the physical act of singing harder), and hopefully, the emotional stakes with it. It worked like magic. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 05:20 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday - Unhookthestars 12:48 am EST 02/19/19 | |
|
|
|
| I would say that I'm sure this happens in shows, but that it probably depends on the show, and of course, on the performers. In a case like Nine, where the role of Guido is already quite taxing in terms of stage time, etc, I might think they wouldn't want to risk tiring his voice out further by raising keys - but I don't know what actually happened. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 07:55 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Kiss Me, Kate and The Band’s Visit Yesterday - PlayWiz 07:44 pm EST 02/18/19 | |
|
|
|
| I can't say I ever heard that. As a musical director/vocal coach, I would have been against doing that. Especially in the case of an open-ended run like that. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.012628 seconds.