Just Cos It's On The Recording, Don't Mean It's The Best

We've all been so familiar with cast recordings of musicals that we sometimes forget that this is not always the definitive version. I've recently learnt this with the release of the London Cast Recording of Legally Blonde; the annoying "live recording" applause and laughs aside this version seems so much fresher and full of life. Plus Sheridan Smith is phenomenal. As I seem to have exhausted all the musicals on Spotify and have to wait until this season gets going on Broadway for new musicals, I have found myself delving into the realms of YouTube for fresh takes on established songs. I've decided to share these with you in what may become a regular feature depending on how many more youtubealicious treats I find. But we shall start with these three.


I recently added most of William Finn's back catalogue to my Spotify playlist as I enjoyed Spelling Bee and have been recommended much of his work by friends. His works A New Brain and Falsettoland definitely bare many similarities. A New Brain is a semi-autobiographical account of Finn's battle against a brain tumour whilst Falsettoland concerns a gay Jewish man and his battles with his ex wife, his son's bar mitzvah and his lover's struggle against AIDS. I first heard the song Sailing sung by my friend Dale (I would link to his blog but he has a proper job now working in politics so I don't know if he wants to be associated with a little old blog like this!) at his inaugural cabaret show and loved it in then. I finally got round to searching for it on Spotify to find it was performed by Norm Lewis on the cast recording. For those who don't know, I love Norm Lewis's silky smooth voice, it so comforting to listen to and he get away with singing almost anything and still sound amazing. As an extra note, I really gutted I can't make it to "The Music of Scott Alan" produced by my friend Phil as Norm is going to be there. Instead I'll be pretending to laugh at the jokes of financial advisor types in Grantham. Sad face :(. So back to Sailing, firstly here's the chosen video (as there isn't one of Norm I had to go with someone else).















 
Now I admit that this isn't the best sung rendition of the song but it has a lot of heart and works well with Jonathan's voice despite being completely different to Norm's. Groff's voice is sweet and tender, as if he were singing a lullaby to his lover. What I love about this song is how it flows so easily up to that middle eight where Finn injects a little humour with lines like "sex is good but I'd rather be sailing", almost to break up the sentimentality and remind us that this isn't a stereotypical love song. 


As well as non-sentimental love songs that are still tearjerkers, Finn also has a knack for inappropriately funny bittersweet songs that really get to you in a way you weren't expecting, for this we look at Falsettoland. Completely the trilogy with The March of the Falsettos and In Trousers, it came to Broadway in 1992. But for our trip into non-original renditions we have to travel forward to this year and Seth Rudetsky's Broadway Chatterbox. Recently, I've been trying to catch up on my Chatterboxes via broadwayworld.com and stumbled upon an interview with Krista Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor, stars of the new Addams Family musical. Wesley Taylor is most well known as Franz in Rock of Ages, a comedic gay German and so the song he sang came as a complete surprise and a revelation. After listening to the original version, this is so much more heartfelt. So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you You Gotta Die Sometime-





This song reflects a harrowingly truthful view about dying, whereas most musicals gloss over death ala A Little Fall of Rain from Les Miserables, Falsettos represented a more realistic portrayal of the effect that news has on us. This may have been a result of the increasing threat of AIDS to the gay community in New York, they needed something they could relate to, we could no longer brush it under the carpet. Whereas Stephen Bogardus's version was very lyrical and precise, almost matter of fact, Wesley Taylor has a vulnerability in his voice, as if he is trying to keep a brave face but inside he's crumbling. I particularly like the strain in the last sustained Sometime, it's not because he can't reach the note, its because he's doing a little "pull at your heartstrings" riff. I'm officially in love with Wesley Taylor.


Our final offering for today is completely different from William Finn's modern, realistic works about modern day families. Instead we look to Bernstein and his grandiose operetta Candide. I've been putting off listening to Candide for quite a while now, despite many recommendations by friends, I just felt it would be too operatic for my tastes. So I was sceptical when it was suggested we did a song from it for our Charity Concert in Devon. Well, Make Our Garden Grow is now one of my all time favourite finales. Apparently Candide is based on parodies of operas, but it can still be enjoyed by people like me who have never been to the opera and so do not take in these references. But back to Make Our Garden Grow, and it's amazing ending- the moment when the chorus come in is just breathtaking; the audience is suddenly hit with the wall of harmony. Many of the productions I have found on Spotify are very dry and operatic, I was surprised by the lack of emotion as I had assumed opera was all about emoting. Instead I turned to YouTube after a recommendation by my friend Michael to check out the Broadway concert. Here is the video of that Make Our Garden Grow. Although I tend to have a love/hate relationship with Kristen Chenoweth (much as I do with John Barrowman), I am absolutely in love with her portrayal Cunegonde, her phrasing in her solo is brilliant, with a slight nod towards musical theatre without riffing the hell out of the beautiful melody. Also, watch out for the spellbinding moment when the chorus rise to their feet. Amazing.







I hope you enjoy indulging in and digesting these three little songs, hopefully I'll find some more tidbits to delight you and will duly post about them. I may even make a Spotify playlist of "songs you should know from shows you won't know". Happy listening!

You may have noticed a theme of the author using this space to show pictures of guys she fancies, today is no exception.

I'm bored, its time for another Musical Theatre (not so) Weekly! I've also realised that this format is almost the same as Seth Rudetsky's chapters on musicals to see from The Q Guide to Broadway. I think we must both be psychic as I only got that book last week and these were written about a year ago.

This time, Hair, which has recently been revived at the Al Hirshfield and I would kill for a plane fare and ticket to see it. The review was written last year so pre-Jonathan Groff/Gavin Creel but post-Actors Fund. But as there haven't been many Creel-Claude photos yet, I've selected a few of the very pretty Jonathan Groff Esquire.

History
Yay, I did my A Level history project on this time period so I can tell you all about it!
The Vietnam War ran from 1959 to 1975, between America (supporting South Vietnam) and North Vietnam- the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This war was one of the first that everyday Americans actually believed was avoidable; this image was not helped by extensive television coverage on the subject. To get enough troops to sustain the war the government had to introduce conscription, whereby every young man could be forced to join the army, navy or air force unless they could provide a good reason why not. Most of those trying to escape the “draft” went to Canada or claimed they were homosexuals. Many draft-dodgers were hippies- a counter culture that evolved out of the Beatniks- think Allen Ginsberg the poet and Hunter S Thompson the writer portrayed by Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The Hippies believed in free love, non-violence and generally hanging around taking drugs.
Hair was conceived by two such hippies- James Rado and Gerry Ragni who also happened to be actors. It took a while for Hair to get up and running generally due to most producers being old and stuffy and not liking new things (theatres at the time were still enjoying very traditional shows like Oliver! and Fiddler on the Roof. When Hair did get to the stage, it quickly became very popular as it was a show that younger people would want to see and take their parents to say “look Mom and Pop, here’s what I’m doing with my life and why”. Hair came to London featuring famous faces like Richard O Brien (Bald guy from Crystal Maze and writer of The Rocky Horror Show), Tim Curry (Star of The Rocky Horror Show and the bad guy in most films since Home Alone 2) and Floella Benjamin( I know I was surprised too, I still find her really scary though). The last production of Hair in London was in 1993 and featured none other than John Barrowman (yes, Captain Jack from Torchwood!!)


Plot
The plot of the film is totally different to that of the show; the show is more a collection of songs about being a hippy, getting chucked out of school, getting high and then going to war. So I’m going to focus more on the plot of the film as it’s a bit more structured and you’re more likely to see it than the show.
The film of Hair focuses on Claude, a “good middle class young man” from a rather conservative background who is supposed to be on his way to conscript into the US Army at the time of the Vietnam War. He is befriended by a group of hippies in Central Park and, not for the last time in the film, smoke some pot. The next morning they go chasing after Sheila, a posh girl that Claude fancies and end up crashing her parents dinner and ending up in prison. As everyone does when in jail, they sing a big production number about how their hair is so great and enables them to get out of prison. They go take some more drugs, this time it’s LSD and so they go around Central Park hallucinating for a bit until it’s the hippies realise Claude has to go to Boot Camp the next day.
Claude reluctantly goes to Boot Camp and his friends follow him to say a final goodbye before he goes to war. Unfortunately this doesn’t really go to plan, I won’t say how as that would ruin the story but it is really sad and provides one of the most atmospheric moments of the show and really brings the message home.

Main Characters:Claude: The all-American conservative ready to join the army, he fancies Sheila
Berger: The “free spirit of the group”, he also fancies Sheila (are there any musicals that don’t contain love triangles?)
Sheila: The “pretty one” who also happens to be rather rich
Hud, Woof, Jeanie, Crissy, Dionne: Various hippy friends of Sheila and Berger


Songs to look out for:
Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In): Without ruining the plot, this is a really tragic song with so much emotion (but you have to watch it with someone singing it, listening to the soundtrack means nothing)
Going Down-Not the greatest melody, but the YouTube clip I found had Gavin Creel just wearing his trousers and a bunch of ties (oh the irony)…
I Got Life-Yes the song from the Muller adverts and yes, I checked it is the same song. Isn’t it funk-ay?

Where can I can get it?The DVD’s still hanging around, although don’t watch it when you’re ill, I did that and it felt like I was on a 2 hour trip.
If not, there are usually clips of some sort on YouTube.

Sad face :(

If you liked this, try:Rent-Same Bohemian ideals just brought up to the 1980s instead.
Miss Saigon- If Hair is the musical about not going to war, Miss Saigon is the flipside of what happened to those who did fight in the Vietnam War. There’s a copy of the original cast recordings of both these musicals in the library which I now expect to be completely unobtainable because all you lovely people have got them out.