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Post by Sandrinoo2004 on Mar 11, 2008 3:40:04 GMT -5
Boublil is the lyricist and Schönberg the composer if I remember well ^^!! As for me I can't wait for the Nibelungen project I think it would be really interesting even if when I read it I didn't like the end too bloody for me lol. And if Steinman is the composer it would be GREAT!! ;D. As for the Don Camillo project I don't know what to think about it I never saw the movies since I am not interested with them ...
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Mar 11, 2008 6:58:01 GMT -5
The only musical by ALW I really can't stand at all is Aspects of Love because the musical itself is stupid I'm not a fan of majority of ALW but I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Aspects of Love is exceedingly stupid. I had a CD and listened to it at some point (I was 16 and liked Michael Ball's voice), and was like, please, why is this musical so stupid, doesn't anything vaguely sensible happen in it? There's a Forbidden Broadway parody of it called "I Sleep With Everyone" and it totally made me crack up when I heard it. Also, I counted that the whole musical has about eight different musical themes and they're reused randomly without it making any sense, either. Levay and Steinman are by far my favourite musical composers. There are a few others I also like - Wildhorn has a lot of good stuff as long as I skip all the love songs, Presgurvic can do some good stuff (especially if Hungarians rearrange them better ) and I like some of the music by ALW and Boublil/Schönberg (gah, I can't remember which one of them is the composer either). But Levay and Steinman are the only ones who I really enjoy very much. I think people often don't give enough credit to Levay as a composer, though maybe it's also just a question of tastes. His music takes a while to really sink in, but when I listen to it a lot I always marvel at how amazingly it works. The only thing I'm frequently annoyed about with him is that he has to make all the important women's songs so hellishly low. I would like to be able to sing them sometimes, too, thank you very much... And Steinman is just awesome, he's the only composer who's managed to make me fall in love with a musical just on hearing the Overture. Yes, I got the same feeling with Aspects...the bloody thing doesn't make utter sense I agree with you, specially on the Wildhorn part. I love his music, but his love songs have the gift of annoying me to death. The only decent love songs I heard from him were the one in Dracula (apart from The Heart is slow to learn) and one or two in J&H, but those are not even "love" songs in the normal use of the word. As for Levay...wich songs do you consider hellishly low? Ich gehör nur mir, Der Prinz ist fort, Und das, und das, und das...they are all songs writen in high notes... Of course, I understand your complain if you say "Rebecca" is hellishly low...it is and thank God! (Because that allows me to sing it ) I make the same complain about Levay but on male roles...he always rights the songs in a very high key...and I sing more easly baritone. As a matter of fact the only composer that made songs I can sing with no effort whatsoever is Steinman ;D Sandrine: Thanks! Its those kinds of duets that since they are always together I never know who's who.
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Post by Valancy on Mar 11, 2008 7:36:48 GMT -5
As for Levay...wich songs do you consider hellishly low? Ich gehör nur mir, Der Prinz ist fort, Und das, und das, und das...they are all songs writen in high notes... "Ich gehör nur mir" is high, but it's also low. I don't remember exactly how low it goes in the part "Und willst du mich finden, dann halt mich nicht fest" etc. but it's low, and at the same time you also have to be able to sing really high notes in that song. "Der Prinz ist fort" is decent, but it still only goes up to D and it has a lot of notes below the middle C. The other female songs in Mozart, "Irgendwo wird immer getanzt" and "Gold von den Sternen" spend a lot of the time near the middle C, except in the chorus. Of course I can sing middle C, but my most comfortable range is higher than that and if I sing too much in the lowest part of my range, I have a very hard time keeping singing with a proper technique. Of course it'll be better when I become better trained, but I still notice that a lot of actresses struggle with the lowest notes of "Ich gehör nur mir"... They're very low for a soprano, and I understand most women are actually sopranos, so would it hurt to write more songs for them? I just wish I could occasionally practice with songs from my favourite musicals. Maybe I must take Nichts, Nichts to my singing teacher... As for the songs in Rebecca, I don't much care for "Und das und das und das" as a song, and "Rebecca" of course is terrifyingly low. I need to check out the sheet music to the other Ich songs, though.
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Post by IchBinRory on Mar 11, 2008 8:09:55 GMT -5
Ich gehör nur mir is really low. And I wouldn't even say it's that high, except for the last note. But most of the female songs in Elisabeth are low. However Mr Levay seems to have an obsession with making the songs high for the males. Even looking at the sheet music for Die Schatten scares me. I can only sing the verses but I have to drop the chorus an octave. Or else my vocal chords will just explode! Der letzte Tanz is easier than Die Schatten. It has a good balance of high and low. I'll not even start on how high Lucheni's notes are. I don't even have the sheet music for Rebecca and I know it's low! Even I struggle hitting them lower notes. Levay really loves his mezzos and tenors.
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Post by Valancy on Mar 11, 2008 8:37:38 GMT -5
Ich gehör nur mir is really low. And I wouldn't even say it's that high, except for the last note. Yeah, I at least don't have much of a problem with any but the last note, and I'm not that well-trained yet. Otherwise it's only the highest parts of that song that I'm actually comfortable with, because I don't control my lowest range that well. I've noticed. At some point I got fed up with trying to sing the female songs, and tried Wie wird man seinen Schatten los, and gave up very quickly. Those songs are so high, and then they have to be sung in a really powerful manner in those high notes. Probably a woman simply can't sing them like that when it's that high, or at least it's difficult, and I imagine it's not that easy for men either. Yes, and I love sopranos (or at least am one) and baritones. This is where I and Mr Levay have a tiny bit of a disagreement. Though it seems to me that this is the case with a lot of musical songs. Maybe I'm just not listening to the right musicals when it comes to that.
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Post by Milady on Mar 11, 2008 12:51:28 GMT -5
Ich gehör nur mir is really low. And I wouldn't even say it's that high, except for the last note. You could also say that "Defying Gravity" or Eva's part in "A New Argentina" aren't that high by that standard, but they are, if sung as intended, quite difficult because they're meant to be belted (i.e. sung in chest voice.) A singer with a belt and a soprano could pop out an F in head voice like it's nothing and be maxing out her belt range with the exact same note. That's not to say that it's by any means easy or less impressive to sing any belter song in a legit or mixed voice, but what's challenging but doable with one technique can be murder for the very same singer with another.
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Mar 11, 2008 14:31:37 GMT -5
I don't even have the sheet music for Rebecca and I know it's low! Even I struggle hitting them lower notes. Levay really loves his mezzos and tenors. I have (how strange!!! ) but the sheet music available are not the same they use in the songs from the musical, they are of course arranged to be played all in piano and viola. I have the same problem that Steve Barton had...me and high notes don't work well together. I can reach high notes but in falset wich is more for comedy ;D That sayd, I sing all the songs I want...but I drop the keys many times. Der Letzte Tanz I use the tone Thomas used, Wie wird man seinen Schatten los...well never comes up very decent, Cia is a witness. On the other hand Wie kann es möglisch sein is pretty easy. ALW's songs are other type...I can sing Sunset Boulevard but I took ages to reach that last "ard!!!". PotO is really easy. Of course it'll be better when I become better trained, but I still notice that a lot of actresses struggle with the lowest notes of "Ich gehör nur mir"... Yes thats quite true, its the sudden drop of keys. I saw the same problem with "our Judas" he sings so high that when its time to drop he sounds weird. I have no idea in wich key you sing, but there's always a couple of tricks to allow you to sing the song and train at the same time;) But don't give up... when I gave a friend of mine "Ich gehör nur mir" for her to sing she almost fainted when she saw the lowing after the high ;D And we are getting wayyyyyyyyyyy out of topic ;D
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Post by Valancy on Mar 11, 2008 16:22:32 GMT -5
Yes thats quite true, its the sudden drop of keys. I saw the same problem with "our Judas" he sings so high that when its time to drop he sounds weird. I have no idea in wich key you sing, but there's always a couple of tricks to allow you to sing the song and train at the same time;) I generally have trouble singing that low, after I stopped singing in the completely wrong technique I had in the years before. Though of course those notes can be sung when I've learned better, it' s just not the easiest thing when otherwise trying to sing the higher notes with a decent technique. You're right that the difficulty comes from having to sing in such different registers in the same song. And then you shouldn't sound like it is very different. Anyway, I sing in the same key that it's performed in, I don't have the sheet music at home so I just sing it with the karaoke CD. The song book has it dropped down a little, which makes it even scarier. Though I guess it' s because the key it's actually in is hellish to play with piano; C major is quite a bit simpler... Though guys get songs like that, too. I tried to sing Für Sarah a few times, and suddenly had a lot more respect for all Alfreds, at least the ones who manage to sing that song without making it sound like it's difficult. That's true. Maybe there should be a singing topic for those who want to talk about singing, musical songs or otherwise? Unless there already is a topic that has just been buried deep somewhere, which sometimes happens.
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Lottie
At the stage door
Posts: 63
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Post by Lottie on Mar 19, 2008 20:09:07 GMT -5
I wasn't really fond of what I heard of the Swedish cast either, and I think Cecilie is a lot better at the TAC than she had been previously. Out of the cast, though, she was probably the best. Yes, I agree completely- which makes me think that maybe the others aren't so bad, either. I actually kind of like their Rudolf. The others sound like they could use work, but if Cecilie is really so much better, why not them? Anyway, I didn't mean to spark a mini-debate, and I'm not saying I necessarily believe that Levay blocked it. I just really would have liked to see more of it, or for that matter, any of the productions. I understand the financial situations of the theater, but all the same, you'd hope that the composers would be interested/happy enough to want one, too. It really may depend on the cast, of course- I said you'd hope they would. I guess I'm kind of weird in the way that I'm not particularly fond of any composer's works, probably aside from the Levay/Kunze pair. I like some of ALW, some of Steinman, some of Sondheim, some of Boublil&Schönberg, but not ALL of really any of their works. I'm very interested in these projects, though. I'll have to start reading that, too.
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Post by Valancy on Mar 20, 2008 8:57:51 GMT -5
Don't worry, Lottie, we're simply rather good at starting debates on everything. What I just wanted to say was that whatever was the reason the Swedish cast recording (if it indeed was planned) didn't come to being, we're not absolutely sure why this is, and anyway it's separate from why the Finnish recording wasn't made. I have no idea what Kunze or Levay thought of the production, but no matter what they thought, the theatre cancelled the recording itself because they decided they couldn't afford it. So I'm not eager to put any blame on the composers without knowing for sure.
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Post by Valancy on Apr 11, 2008 3:52:01 GMT -5
I'm posting this here, since it goes with the topic even if it's a third new musical, and maybe there won't be a point in starting a new thread when there isn't much information about it yet... According to Hamburger Abendblatt, Michael Kunze is working on a musical adaptation of Michael Ende's novel "The Neverending Story". See here for the article: www.abendblatt.de/daten/2008/04/10/867459.html (the info about Kunze and the musical is in the last paragraph) I can't wait to find out more. It's one of my favourite books and I've read it countless times, and if anyone can be trusted to make a good musical out of it, it's certainly Kunze.
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Post by Fantasma da Opera on Jun 3, 2009 8:04:29 GMT -5
Michael Kunze's The 10 Commandments will premiere next here. Official page here www.die10gebote.de/includes a clip of the Prolog demo to hear. Sounds interesting...although perhaps a bit popish having in mind it's a Biblical subject ;D
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Post by exedore on Jun 4, 2009 3:01:22 GMT -5
Michael Kunze's The 10 Commandments will premiere next here. Official page here www.die10gebote.de/includes a clip of the Prolog demo to hear. Is this actually a new show or just a German version of that hideous thing that ran in California with Val Kilmer?
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Post by Martina on Jun 4, 2009 4:13:02 GMT -5
Is this actually a new show or just a German version of that hideous thing that ran in California with Val Kilmer? If that was the case, why would they need Kunze? From what I gather, it's a pop choir piece, and to me it sounds like something along the lines of what Joseph and the AT dreamcoat was in its early phase. But I may be wrong. EDIT: I found the English word I was looking for. It's oratorio.
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Post by exedore on Jun 4, 2009 6:27:45 GMT -5
If that was the case, why would they need Kunze? Well, Kunze *does* translate all sorts of mediocre pap *coughwickedandlionkingcough* so it wouldn't surprise me if he took a paycheque in between interviews decrying the state of the modern musical. But it sounds like something new, which is a good thing.
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