| re: "Soliloquy" from the new Carousel recording | |
| Last Edit: GrumpyMorningBoy 11:45 am EDT 08/06/24 | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 11:42 am EDT 08/06/24 | |
| In reply to: re: "Soliloquy" from the new Carousel recording - Chromolume 07:45 pm EDT 08/03/24 | |
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| After that epic Hammerstein II thread that I sparked off here a few months ago, I've been paying extra attention to R&H recordings that I didn't know, and I'm excited to spend some time with this! Chromolume, a quick observation on this one Soliloquy alone: the thing I notice most about Hackmann is that he's a singer who really trusts the music and lyric to do the work for him. When it comes to Golden Age material, there's a trap that I do think many recent musical theatre performers fall into, especially productions that lean most heavily into actor-singers (as the 1994 Lincoln Center revival of CAROUSEL really did). These 'I'm an actor first' performers often tempted to speak-sing -- or just plain speak -- passages where a melody is there in the score, especially when the emotions of the song are extra high, as they are in "Soliloquy." I'm not talking about patter songs like MY FAIR LADY's "Why Can't the English?" or THE MUSIC MAN's "Trouble," or even classic recitative like SOUTH PACIFIC's "Twin Soliloquies." I'm talking about dramatic, big moments, where actors could make a choice to yell rather than sing. For something like "Lot's Wife" from CAROLINE, OR CHANGE it makes perfect sense. But for Golden Age scores, I really think it needs to be done very sparingly. I've lost track of the number of performances of "I Cain't Say No" where the melody completely dissappears. And this is why interpreters like Kate Baldwin, Gavin Creel, Kelli O'Hara, Ashley Park are especially talented, IMHO. They're VERY comfortable singing contemporary musical theatre scores, but once we're in the Golden Age, they've got the perfect touch to let every half step and whole step and eighth note do the talking, if you will, while still grounding every moment within solid acting and clear, committed choices. Thank god for good training. Really looking forward to hearing this! - GMB |
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