| re: Lansbury's vocals in Gypsy. | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:50 am EST 12/31/24 | |
| In reply to: Lansbury's vocals in Gypsy. - Delvino 08:00 am EST 12/27/24 | |
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| One thing that no one has mentioned yet is that Lansbury generally sang the songs in lower keys than any other Broadway Rose except Linda Lavin, who mostly sang in the Lansbury keys. At least this is my understanding, it's what I've been told. I'm not a musician, and I don't have the best ear in the world, although when I do back-to-back comparisons, I usually can hear who is singing in a higher key and who is singing in a lower key. The published and licensed keys were lower than the keys heard on the original Broadway cast recording, for a reason discussed here a number of times in the past. Which is that a blood vessel in Merman's throat hemorrhaged three months into the run, and when she came back after being out for seven performances, keys were lowered. Since some of the licensed keys are a half step down and some are a whole step down, it may be that some songs were later lowered again. My understanding is that, generally speaking (some songs might have been exceptions), LuPone and Peters sang in the licensed keys, Daly generally sang a half-step down, and Lansbury generally sang a whole step, except for "Rose's Turn," some of which was lower and some of which was higher, resulting in the number having a more limited overall range. I'm sure that Lansbury could have sung it in the licensed keys, but perhaps not eight times a week for months. The high note in the old licensed materials and the published vocal score is a B, and Lansbury sang plenty of Bs in her earlier musicals. In fact, she sang up to an E flat (maybe an E) in Anyone Can Whistle, but she would sometimes go into head voice above a C. In Mame, she had some Cs for which she did not go into head voice, but they were short notes. I guess that with how much Rose has to sing and with how much of it is has to be sung in a very dramatic way, it was decided that it would be best for Lansbury to sing it as low as possible. Because her vocal quality is rather bright, it doesn't sound like she's singing it way down in the basement. At one time, women were not expected to belt above a B or C in musicals. There were occasional exceptions, but a range from a low F or G up to a B or C was pretty standard. According to one of her biographers, Merman, although not yet a huge star, told Cole Porter when Anything Goes was being put together that the highest note she would sing eight times a week was a C. Sometimes when roles in other shows in which other women starred demanded a wider range and higher notes, those higher notes tended to mostly be short notes, not the big money notes. Funny Girl is an example. A two-octave range, but the highest notes are not sustained notes. Again, there were exceptions, one of which was Hedy's belted E, for comic effect, in "Love From a Heart of Gold" in How to Succeed, but there were non-comic exceptions, just not that many (at least as far as I know). The Sound of Music is rather fascinating in the original Martin keys because the overall range is ridiculous, but the vast majority of what Maria has to sing is in a limited belt range. But there are places where she had to go a lot higher (some of them not on the cast recording), and Martin (and, I'm sure, her successors) would go into head voice. Originally, Merman had a good many Cs in Gypsy. According to the same biographer, Brian Kellow, Merman's throat doctor warned her it was too high, but she believed it would be fine. It wasn't. I mean, what happened to Merman was not necessarily because it was a tad too high. These things happen. But it may well have been that by that time in her career, and with how dramatic some of the songs were and with how much she had to sing, the tessitura (not the Electra or the Mazeppa) and high notes were what led to the blood vessel hemorrhaging. |
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