It seems that many of you are unfamiliar with my song options for the Musical Theatre workshop, so I thought I'd give you more information so that you can vote (or change your vote, if you wish to do so) about what the songs are and what I have to do in the workshop.
We're working with a man named David Brunetti, who wrote a book called Acting Songs. Apparently, he's a phenomenal coach.
From what I've heard, you start by reading the lyrics with no emotion behind them. Then, he works with you on performing the lyrics as a monologue and finding the character behind them. Then, at the very end, you add music to it. It sounds like you actually SING the song very little. You spend most of your time ACTING the song. Therefore, I need to make sure that whatever I pick will be something worth working on from an acting perspective. I don't just want a "pretty song" or a "funny song" (which is why I eliminated such options as "A Little Bit in Love" from Wonderful Town, "Let Me Come Home" from The Wedding Singer, and "Always a Bridesmaid" from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change).
So here are the videos of the songs I'm considering as well as links to the lyrics (which are probably of greater importance for this decision).
"Stranger to the Rain" - Children of Eden
Lyrics
This is a random chick singing it at a song competition, but it's easier to understand than most of the videos of actual productions of the musical.
"One Hundred Easy Ways" - Wonderful Town
Lyrics
I cannot embed this one (it's a bootleg from the recent Broadway revival starring one of my idols, Donna Murphy), so you should click here to watch it.
"Here I Am" - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Lyrics
Another Broadway bootleg, but they let me embed it. Don't worry, all the dance breaks are cut out of the sheet music, as are the chorus parts.
Right now, I'm leaning away from "Here I Am", as I think it's hard to find justification for some of the things in it without external stimuli, and it's also kinda "look at me singing a song!". I've been debating between "Stranger to the Rain" and "One Hundred Easy Ways" for the last two days. They're good for different reasons. I suppose I can always do one this year and one next year...
So now that you REALLY know what this workshop is about, go change your vote on the poll.
Thanks for the help!
~A~
P.S. For comparison, this is the song that Killer is planning to sing. (Skip ahead about 50 seconds into the video)
Minni-Apple Life!
7 years ago
8 comments:
I changed my vote. Schwartz knows how to write one helluva power ballad for women. (And that random chick has a strong, pleasant voice! I was surprised!
I voted again--for Stranger to the Rain. I think it has more "leading lady" and real acting potential than the 100 ways song. And Killer's song? LOVE it.
I would suggest "Stranger to the Rain" out of the three.
I like to choose songs based on their potential audition use. "Here I Am" would not be a good song to do because it's a production number. General rule: never use production numbers for auditioning, they make no sense out of the context of the play.
I do enjoy "100 Ways", and would probably choose it 2nd because it would allow to work on different character types within the song. And I think it is the most different from your 'type'. It'd be a challenge, it's more performance than singing.
"Stranger to the Rain" provides some umph to the song with its lyrics. It's not just an empty happy-type song. Plus, to compare it with Killer's, it's just as heavy a subject and has good monologue potential, although it could potentially just be like any other dramatic monologue.
Stranger to the Rain... Definitely. LOVE IT! Very powerful with SO much potential for what you're looking at.
And PS... LOVE Run Away With Me... I actually might buy it on itunes. Like right now.
- Bad impulsive Kate
I voted for "Stranger in the Rain", as the other two are, basically, soliloquies, rather than talking to another character, hence objectives, hence more easily actable. Even though I don't like that song (or maybe that version?) as much.
What is the Killer song? It's killer.
Why is it that you use nicknames like D-Train and Disco instead of your real names? Do you really use the nicknames in your classes? Or is it just a thing bewtween you and your friends? Or is it just for the blog?
To Katie - I don't know if it's on iTunes... But good luck.
To Daniel Boughton - Killer's song is "Run Away with Me". It's from an unpublished musical that I believe is called "The Unauthorized Biography of Samantha Brown" by Kerrigan and Loudermilk.
To Anonymous - We use the nicknames on occasion, but mostly call each other by our real names. I use the nicknames in this blog as a courtesy to them, and also to make this blog a little less Google-able. You'll notice that I have not mentioned the name of my program as of yet, which is for the same reason.
Michael Arden is sexy. That is all.
-Lindsay
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