I’m preparing for an audition in two weeks for “The Music Man”. I’m not really a musical person, so I’m having a really hard time finding a song to audition with. In the past, one of my best friends has offered to be my accompanist, but since I moved away, I don’t have anyone to do that for me now. So I need to find a copy of the song I’m going to sing, but without the vocals.

That’s assuming I figure out what I’m going to sing. I tend to sing tenor, even though I’m technically a baritone. Has to do with the hearing, or something. Anyone know where I can get some karaoke/vocal-less tracks of songs for an audition?

If you haven’t heard already, RENT is closing on Broadway after a 12 year run. For those of you who haven’t heard of or seen RENT, it is one of the most controversial and successful musicals of the 90s. With over 5,000 performances, it is the 8th longest running musical on Broadway. Jonathan Larson’s sardonic comment, “I am the future of Broadway musicals” is more true than he could even imagine.

RENT is a modern adaptation of Puccini’s La Boheme. It takes place in New York City, following a rag-tag band of down-on-their-luck Bohemians, struggling to pay rent and deal with the deeper issues of life: love, happiness, and community. As if that weren’t enough, the underlying issue plaguing the group of friends is the haunting fear and threat of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Half the group has HIV or AIDS, and the other half is forced to learn how to deal with it.

During the course of the play, one of the members dies, providing the theme song for the play “Seasons of Love.”

I consider RENT to be one of the best musicals ever written. Despite ludicrous lyrics (a dog committing suicide), characters that stretch the imagination (does EVERYONE have AIDS!?), and heart-wrenching lyrics (Goodbye, Love?), RENT resonates deeply within me. I’ll quote Gordon, from Life Support and Mimi from Another Day:

“If I find some of what you teach suspect,
It’s because I’m used to relying on intellect,
But I try to open up to what I don’t know
Because reason says I should’ve died three years ago…”

“The heart can freeze, or it can burn,
The pain will ease, if I can learn,
There is no future, there is no past,
I live each moment as my last,
There’s only us, there’s only this,
Forget regret, or life is yours to miss
No other road, no other way,
No day but today.”

You see, that section in particular resonates with me for a very good reason: I’m living on borrowed time. You see, true to Gordon’s song, I should’ve died three years ago. A little over three years ago, I had a liver transplant. It is unlikely that I would have lived to see January, had I not had the transplant. As it is, my donor’s gift saved my life. Today, I live a normal, healthy life. I live each day as my last. I live for myself, for my friends. No day but today.

May RENT live on in the memory of RENT-heads for years to come.

To you, Jonathan Larson.

Last night, I saw what was possibly the best show I’ve ever seen in my life. The Virginia Samford Theatre hosted a production of Les Miserables presented by the Shades Valley Theatre Academy. For those who don’t know, Shades Valley is a local high school. However, this school edition of the hit musical wasn’t solely Shades Valley High students but consisted of students from all over the state. I mean, these kids were top-notch. I couldn’t believe they were only high schoolers. So, here comes my review!

Plot. There’s not much to say here — it’s your traditional Les Miserables plot. Still a great show, though. My father, my step-mother and I got into a discussion at dinner before the show. Now, I’d never actually seen Les Miserables before last night, so I was looking forward to it. I’d only heard the music up until this point. My father said “I don’t really care about the plot and the story, I care about the music.” My step-mother was aghast, “but, honey! The story’s the best part!” I decided to reserve judgment. Incidentally, my stepmother cried half the time during the show, she was so moved, and my father just tapped his foot to the beat.

Music. After having that conversation and watching the entire show, I decided that both of them were correct. It all comes down to whether you consider Les Miserables to be a musical or an opera. In my mind, an opera is all about the music — it’s basically a musical score that just happens to have a plot. A musical, on the other hand, is a play that happens to have music. It all depends on whether you like the music or the plot better, I think. I loved both aspects. The kids’ voices were incredible. The kid who played Enjolras had the best voice, by far, but the others were incredibly strong as well. The guy who played Jean Valjean did a lot of sing-speaking, but I’m not sure if that was written into the score or if that was a function of his voice capabilities. I’m inclined to believe the former, since he got standing O’s for a couple of his solo songs.

Choreography. The choreography was phenomenal. There wasn’t anything terribly difficult, but I was kept entertained throughout. The only lulls were when the soloists came forward to sing songs. The scrims would drop and it would be the actor downstage in a special singing alone, with very little movement. I thought that was rather boring. As I listened, I pictured them doing other things besides standing still and belting out the music. Other than that, there wasn’t a dull moment. The Threnadier’s were amazing, with some pretty complicated movements, and the students and revolutionaries had some pretty amazing stuff, too.

I was most impressed with the kids in the play. I mentioned that they were high schoolers, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. The show consisted primarily of upperclassmen, but there were a handful of middle-school and elementary-school children in the show as well. Little Eponine sang an adorably cute solo, and Little Cosette was cute as a button.

Another thing that impressed me was how each of the Ensemble members had a prominent position in the show. They each had solo parts, they each took centerstage at some point, and yet when their time was done, they seamlessly blended into the background chorus. Just great choreography and direction in this show.

Set. I’m going to admit that I spent a good part of the show trying to figure out how much the set cost. The set was incredibly done, with detail far beyond what I’ve seen in the few theatres that I’ve been in. They flew in a bridge and whole set pieces from the fly space. Honestly, I was shocked when kids walked across this bridge suspended in air, but apparently the techs knew what they were doing — nobody fell. The set was designed in separate modules that, when pulled together in different configurations, completely changed the way the set looked. I’ve never been backstage of the VST, but I was constantly shocked at how much set there was. Each scene was a completely new experience. I took my camera along, hoping to get pictures after the show, but they dropped the main drape and denied my request to take pictures. Oh well.

The only problem I had was that I could see into the wings the entire time. I kept wondering when the legs would fly in to conceal the wings, but it never happened. I could see actors backstage waiting for their entrances, whispering to each other, etc. I tried to ignore them, but when they’re wearing these fancy costumes, it’s hard to ignore.

Costumes. I was very, very impressed by the costumes as far as quality is concerned. However, looking at production photos from other performances in other theatres, I’ve realized that they didn’t do anything new with the costumes. They essentially took the Broadway version and copied their costumes. I was very impressed with them, though. Nothing looked fake or cheap.

Acting. These kids were phenomenal. They never broke character that I could tell, and they were very very convincing, especially in the parts where I’ve always found it hardest to stay in character. You know those parts, the ones where you’re in the background and supposed to be having a conversation with someone else while the leads are downstage singing solos. I’ve always found it difficult to make it realistic, and every show I’ve ever seen where that kind of stuff happens has been a disappointment. Not this time. This Les Miz cast completely blew me away. Everything was perfectly cast, and everyone fit into their roles like a glove. I honestly can’t believe these were all high schoolers.

Overall. I’ve always said that I can’t get into a soundtrack until I’ve seen a performance of a show. I’d listened to the Les Miserables soundtrack a handful of times, and I never could get into it. I put it on my iPod on the way home, and I’ve been listening to it non-stop. The story just came alive in front of my eyes, and now when I hear the songs, I can see vividly what happens.

I’ve seen four productions on Broadway, and I have to say that this production was right up there with them. I suspect part of the reason I’m so impressed is that I went in there expecting a high school production, and I got a Broadway production. Next time Shades Valley Theatre Academy puts on a production, I’m there. Great job, guys.

In my last blog, Got To Be Good Looking Cause I’m So Hard To See, I told the story of how my director flipped out when I sang the Beatles’ Come Together. So I went into the first rehearsal for Fiddler a little more confident than normal. I walked in, sat down, and he pretty much ignored me.

We sang four songs. I sang softly, since I’m not terribly confident (just more confident than before). I was trying to figure out where I fit in the score.

You see, I tend to sing high, but I should sing low, but I hear higher pitches better than lower pitches. It’s all rather complicated and confusing, but essentially, I hear higher pitches than I should be singing. All this boils down to is: I shouldn’t sing.

Anyway, I tried to fit in as best I could, but I couldn’t hear myself over everyone else, nor could I pick out a single voice near me to compare my pitches. I know a few people around me were in my range, and I was trying to match their pitches. Unfortunately, I kept going high because that’s what I could hear.

I basically sang falsetto all night. Not good.

So I go up to ET after rehearsal.

“Hey,” I say.

“What can I do for ya?” he asks.

“Where do you want me to sing? High? Low? Middle?”

“Whatever.” He smiled and turned around to talk to someone else.

Oh. That helped. Thanks.

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First, let me say that I’ve been looking forward to this film for quite some time. Sweeney Todd is one of my favorite Broadway musicals, and the fact that Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Stephen Sondheim were bringing it to the big screen just made it even better. Now, on to the review:

(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! If you haven’t seen the movie, you might not want to read any further!)

Music. The music in the movie was awesome. Not just my favorite numbers like “My Friends”, “Poor Thing” and “The Contest” and such, but even the ballads as sung by Mrs. Lovett (which weren’t ever really my favorites) were done exceptionally well. I even found myself tapping my foot along with the music the entire time, which definitely means it was catchy. If it weren’t, I would’ve been asleep. I’m sort of surprised at Johnny Depp’s singing ability, and I’m surprised that I’m surprised, considering he was in Cry Baby (although I recently found out his voice was dubbed for those rockabilly songs!). His voice was surprisingly strong and solid. I give the music a 10/10.

Acting. The acting, too, was completely solid. There wasn’t a weak moment in any scene that I could detect. The characters are unspeakably memorable, from Depp’s extraordinary character development to Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of Mrs. Lovett as despising of London as Sweeney Todd is to Alan Rickman’s flawless portrayal of Judge Turpin, whose turpitude created Sweeney Todd’s demon spirit from the ashes of the nice barber Benjamin Barker. Even the kid, Toby, had a flawless performance. I truly bought that Sweeney Todd wanted revenge, that Mrs. Lovett was in love with Todd, that the old hag was crazy, that Anthony loved Johanna (in a slightly creepy, stalkerish way), that Judge Turpin (the old perv) wanted to bang the daylights out of Johanna, that Toby was scared of Todd, that… well, you get the point.

Cinematography. Awesome. Simply awesome. Burton’s vision of Sweeney Todd is reminiscent of his Sleepy Hollow, but instead of faux-comic horror, this time it’s real. The streets of London aren’t dark to scare you, they’re dark because the denizens of London are evil bastards with true criminal hearts. There’s not a single good person in London, except perhaps Johanna. Everyone is self-serving, deprecating, and twisted in their own ways. The cinematography reflects that, with harsh lights, shadows, dark scenery, rotted sets, and horrid people.

I found several instances where lighting changed where it shouldn’t have. For example, when Mrs. Lovett is telling Sweeney Todd about how his wife took poison, they show the scene from two different angles — looking at Mrs. Lovett and looking at Sweeney Todd. When you look at Mrs. Lovett, you can see Todd off to the side. The right side of his face is dark. When they cut back to Todd, the lighting has changed — the right side of his face is now bright, while his left side is dark. There were at least a dozen other instances similar to this.

Doing a movie with such dramatic lighting will inevitably cause this kind of thing, so I’m not terribly upset about it. It’s just that usually I don’t notice those kinds of things, so for me to notice, that’s not a good sign. Other than that, no other issues with cinematography or lighting or anything like that. Amazing work, really.

Directing. Okay, up until now it’s been mostly roses and happiness. Now I’ve got a serious nitpick with Burton. He has this annoying habit of stopping the action when the actors sing. For instance, when Anthony sees Johanna singing in the window, he should have been trying to get her attention, running down the street to get flowers, and trying to show that he’d been struck by Cupid’s arrow. Instead, he stands there and stares at her.

When Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd sing “Like A Priest”, they stare out the window. There is no interplay between them, there is nothing interesting — they simply stare out the window and sing. They should be having fun — they’re devising the means of their revenge against the blasted denizens of London! Mrs. Lovett should be flirting with Todd, he should be ecstatic that he now has a way to get back at the bastard Judge Turpin. Instead, they stare out a window. How drab.

When the kid, Toby, sings to Mrs. Lovett about how he’s not going to let anything happen to her, he’s just sitting there singing to her, and she’s singing back. Let’s have some action, folks! I’ve heard the soundtracks before. I know the songs. I don’t need to sit there and watch a person sing. I can imagine that well enough on my own. Bring on some action, bring me something new to happen!

This was a huge fuckup on Burton’s part, as far as I’m concerned. If they can fill these songs with action on Broadway, then they can certainly do even better on screen. The budget, at $50 million, is many times that of the Broadway version (less than $10 million), so they could definitely have improved upon it.

Overall. At any rate, I’d have to say that Sweeney Todd is one of my new favorite films. As I mentioned before, I love the story, I love the actors, I love the songs, and I love movies. Put them together and what have you got? Bibbity-bobbity-Sweeney-fucking-Todd.

I love it.

Final Rating: 9/10

Here is another review of Sweeney Todd that I read. Excellent points, all.

What did you think of the movie?
Do you agree with my review?
Did you agree with it at all
Or should I agree with you?

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(What do you know… I’m a poet and I didn’t realize it!)