Let It Go (A Semitone)

from USA Today

Idina performed

Let It Go

Along with Jimmy Fallon and

The Roots 

A completely different setting 

To the Oscars

Surrounded by musicians

Relaxed

Casual 

Playing classroom instruments

Everyone clearly

Having a total blast 

For whatever reason

The instruments they're playing?

Vocal exhaustion?

(The woman has flown across country

Twice in as many days

Performed at an intensely hyped 

Awards ceremony,

Her collaborators won a bunch of 

Said awards

And she's in tech rehearsals

For a new Broadway show

That's gotta take some sort of toll) 

The arrangement is down

A semitone from the original

And what a difference

A semitone makes! 

Without the microphones

Flying cameras or 

Hollywood elite 

Staring up at her

You can hear the full power of 

Idina's voice

The. Woman. Can. Belt. 

And oh god, it's 

Thrilling

The money note

It's just a D

Idina's got this 

Let the storm rage OOOOOOON.

YES!

Nailed it.

Read about Idina Menzel's performance at the Oscars, and the difficulty of belting, here. 

Let It Go

image from Billboard

Singing musical theatre 

Is hard work

You are required to 

Sing, act, and sometimes dance

All at the same time! 

Belting 

Sometimes referred to as 

Controlled screaming 

Requires technique. 

Training. Breath. 

Control of vocal chords

The diaphragm.

Being able to access

Every single body muscle 

Whilst singing about

Love, loss, and dreams. 

Movie musicals 

Along with the Patti’s and Kristen’s and Bernadette’s 

Have made it look effortless 

And that’s the performer’s job 

Right? 

To make it look easy. 

But the ease 

Belies the effort it takes

To be. That. Good. 

There is a theory

That belting changed

For women

With Lloyd-Webber’s 

Evita

Before Evita, women were usually belting up to B’s and C’s 

Think Don’t Rain on My Parade or Rose’s Turn or On My Own 

Yes, the women could/can sing higher 

But the money note sat right in a woman’s chest voice 

Noboooody is gonna raaaaaaaain.... 

Etc. 

Then Evita

And Patti. With a belt range from here to eternity 

And the game changed.

Belts were written and sung up to E’s 

Which sit higher in the voice 

And now we have our Defying Gravity’s and Surabaya Santa’s and 

Let It Go’s 

And in the words of Jason Robert Brown, 

Girls

Belting as hiiiiigh as they can. 

Bette, Pink, and Idina 

All performed iconic songs

At the Oscars last night

And in varying degrees, 

Nailed it, hit it out of the ball park,

Or weren’t quite there. 

Pink’s performance

Somewhere Over the Rainbow 

The slightly husky voice

Capable of deliciously pleasing

Vocal gymnastics

The end of the first section

“Somewhere beyond the raaaain” 

Rain, hitting the traditional money note 

Bb

Satisfying to the ear 

(And mighty satisfying to sing)

The chorus, one of the most well-known refrains, 

Somewhere over the rainbow

Needs to be seamless

Smooth

The octave jump between 

Some and where

One of those phrases that sounds easy

But try singing it

Without sliding

Keeping the where light 

Remembering you’re singing about 

Rainbows and dreams and lullabies... 

Pop singing is less precise 

Allows for riffing 

And sliding between notes

And showing off. 

Pop is about sound. 

Musical theatre is about story-telling. 

Pink sang

Someday I’ll wish upon a star 

And wake up (breath) where the clouds are far 

Be (breath) hiiiind me. 

Twitter was ablaze

PHRASING!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

MUSICAL THEATRE 101!

DON’T BREATHE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WORD! 

And I’m certain no self-respecting music director

Conducting one of the most iconic songs of the 

Twentieth century 

Would have gone through rehearsal and said

“Those breaths in the middle are totally cool. 

Good job”. 

The song ended on a satisfying

Ab 

Rich, resonant 

The chords underneath creating movement

Resolve. 

A lovely performance, but too breathy

For musical theatre. Even a pop rendition of musical theatre.  

Perhaps it was nerves

Perhaps it was the 

“Oh-god-I’m-singing-THE-song-at-the-OSCARS-in-front-of-LIZA-FREAKING-MINELLI” adrenalin

Sometimes nerves just grab you by the throat

And no amount of rehearsal

Meditation

“I’ve got this” vibes

Will be controlled

Once you’re on that stage 

There is no going back

The show must go on. 

Then the In Memoriam

Wind Beneath My Wings and 

Bette. Oh Bette. 

How to sing musical theatre 101. 

She walks out, cool as a cucumber

Takes her place

And starts singing. 

Her face radiates calm

She is in control

She is telling a story -

Dear friends who have departed

I am singing this for you.

A quick sneaky little mid-phrase breath - 

You always walked a step (breath) behind - 

But her face remains calm

It’s about the song. Not about her singing the song. 

She connects with the audience 

She connects with the words, the text, 

Thank god for you

Vocally

She sang the song in a lower key

From the original

Riffed down rather than up

Never belted higher than a B

Came straight off the top notes 

But it was all about connection

Control, calm and 

Breath 

Finally, THE. BIG. NUMBER.

The most written about

Played, covered, and parodied 

Record-breaking Disney tune

Since Part of Your World,

Let It Go

Sung by Adela Mazim. Oh Revolta.

The musical theatre community may never forgive you... 

(I’ve done it myself. Fraught with nerves

In a presentation

I kept referring to my co-presenter, and good friend,

As Ethey, instead of Ethel

I didn’t even realize what I’d been saying until afterwards

When everyone asked

WTF?!

It’s mortifying) 

So Idina. 

The beltress who is

Maureen. Elphaba. Queen Elsa

Emerged amidst 

Sparkling Swarovski crystals 

She looked tense

You could almost read her inner monologue

Stay connected. BREATHE. I. Got. This. 

And it made us nervous to watch

Oh god, she’s gonna crack...

But the notes kept coming

Clear and strong

And while it’s a song she has sung

Many times over

Unlike Bette, it’s not standard repertoire, yet.

She’s not had years to perfect the performance of it 

It wasn’t about story-telling

Or being an ice queen liberated from the strictures of a patriarchal society. 

It was about BIG NOTES.

AND BELTING. 

You could see the relief in her eyes

Every time she nailed a big note

It’s an awesome song

It speaks to us

It’s empowering

It’s gutsy, 

It builds and swells, 

And right to the last phrase, 

I held my breath...

She might actually nail it?! 

Let the storm rage....

That last money note, 

A bitch of an Eb

OOOOOON... 

Her voice cracked. 

Dammit! 

Too forcefully hit 

Too much tension. 

I pity the woman

Who’ll play Elsa on Broadway.

Eight times a week of 

Let It Go is going to wreak some sort of damage. 

In one night

Pink, Idina, and Bette, showed us that 

Belting is hard work. 

Even for highly regarded 

Pop stars and Broadway veterans known

For their belting prowess

(Except for Patti. Nothing seems hard for Patti. Watch this and you’ll understand what I mean). 

Somewhere beyond the excitement 

Of the big belt 

Perhaps we need to return 

To story-telling 

Where the music serves the story

Rather than “controlled screams”

Of terrifying heights

Dominating our minds and vocal chords 

And for the belt

Learn to 

Let it go

Read about Idina Menzel's completely different performance the next day! 

Part of Your World

To get what she wants (travel, experience of another culture),

Ariel must trade in her voice

But, without my voice how can I-

You have your looks!

Your pretty face!

Because a princess from the most powerful, if not only, kingdom under the sea,

Has nothing to communicate with

Beyond BODY LANGUAGE

For as we all know, and has been well documented,

Disney exists to reinforce the patriarchy

And the notion that girls/women are there to be looked at

Not heard

And certainly not to use their skills to expand their horizons

Or fulfill their deepest wishes

Ariel is educated

She is an explorer and hungry for knowledge

I’m ready to know what the people know

She can grasp metaphorical concepts beyond her own experience

What’s a fire, and why does it, what’s the word?

BURN?!

She has a shining shimmering treasure trove,

A complete collection of human paraphernalia

Organized by type

But beyond things, Ariel wants more

Our mermaid heroine has feminist notions of a utopian place/time  

Where educated women have freedom

To do as they please, speak out, and move freely

Betcha on land, they understand

Bet they don’t reprimand their daughters!

Bright young women, always swimmin’

Ready to stand

Clearly these notions don’t come from Daddy

Who would rather Ariel find a nice merman

Settle down

And make merbabies 

Ariel signs the scroll in developed cursive handwriting

Suggesting an education beyond kindergarten level

Unlike her father Triton, who only engages with other species through domination,

(His page is a seahorse, his music director is a crab)

Or banishment,

(Ursula. Can’t have educated powerful women floating around the kingdom. Might give young girls ideas.),

Ariel can relate with other species without power struggle.

Her best friend is a fish

Her teacher is a seagull.

We know Ariel has overcome her childhood conditioning of

Other = evil

And if we go beyond the miracle of cross-species communication

(In the magical world of Disney merpeople can communicate with all forms of aquatic life, and with humans;

Everybody conveniently speaks English)

Why does Ariel not use her many other skills, beyond her body, to communicate?

In all her collection of bottles and human knick knacks

Does she not possess a message in a bottle?

Why doesn’t she write in the sand?

Use seashells to spell out a message?

Use her ability to talk to animals to ask the fireflies to spell it out?

Hi Eric! Remember me? I rescued you!

I’m totes in love with you!

Wanna hang out? 

Beyond the recent reduction of genuine kick-ass feminist role models

To big-eyes, sparkly dresses, and insane privilege

Give me characters who use their wit

And education

To go out into the world

And use their voice

In whatever way they can

To progress and flourish

And inspire those around them to do the same

Now that is something worth singing about. 

The end. 

Just Around the Riverbend

I was at uni
And I was learning
And acting
And surrounded by amazing people
And I was so depressed
I was numb
I actually felt nothing
And I tortured myself
Literally and metaphorically
And kept asking
When will I ever be good enough
To do something amazing
And then I got to perform my own material
And I was like
Hey, I really like this
And then I got to travel the world
And my brain exploded with possibility

I was engaged
And we were gonna get married!
Everything was lovely!
We were in love!
And then we broke up
And I was miserable
And wondered when anything was ever going to stop feel like crying again
And I sat with my bestie at the markets
And said
"ARGH! What is next?!"
And the next day got an email about working in the theatre full-time, and getting an agent
And everything changed
(My bestie was lamenting that he would ever meet someone.  Just over a year from that day, he was married).
And I got into drama school in London
And I packed my bags and moved to a whole other country

I got there
And was really broke
More broke than I'd ever been
I was living the dream
Of studying theatre in London
And I was miserable
My voice was shot
My self-esteem was invisble (again)
I couldn't get a job
And it got to the point
Where I had exactly one week's rent left in my savings
And that was it
And I won a scholarship
And I was able to stay

And then school was over
And I got to go back to camp
And I finally worked in the Music Shed
And taught voice
And realized I had a skill and a knack for teaching singing
And fell in love with it all over again

Back in London
I discovered what it was like
To be earning minimum wage
Less than the London living wage
And to work and work and work
And having nothing left
And you have to go back and do it all again
Because otherwise
Then you really have nothing
But sitting in offices around London
I'm getting paid to write my own material
And it feels wonderful
And liberating

I got to fall in love again
I got to work again, sometimes for what I felt I was worth
I'm going to perform my own material

We never know what's next
We have to do the work
And hope and pray
That it will work out
Sometimes it won't
But something else will come along
And it will be even better
Than what we could have hoped for

And if all else fails
Hide under the doona and watch cheesy Disney cartoons
Until you feel better

The end.

*And writing stuff like this reminds me that in my insanely privileged bubble... life ain't so bad. It may SEEM bad sometimes... but it's not so bad, you know?!

Brave

When I watched
The Disney movie
Brave
Over the summer
There was a moment
When I thought
Wouldn't be cool
If the princess
Merida
Was allowed to be single
Was allowed to be
A woman
With skills
And a thirst for knowledge
Going out into the world
And living her life
And achieving her goals
And dreaming her dreams
Without having to
Be a dainty princess
Or one day marry a prince?

Because
Despite what Disney
And Hollywood portray
There are many
Women in the world
Who don't marry
Who don't have children
Who are bright
And worldly
Who are not crazy crones
Or wicked witches
There are many women
Who do marry
But stay
Independent
And remain powerful in their own right

I want role models
In life
Like Elizabeth Gilbert
Who
Ate and prayed and loved
And consciously decided
She didn't want to be a mother
Wanted to be a writer
And globe trotter
And embracer of life

Or like Rita Golden Gelman
Who sold her possessions
And went traveling
And met people
And ate beautiful food
And said
You CAN travel the world
As a single woman
And you can have a marvelous time doing it

I wish Disney
Would tell stories where
It is okay to be a spirited single woman
It is okay to not want to get married
To not to have children
And that being You
Makes you beautiful
And powerful
And feminine
And not at all crony
That would be the
Bravest story
Of all.

The end.

It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary

So it seems Mary Poppins is taking over my world.
I'm seeing her everywhere.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered her in my local park.

Last week I saw her at the Capitol Theatre.

That night I even got to shake Mr Banks’ hand (well really it was Philip Quast, who is even cooler, and it is lovely to meet people from your childhood, people who unknowingly sang and danced into your loungeroom and heart and soul every afternoon on Playschool). 

And then Mary’s image appeared on banners all over the city.

And then this week I heard an interview on Margaret Throsby with Valerie Lawson who is P.L. Travers’ biographer. 

And then tonight walking down George St (how apt!) I discovered that Town Hall has become Number 17, Cherry Tree Lane! 

Hallo, hallo, hallo! What have we here then?!

Chimney sweeps and umbrellas lit with fairy lights tumbling out of Town Hall! 

And the night was crisp

And the air was fresh

And it made me smile

Because anything can happen if you let it

Town Hall is transformed for the official Opening Night of "Mary Poppins", Sydney

The three (seriously happy) sisters and Philip Quast

Melbourne

image from ineedaholiday

Once upon a time yesterday there was a girl called Lulu who liked musicals very much. She liked them so much that one she decided to fly all by herself from Sydney to Melbourne to see some new musicals. So she booked her ticket and off she went. When she got there she was very excited because her hostel was right by the river and in walking distance to Federation Square and the Melbourne Arts Centre, which are both very lovely. 

After walking down by the riverside and admiring all the pretty sculptures lining the riverbank, Lulu took herself to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image to see the current exhibition, “Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney’s Classic Fairy Tales”. Lulu spent a few happy hours wandering the halls of the exhibit, admiring how clever the people at the Disney Studio were and still are, and getting a little bit teary at all the lovely princess stories and remembering just how much they are a part of her psyche, even if her university educated feminist self says that the messages they espouse are a little bit dated. The critical part in Lulu’s mind also wondered about the stories not being told in the exhibit, for example, why/how/when did the Walt Disney Brothers Studios become just the Walt Disney Studios. Lulu remembered from her university days that there is a lot of story being told in what is purposefully left out, and she made a mental note to investigate it further later on. 

Then Lulu made a mad dash for the Melbourne Arts Centre, which was luckily just a hop, skip, and a jump across the river. She collected her ticket, and went downstairs into the Fairfax Theatre to watch Program One of Carnegie 18, a new musical theatre development program. In short, it was utterly wonderful (if you would like to hear the longer version of this part of the story you will need to keep an eye on Flusical for Episode 6: Carnegie 18). Lulu laughed, cried, held her breath, and was filled with utter excitement at the high level of talent, and the wonderful new works on display. In the interval she met a lovely lady named Jan, who happened to be the editor of Australian Stage Online, the newsletter in which Lulu found out the London Central School was holding Sydney auditions. Lulu thanked Jan profusely for changing her life for 2011, and with much discussion about musicals and Australian theatre to be had, Lulu and Jan sat above the river eating wicked but utterly delicious treats.

In the late afternoon, Lulu was lucky enough to interview Vanessa Pigrum, the Artistic Director of Carnegie 18, for Flusical. Vanessa was very lovely, and Lulu was left feeling inspired and ready to take on the world. The second program of Carnegie 18 was equally as exciting and moving as the first program, and Lulu was particularly taken by the new opera about netball. She had no idea that the drama of netball could be so fitting for an opera. Or that sopranos could be so funny. 

By now the sun had set over Melbourne, and while most other folk were watching the tennis, Lulu made back for her hostel. Sitting in the kitchen writing up her notes for the day, Lulu had a wonderful conversation with a Canadian traveller. They talked about politics and nations and the state of the world and indigenous affairs and national identity. It was very lovely, and it was only when the kitchen was closed for the night did the conversation come to an end.

Four hours later Lulu was back at the airport, and by now she was very tired from her grand adventure and severe lack of sleep. Thankfully adrenalin and inspiration were abundant, and helped her to stay awake throughout the day so she could work, edit the next episode of the podcast, and write about her adventures. And then she collapsed into bed to dream about all things musical. 

The end.

Double Dutch

photos are from Dutch Double's Facebook page 

Back in the day we used to spend our recess and lunch times jumping rope. The teacher on duty would bring out the crate full of skipping ropes. Red handles for individual ropes. Yellow for long ropes. If you combined two together, you could play double dutch, two ropes turning in opposite directions. It was tricky, but with practise, you could do it. And perfecting the art of double dutch was hardcore. You were elite if you could do double dutch.

Yesterday I came across a group in Pitt St Mall called Dutch Double, a performance troupe using a combination of break dance moves, fast jumps, pumping music, and skipping ropes. It was awesome. It made our primary school days of skipping in the playground look like, well, primary school kids skipping in the playground. This is hardcore skipping.

A quick Google search reveals that double dutch is quite popular all around the world. There are championships. It's an official varsity sport in New York. And watching YouTube clips this morning of other jump rope troupes, I thought, wait 'till they make a movie of this... And then discovered, they already have! Disney (of course) released "Jump In" in 2007 starring the rather gorgeous Corbin Bleu, which roped in (sorry) a massive 8.2 million viewers when it premiered in January 2007 (higher than High School Musical which debuted at 7.7 million). But the sensation is not new as evidenced by this HILARIOUS pop song by Malcolm McLaren (former manager of the Sex Pistols)...

Skipping. It's fun. It's good for your heart. It's good for your soul. And if you master double dutch, you will have awesome dance skills, be able to work in a team, and busk in Pitt St Mall for money. Win.

Tangled

http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/tangled/#/home/

Ah the magical world of Disney. It has received many criticisms over the years. That Walt was a controlling, conservative, women-belong-in-the-kitchen-and-chained-to-a-man kind of guy, that the corporation treats its employees badly, that it fills children's minds with unrealistic expectations about life and love. As an eighties baby, it's almost in my genetic code to love Disney. I grew up with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. These movies are under my skin. The heroes and heroines and tunes are a part of my very being. 

In recent years, Disney have churned out a few great films. Wall-E was beautiful. Any film where the world is saved by a robot watching Michael Crawford croon out “It Only Takes a Moment” on repeat is a winner in my eyes. But the message of Wall-E was spoilt by the plastic land-fill filling paraphernalia that inevitably followed the film. Enchanted was fabulous. It humorously captured the magic of Disney at its escapist, all singing, all dancing, all glorious technicolor best (though I will never understand why they cast Idina Menzel in a non-singing role. That’s just ridiculous). 

Today, I saw Tangled. And it was magic. It made me cry. It made me laugh. At twenty-something, Disney still has me oohing and ahhing at a cartoon. The girl twirling in the meadow, the lanterns floating through the sky, the wild chases through medieval Europe. The re-telling of a fairytale with plenty of feminist, post-modern self-referential punch. The score, by that genius of film music, Alan Menken, though not particularly memorable is beautiful. The throw-away lines and psychological break downs provide plenty of adult humour. It is Disney doing what Disney does best. 

Yes, it is escapist. It is a land where the concepts of republicanism or fear do not even exist. The environment is still in tact. Girl can meet boy. Boy and girl can fall in love and have adventures. There is sunshine. There is love.  And your dreams come true. And you live happily ever after. Is Disney filling me with false hope that life can be so sweet? Perhaps. But it is nice to have hope. And it is nice to believe, even if only for a couple of hours in a darkened cinema, that love and beauty and inspiration can win over darker forces. And that is the magic of Disney.