987 replies to this topic

[freckles]

bickypeg, on 10 September 2012 - 03:29 PM, said:

I believe you'll find that Judas' part has already been altered to make it more singable-if Minchin is still struggling to make it his own this is worrying.

A great shame if so, to do that to such an iconic song.

[Titan]

Well I watched it on tv and not YouTube and it was no better so id say YouTube is accurate

[bickypeg]

I think ALW hoped to make the musical cool by doing arenas and with this particular cast.I wasn't expecting to like it much but I hadn't expected it to be so unimpressive.

[Seriously]

Quite a bizarre few minutes on Jonathan Ross.  I suppose there's very little you can vocally do with those 3 characters together, so we had a relatively boring song, chopped about, and some "Soul Sisters" singing the end lines.

When Tim sings a non-comedy song, you're left focussing on his tone, which is, well.... "unique".  It's rather nasal, quite pinched, and I'm not sure how long I could listen to it without it becoming too distracting.  He and Mel have evidently been working hard at the Yvie Burnett school of top note belting.  Unfortunately it sounds like this is all they're really been looking at for weeks.... so there's a completely different sound when we get to anything "belty"... and all of a sudden all the characterisation goes out the window as they just focus on mechanically producing those crowd pleasing money notes.  And because they haven't done much on the easier sections, the verses sound a little indefinite.  

Having all three standing there facing each other didn't help either... there was no real acting... no eye contact... it just looked like one of ABBA was missing and they were each singing their lines on their own.  The casual viewer would probably have thought Tim was Jesus!

Mel did what she always does.  Short bursts of breathiness which only serve to chop up the line... sacrificing the acting for the sake of producing a nice tone (as she believes it).  Any time she has to hold a note on her break she defaults to pop mode and glisses the note down in an attempt to hide the different sound.  

Ben sounded good... but now all the other Jesus' have departed, he really doesn't look the part physically.  He has a good voice, but he's too Carmen Ghia for my liking.... there's not enough physical stature... and there seems nothing spiritual or "Godly" about him (based on this performance alone though).

When you revive a musical like this, everyone is hoping that the very best of this generation of performers is now given the chance to show what they can do with it.  Unfortunately ALW has his accountants hat on here, thinking "Who will people pay to come and see.... regardless of what show it is?".  Chris Moyles, is he really the best man for the job... I'd even prefer Christopher Biggins to that (and I never thought I'd say that).  Tim Minchin, a lovely funny chap, hyper talented, but really he should be revamping the book and lyrics, not tackling one of the hardest vocal parts in musical theatre.

[Carmella1]

Very well said.

Additionally, if he plans on moving this to the WE he should recast all the leads.  There was no charisma there at all.

[freckles]

Seriously, on 10 September 2012 - 10:02 PM, said:

Ben sounded good... but now all the other Jesus' have departed, he really doesn't look the part physically.  He has a good voice, but he's too Carmen Ghia for my liking.... there's not enough physical stature... and there seems nothing spiritual or "Godly" about him (based on this performance alone though).

When you revive a musical like this, everyone is hoping that the very best of this generation of performers is now given the chance to show what they can do with it.  Unfortunately ALW has his accountants hat on here, thinking "Who will people pay to come and see.... regardless of what show it is?".  Chris Moyles, is he really the best man for the job... I'd even prefer Christopher Biggins to that (and I never thought I'd say that).  Tim Minchin, a lovely funny chap, hyper talented, but really he should be revamping the book and lyrics, not tackling one of the hardest vocal parts in musical theatre.

I don't mind Ben so much, he wouldn't have been my first choice from the ITV Jesuses, but I do think it is OK for Jesus to be modest & humble; in fact I was getting rather cross with the TV casting focusing so much on casting a 'rock god' type Jesus. That is not how I see the role - apart from a couple of lines of Gethsemane, it is quite a gentle sing.

Judas, however, should be forceful & have a belt. Fine to cast him as a sly, weasly character but I think he needs to be able to sing much more strongly than Mr Minchin. (IMHO!)

[potomusicalfan]

I was supportive of and really liked Ben Forster in the TV Show, and felt he was the best choice for the role (plus I'm glad that a deserving west end performer got the role), and still think he will do very well, but I thought he sort of 'mumbled' a lot of the lines and seemed 'soft' in his delivery. That said, I think he was the best of the three.

Melanie C was adequate. I wasn't a fan of her performance of I Don't Know How To Love Him on the TV Show, because I thought her voice was very raspy and she took a lot of breaths in between singing. I think she's more suited to upbeat musical numbers, which is worrying because everything Mary Magdalene has to sing in the show (Everything's Alright, IDKHTLH and Could We Start Again) are soft and gentle. I listened to a song from her new album, Anything Goes, and thought it was an excellent rendition, so I think it depends on what she sings.

Tim Minchin was the weakest of the three, for me. His high note was done nicely (albeit it did sound rather forced, and I think it slightly cracked at the end ... but it was drowned out by Ben starting to sing), but he sounded too nasal. I'm surprised that ALW cast him saying that he has a fabulous rock voice, etc. I never thought he'd have that type of following either, as a lot of his fans like him for his comedy.  I always thought ALW would cast a well known rock star (I don't know any) or someone like Ramin Karimloo to get the fans to come in. But as tickets seem to have sold quite well, I guess it won't be a problem.

It would be interesting to see if a cast recording or a video of the production comes out of it. One of the cast members responded to a question from a fan as to whether it would be filmed by saying that there is a possibility.

[Honoured Guest]

Chris Moyles Live arena tour this autumn. Booking opens imminently for dates from Wed 14 Nov to Sat 24 Nov.

[ptwest]

A static performance on a tv show is never going to have the same impact as the full staging, but having just watched the clip from the Jonathan Ross show just confirms how great the 1996 recording is!

[Kristian]

potomusicalfan, on 11 September 2012 - 10:18 AM, said:

Tim Minchin was the weakest of the three, for me. His high note was done nicely (albeit it did sound rather forced, and I think it slightly cracked at the end ... but it was drowned out by Ben starting to sing), but he sounded too nasal. I'm surprised that ALW cast him saying that he has a fabulous rock voice, etc. I never thought he'd have that type of following either, as a lot of his fans like him for his comedy.  I always thought ALW would cast a well known rock star (I don't know any) or someone like Ramin Karimloo to get the fans to come in. But as tickets seem to have sold quite well, I guess it won't be a problem.

Just get his understudy Tim Prottey-Jones on instead. He'll rock it. NO idea how Minchin would survive with the runs in 'Heaven on their Minds'. :/