You're Nothing Without Me

Writing a book is hard enough (believe me, I've done National Novel Writing Month three years in a row) but transferring that book to the silver screen? Now that's gotta be tricky, especially when the director keeps making you rewrite your own screenplay so much so that your main character hops right out of the page. Literally! That's the plot of the Broadway musical "City of Angels" which opened on Broadway on December 11, 1989 and closed on January 19, 1992, for a total of 879 performances.

In this song, "You're Nothing Without Me" Stine, the author, is confronted by the star of his novel: Detective Stone. Stone is fed up with all the changes being made to his story, rewrites encouraged by producer/director Buddy Fidler, and decides to have a little chat with his creator. What ensues is a powerful, jazzy, and extremely witty song. Unfortunately, the Broadway recording of this song is not available online, so I have instead the Original London Cast Recording! Stine is played by Martin Smith and Stone is played by Roger Allam.

I absolutely adore the intro to this song. I think it's played on a harpsichord? It's so upbeat and chaotic; it really sets the tone for the song. Stine comes in at :23, and really hits each of his words with an accent. It almost sounds like "You. Are. Some. Gum-shoe. You. Just. Don't. Think-well." Smith does an excellent job of phrasing, and I love his little slides, such as on "only" at :35, and his over-exaggeration of the vowel on "I" at :36. Then, Smith gets low and intense on the line "Just what you are I'll spell out" but comes back to more excellent phrasing during the next few lines by really bringing out the annoyance in the word "pain" and in the word "picked." Also, the way he says "brain" at :41. It's almost as if he's rolling his r's! I also just have to point out how fantastic these lyrics are. "You come from my inkwell" "Your brain only holds thoughts I put in there" "You are a novel pain. One speck of lint that fell out the last time that I picked my brain."

Genius! What else would you say to something of your own creation?

But then Stone comes in at :52, handy with his own set of witty lyrics, in a singing voice that often drops into a talking range and tone. Listen to his first line: "You are so jealous of my track record." He starts off talking the first few words, "You are," then sings the next two, "so jealous," then reverts back to talking "of my," and then finishes the phrase with some vibrato for "track record." And then he goes and calls his creator "Tolstoy." That always gets me. Allam continues his talking/singing phrasing, which makes his lines, "You drool at my adventures. Your broads in bed are bored. Go home and soak your dentures. Your pen is no match for my sword" really neat. His "you" at 1:07 is gravely, but then is "drool" is light and full of vibrato. He pulls out the gravely tone again for "broads" at 1:12, and then elongates the vowel on "bored" at 1:13, which really plays on the alliteration of the line. Allam repeats this phrasing by vibrato-ing "home" at 1:16,  then letting the word "dentures" fall at 1:17. And then "Your pen is no match for my sword" is another example of the fabulous lyrics written by David Zippel.

And then the real world and the fictional world combine in a blare of trumpets! I find it really funny that both Smith and Allam drop the "g" off of "nothing." This is where Zippel's lyrical skills are really shown off. Listen to the internal rhyme at "a no-one who'd go undefined" at 1:28. It also helps that the rhymes are accented by the singers. And then comes my favorite line at 1:35. "I tell you you're out of my mind!"

Isn't it great? Cause, you know, it's the author singing to his creation, so Stone came from Stine's mind so instead of Stone being out of his mind, he's out of Stine's mind, and-yeah. It's great.

I love the harmony that starts at 1:39. It's really very well accented with the trumpets. But the two can't work together for long, and soon Stine is back, trying to assert himself over Stone at 1:55 with the lines, "You're in my plot, I'm still your creator. I call each shot, I'm your private dictator." I love the separation of "dic" and "tator" at 2:01. It's very definite. Stone retorts back, and how does Stine respond to his fiction being called cheap? Why, by showing off his literary skills, of course! "Gloating ignoramus." I mean, just come on...And Smith accents it so well! He elongates "you" as well as "glo" and then makes each syllable sharp and distinct, so the line sounds like, "youuuuuu glooo. ting. ig-nor-a-mus." Smith follows it up by bringing out the "sh" sound in "shame" at 2:15, something you don't hear very often. In my opinion, Stone accepts this insult, as he claims that he's a "famous shamus" and that Smith is the one people don't remember.

Now that's something to think on. Are characters remembered more than their authors?

Anyways, back to the song! We jump back into the trumpet-filled chorus, with plenty bam and pizzaz. What's really fantastic about this chorus is the way Smith and Allam hold the note on "disappear" until it blends into the word "right" from 2:35-2:37. As the song ends, we get back into harmonies and internal rhymes, such as "let's deal with the issue: you wish you were me" at 2:56, all leading up to the slow, deliberate finish of the song. Each word from 3:01 to 3:07 is accented by the trumpets, so the tempo seems to be slowing down as the ending builds. It's a cool effect. And of course, the song ends the only way a powerful confrontation between author and creation can: with a harmonic blending of voices holding out until the video cuts off.

So who wins? Does Stine conquer his main character, or is it the other way around? Better watch the show and find out!

One Day More!

Recently, I watched the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables. It was good, but just something about it didn't quite strike me right. Sure, it was a stellar cast and they did a marvelous job, but they just weren't THE cast. And THE cast, my cast, the dream cast, was the 10th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables cast.

Les Miserables is the musical version of Victor Hugo's famous book by the same name. It follows the life of Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread, as he tries to live a free life. However, due to breaking his parole early on, no one would hire or pay a former criminal, Valjean is pursued by the officer Javert. Valjean runs all over France, changing his name and meeting new people including the factory worker Fantine, who gives Valjean her daughter Cosette, the crooked Thenardiers, and the revolutionary students of Paris, one of whom, Marius, falls in love with Cosette, only to ignore the girl who's doting on him, Eponine daughter of the Thenardiers, completely. There are a lot of people, and a whole lot of plot crammed into this show, which can sometimes run for three hours, but it's not quite so confusing when you see it and everything flows naturally.

Les Miserables opened on Broadway on March 12, 1987 and ran until May 18, 2003, for a total of 6680 performances. I know what you're thinking. Wow. That's one hell of a show. And it is. Les Miserables is one of those huge '80's musicals that ran for years and set many records. Other such shows are Cats and Phantom of the Opera, the musical with the current record holding place of longest musical run: 22 years. Along with its stellar run, Les Miserables is a show that has touched the hearts of many. It is a show that makes people laugh and cry, and has roles that every theatre geek dreams of playing. It is because of this insane popularity and adoration that Les Miserables has these anniversary concerts, of which I believe the 10th Anniversary cast is the best.

The cast was truly a "dream cast" in that it included some of the best actors in their acclaimed roles: Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean (Original Broadway/London cast), Philip Quast as Javert (Original Australian cast), Ruthie Henshall as Fantine (Replacement London cast), Jenny Galloway as Madame Thenardier (Replacement London cast), Alun Armstrong as Thenardier (Original London cast), Lea Salonga as Eponine (Replacement Broadway cast), Michael Ball as Marius (Original London cast), Michael Maguire as Enjolras (Original Broadway cast), and Judy Kuhn as Cosette (Original Broadway cast.) These were the people that really took their roles and claimed it as their own; no one can sing "On my Own" like Lea Salonga can or "Who Am I" like Colm Wilkinson can. You may recognize Lea Salonga's and Judy Kuhn's voices: Salonga was the singing voice for Jasmine and Mulan in the Disney movie classics Aladdin and Mulan, and Kuhn was the singing voice for Pocahontas in the Disney film.

In this song, "One Day More," the entire cast gathers as they ponder over what the future will bring. Valjean fears that Javert has found him, and he tells Cosette, who has only recently fallen in love with Marius, that they must leave immediately. Meanwhile, the students are preparing for a revolution, a revolution which Javert is keen on stopping, and the Thenardiers are keen on making a profit on. Everyone is expressing their heart's desires, wishes, dreams, and hopes all in beautiful music. The thing that really is great about "One Day More" especially if you know the show, is that it incorporates bits and pieces of music from previous songs. It's a really neat touch that really helps wrap up Act 1 beautifully.

"One Day More" opens with those iconic violins, then with Wilkinson as Valjean singing, and his voice is such a unique tone that you will never forget. He elongates all of his vowels and sounds so "more" becomes "mo-aaaah." He sometimes drops notes and words, especially when they get to low, but it works for this song and his character. But don't let his dropping notes deceive you! Later on, you'll really see what a powerful singer Wilkinson is.

Then, Ball as Marius and Kuhn as Cosette chime in, expressing their anguish over the situation. Their harmony at :45 is just so beautiful, it would break anyone's heart. And whose heart does it break the most? Eponine's. She chimes in at :59, singing about her heartbreak as Marius will never notice her. As you listen to the fabulous Lea Salonga, who later played Fantine in the 25th Anniversary Concert, you'll understand why she has claimed the role of Eponine for herself forever more. Just listen to that girl belt and hold that note at 1:24 for a good six seconds. It's wonderful, and the swell in the music helps to usher in the charismatic revolutionary leader, who is also Marius' good friend, Enjolras. Maguire certainly makes quite an entrance here, and I find myself loving his interesting vowel placement on "barricades" at 1:37. Meanwhile, Marius is caught between staying and fighting with his friends, or following Cosette, his true love. Will he make up his mind? Wait and see.

Oh, but first, let me introduce to some people. You hear that cacophony of voices chiming in at 1:52 behind Maguire? Sounds like a pretty fantastic chorus, right? Well, just you wait until 1:55 to see how fantastic that choir really is. Just look at all those people! Not only is there a chorus dressed in costume on the stage, but there's at least a hundred people standing in Les Miserables shirts behind them, adding their wonderful voices to this beautiful. Marvelous, absolutely marvelous. It's such a powerful part of the song, and we're just barely halfway through!

Now, Wilkinson is starting to show his chops. At 1:59, he cries out his "One day more!" and holds it, powerfully, for a good six seconds as his rival, Quast as Javert, begins to sing about his plan to infiltrate the student's revolution and put it to an end. And on that morbid note, we hear from the comedic relief of the show: the Thenardiers. Alun Armstrong and Jenny Galloway are just fabulous, and their odd and quirky voices fit the Thenardiers so perfectly. Galloway, in fact, plays Madame Thenardier so well, that she reprised the role in the 25th Anniversary Concert. And then the chorus returns, echoing each other with words of hope. At 2:39, they pay homage to a previous song, sung by Enjolras to inspire his fellow revolutionaries, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" I just love the little references like that, both sung outright and sung with the notes.

And as Marius makes up his mind to stay with his brothers and fight at 2:42, all hell breaks loose in the most wonderful way. All the main characters are singing their specific anthems and lines, belting over one another so that their words can be heard. And boy, do we hear them. See if you can pick out specific people. Listen carefully. It's a beautiful mixture of notes and emotion, that comes together after Wilkinson sings "Tomorrow we'll be far away. Tomorrow is the Judgement Day" at  3:08. Everyone joins in, singling loud and clear and strong, for the powerful ending that leaves many of the audience members in tears.

"Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in Heaven has in store. One more dawn. One more day. One day more!"

Well worth the 45 seconds of standing ovation, don't you think?