I've seen similar threads...operetta cast recording with tropers

I just came up with a wacky idea.. anyone like the idea of doing a tropers' operetta cast recording in group Skype calls? Note; Should be 'similar". I've seen threads like this before, and I know other people around here (like phoenixdaughter) are into operettas. I was thinking of doing a Romberg production.

edited 8th Aug '12 8:06:23 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

I'd be down.

@Take A Melody: Any suggestions on what we could do? Something we all know. I was thinking of these three:

a)Naughty Marietta.

b)The Desert Song.

c)Babes In Toyland.

There's also G&S stuff.

edited 8th Aug '12 10:33:49 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Cast for Naughty Marietta (taken from this link: http://static.nypl.org/MOTM/NaughtyMarietta/NaughtyMarietta.pdf)

CAST OF CHARACTERS

CAPTAIN RICHARD WARRINGTON...An American known as Captain Dick

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR GRANDET

ETIENNE GRANDET....................Son of the Lieutenant-Governor

SIR HARRY BLAKE....................An Irish adventurer

SILAS SLICK........................Captain Dick's servant

RUDOLFO............................Keeper of Marionette Theatre

FLORENCE...........................Secretary to Lieutenant-Governor

MARIETTA D'ALTENA

LIZETTE............................A Casquette girl

ADAH...............................A Quadroon slave

FANCHON, NANETTE, FELICE

NIGHT WATCHMAN, PIRATES, INDIAN, EAST INDIAN, KNIFE GRINDER

Quadroon Belles, Spanish Girls, French Girls, Captain Dick's followers, Italians, etc., etc.

Cast for The Desert Song.

PIERRE BIRABEAU/THE RED SHADOW, son of General Birabeau, who leads a double life as leader of the Riffs.

GENERAL BIRABEAU

MARGOT BONVALET, a French girl.

CAPTAIN PAUL FONTAINE, Birabeau's second-in-command.

SID EL KAR, The Red Shadow's Lieutenant.

HASSI and MINDAR, members of the Red Shadow's band.

SUSAN, Ward of General Birabeau.

EDITH, Susan's friend.

BENNIE, an English reporter, Susan's boss.

AZURI

ALI BEN ALI, Caid of a Riff tribe.

CLEMENTINA, A Spanish "Lady"

CHORUS (Soldiers, Riffs, soldiers' wives, French girls, Spanish women)

The Desert Song has 8 main singing roles, lots of chorus parts. Naughty Marietta has 7. I'd like to do The Desert Song, because it's my favourite and I want to sing Clementina, but I don't know about anyone else. Is anyone other than Take A Melody and me down for this? It'd be basically a concert staging. EDIT: Anyone have the score for any of the three suggestions, or even any show suggestions?

edited 11th Aug '12 10:19:20 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

I'd be up for it!

I'd be interested in such a thing, if possible. I don't know if we'd have enough people.

Importantly, need to keep track of voice parts. Myself, I'm a bass.

@Pannic: I can sing Clementina in The Desert Song. And Adah in Naughty Marietta. Both are mezzo roles. I'm definitely up for TDS, so if you're also up for TDS, and you're a bass I suppose you could be Ali Ben Ali.

edited 9th Aug '12 3:53:57 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Contralto, here. Normally I can sing mezzo if necessary but I've had allergies this year interfering with my range.

Soprano. Though I'm a little rusty.

@Phoenixdaughter: Can you do coloratura?

Listen to this for an idea of what my voice sounds like. Basically a lot like Marie Wells (the female singer in the clip). Very light.

edited 9th Aug '12 4:39:52 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

And unfortunately, I'm screechy because I have hay fever. It's gone on for months.

-nods- I can try, at least.

@phoenixdaughter: Great! And also: it's possible to be a mezzo and have a light middle voice, right? Do we have anyone up for musicians and chorus and the other singing roles? Are any male tropers tenors and baritones? Also, anyone willing to organise and coordinate the session(s)? I don't have enough time to do the organising, but I do have just enough time to practice my part. I know the role well.

edited 10th Aug '12 6:13:25 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

Another thing; are we going to sing to live or recorded accompaniment?

We'd need a good pianist.

@Pannic: So we're going to do it live? When we find a pianist, I'll PM the SOTBK score (converted the MIDI in Sibelius) Anyone an experienced pianist?

Well, I don't know. Delays being what they are might make things difficult. A pre-recorded thing might honestly be for the best, but these sorts of things would be mighty hard to coordinate.

I think a pre-recorded version would be a lot simpler.

@Take A Melody: Yes, it would be! BTW, sorry to hear about your allergies. I have a similar problem. So we'll do it when we're both in top form. OK, is everyone else willing to do The Desert Song? [[http://www.hamienet.com/Broadway_Musical/Desert_Song/Here's the MIDI page. You can download them in MP 3 format too. ]] I'll type up lyric sheets for all the songs.

Here's my idea of the cast:

phoenixdaughter: Margot

Pannic: Ali Ben Ali

?: Pierre

?:Sid El Kar

?:Bennie

?:Edith

Take A Melody: Susan (who can also be a mezzo-soprano)

Morwen Edhelwen: Clementina

Everyone else: Chorus

edited 11th Aug '12 10:20:22 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

And also: ?:Captain Paul Fontaine

Am typing up lyrics for the title song now.

Do we have any baritones or tenors? We need two baritones and at least one tenor (Bennie can be either)

Anyone? I'm working on the lyric sheets and will PM lyrics to everyone. Who's up for chorus and the unfilled roles? There are four of them. Three male ones and one female.

edited 12th Aug '12 1:13:05 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

bump

Problem is I don't think there are a whole lot of classically-trained singers on this forum. Should probably opt to do something smaller like, I dunno, A Hand of Bridge.