Thursday, January 8, 2015

Marvelous Musicals: Suddenly Seymour





One of my all time favorite musicals  is  "Little Shop of Horrors" and  said musical  has what  I count as my all time favorite song from a musical, "Suddenly Seymour".  There have been  various  takes on this classic song and I've decided to look at them all.  Not to choose, which one I like  best (it's the film version BTW)   but  because there have been so many takes on this song that I thought it'd be fun to look at the different versions.





We start  with the original Off-Broadway Cast  and I must  say  that  being used to Rick Moranis'  Seymour,  this  Seymour   doesn't  have have the same  sound  and  the Audrey  singing there is Ellen Greene, who would reprise the role in the film.  Again,  she sounds  different  but still really good.  It  is neat to go back and hear  the original take on one  of my all time favorite songs.





Oh,  I can't  say anything  bad  about this version.  I love this  song.  If  I were to ever do a countdown of my  favorite  Musical Numbers,  this would be # 1.   This  song  is what  pushed  "Little Shop" from being a good  musical  to one of the greats in my opinion.  This  rendition is just  so heartbreaking  and  when  I hear  Ellen Greene's Audrey  in this version,  my eyes to start to water up for her because I can actually feel  that she  is finally  putting the pain of the past  behind  her and embracing  her  new happy life. (That is if you don't watch the horrid Director's Cut).




I gotta say that behind  the  movie  version,  this is probably   my second  favorite version of this song.  This  Seymour has a real sweetness to his voice that just  makes  him so endearing and that you are  truly rooting  for him. I've  heard  some people  compare this Audrey to Ellen Greene  and while, she doesn't have the same voice.   Audrey  is not an easy character to get right and this actress does a fine job  here.




Anyone  that knows me  knows that I LOVE Carrie Underwood.  I  have the biggest crush on Carrie but... I gotta  be honest.  Something about this version  feels off  about this.   I mean I love Carrie, I really do  and  it's cool that she covered one of my favorite songs but her voice  doesn't seem like the right fit for this song and that is also  true  of  Patrick Wilson. It's  cool to hear Carrie  sing this as a fan of hers but I'm sorry , I can't  help  but picture Rick Moranis  and Ellen Greene, when hearing  this  and  they don't  stack up.





I had no idea that this version existed until looking up versions for this song  and all I gotta say is WOW.   This  is good.  Mandy Moore should  have  seriously gotten the chance to play Audrey, if she is this good and Adam Pascal from  RENT (one of my favorite musicals) does  a really good job  of  putting  a new spin on Seymour's  part of the song while remaining faithful.  All I can  say is that I really  want to hear  Mandy Moore  cover "Somewhere That's Green" after this.



Suddenly Seymour  (Glee)

  

Yes,  I'm a Gleek  and  I make no apologies  for that.  I've been fan since season 1, episode 1.  I know  the internet  likes to rag on the show and I get it but  I've loved this show through all of it's  ups & downs such as losing  fan favorite,  Cory Montetith to a drug overdose.   In the final season's  first episode,  Rachel  Berry  (played the girlfriend of the late Cory, Lea Michele) and Blaine Anderson (played by Darren Criss)  are singing this  song  as a means to cheer  Rachel  up after she loses everything that she had worked for.  If  you know the show,  it's her fault.   Now, when I first heard  this version,  I was somewhat confused because A.  Rachel  & Blaine  are most certainly not a couple as the latter is gay.  So, I was trying to figure  out the context  for this song and then when I heard it,  my second thought was that I wished that they  had done it before Cory died  because  I would have loved to heard Cory & Rachel  sing it to each other as  the two truly loved each other and yeah, it was a rocky road  but I'm  just yearning for what could've been  and I  think a Rachel  & Finn version of this song would have been fantastic.  Alas, I'll never know but still from what I've heard  I'm  excited to see it in tomorrow's season opener.   Sure, Rachel  singing  "Let It Go"  is getting all the buzz right because it's "Let It Go"  but I'm  more excited about this.


These  are my thoughts on this song.  What's  your  favorite  take  here. Let me know  in the comments. Peace!  

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