Voice of the Week: Colm Wilkinson

How I found out

The moment I heard this man's voice on the Les Misérables Original London Cast album, I said to myself: "I've never heard such a special voice before, now I must find out what I can about this wonderman."

Commentary

Colm Wilkinson really is a superman in the world of stage music. Not only did he originate the role of Jean Valjean, still considered one of the most coveted and most demanding roles of musical theatre – did you know that he actually was also the first man to play the Phantom – in the workshop performance of Phantom of the Opera at the Sydmonton Festival? When he was a younger man singing through Bring Him Home for the very first time, his co-stars said he was the voice of God, and miraculously, his voice still holds that magic in it now that he's approaching age seventy. I have never waited so anxiously for an album to be released in Spotify as I was when I heard about Wilkinson's new album Broadway and Beyond. And it was worth the wait – track after track, Colm Wilkinson shows both the power and the sensitivity in his never-ageing voice.



Favourite songs

Tennessee Waltz

His covers on Anthem and The Wind Beneath My Wings are also among my favourites, but unfortunately I couldn't find them in Youtube. If you have Spotify, iTunes or something, just look up Broadway and Beyond, okay? Wilkinson actually auditioned for Jean Valjean with Anthem, and after hearing him sing that I'm not surprised that he was immediately cast. I have never heard a better take on it.

I would listen to this music when...

I really want to take time to concentrate on listening and do nothing else. Colm Wilkinson doesn't work as background music because the moment he lets out the first note you forget whatever else you were supposed to do.

Random lyric sample

Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger
You may see a stranger across a crowded room
And somehow you know
You know even then
That somewhere you see her again and again
(Some Enchanted Evening from the musical South Pacific, covered on more than one occasion)

Stars ★★★★★

Shakespearean Lovers Quiz!

Do you know who loves whom in Will Shakespeare's great plays? See if you can play matchmaker to these ladies and gentlemen and place them in the right play too! Some famous characters have been excluded from the quiz because I think I would be insulting my readers' intellect if I asked them to guess which characters belong to Antony and Cleopatra. Or Romeo and Juliet.

The right answers will be up on April 13th, and even if you're not sure you get all the answers correctly, don't be shy to take part!

Here's a picture of Antony and Cleopatra anyway, just to set up the mood. These actors are none other than Alan Rickman and Helen Mirren, which makes me wish desperately for a time machine.

Gentlemen

Orlando
Ferdinand
Florizel
Lysander
Bassanio
Posthumus
Benedick
Valentine
Lysimachus
Orsino

Ladies

Beatrice
Miranda
Marina
Imogen
Hermia
Viola
Rosalind
Silvia
Portia
Perdita

Plays

The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
Cymbeline
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Twelfth Night
The Winter's Tale
Much Ado About Nothing
The Tempest

Musical Quote Quiz Answers

Time to reveal the right answers for my first ever blog quiz! Only two of my readers were brave enough to submit their answers, but I'm assuming that there were a little more participants than that. Anyway, I had very much fun making this Musical Quote Quiz and will definitely be making more of these in the future! As for my two (public) participants – Hannah scored a wonderful 25 points out of 30, while Siiri L. gains the promised title of musical savant extraordinaire along with eternal praise and glory, with 27 points out of 30! All I can say for you both is:

"You did well. She is pleased with you."

Here are all the correct answers, decorated with picture identifications of all the characters that were quoted.

Quote 1: Dancing Through Life from Wicked, sung by Fiyero
(I've never seen Wicked on stage but I know the general plot, and it annoys the heck out of me that I have no idea where this apparently somewhat iconic holding-the-lantern-and-looking-serious part happens. Someone please tell me?)

"Life's more painless for the brainless

Why think too hard when it's so soothing?"

Quote 2: It's A Fine Life from Oliver!, sung by Nancy

"Small pleasures, small pleasures, who would deny us these?

Gin toddies, large measures, no skimpin' if you please!"

Quote 3: On The Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady, sung by Freddie Eynsford-Hill

"I have often walked down this street before

But the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before."

Quote 4: Red and Black (or ABC Café) from Les Misérables, sung by Enjolras

"Have you asked of yourselves what's the price you might pay?

Is it simply a game for rich young boys to play?"

Quote 5: Johanna from Sweeney Todd, sung by Anthony

"Do they think that walls could hide you?

Even now I'm at your window

I am in the dark beside you

Buried sweetly in your yellow hair."

Quote 6: Magical Lasso from Phantom of the Opera, sung by Madame Giry. There's a picture of her in all her black-clad severity right at the beginning of this post.

"Those who speak of what they know

Find too late that prudent silence is wise."

Quote 7: Sound of Music from the musical that happens to have the same name, sung by Maria

"My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds that rise from the lake to the trees

My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze."

Quote 8: My Lord And Master from The King and I, sung by Tuptim

This was apparently a tricky one, so I'll give you the song here. A shame really, that it was cut from the film version.

"What does he know of me, this lord and master?

When he has looked at me, what has he seen?"

Quote 9: Why God Why? from Miss Saigon, sung by Chris

"I liked my memories as they were

But now I'll leave remembering her."

Quote 10: Another Day from RENT, sung by Roger

"Who do you think you are, barging in on me and my guitar?

Little girl hey, the door is that way, the fire's out anyway."