Romantic Duets for Valentine's Day

Romantic duets are one of the basic ingredients in the musical genre – which is why they have to be really good in order to stand out from the mass. A simple, dull "I love you", "I love you too" will not do. The best lovers' duets express joy and affection, and occasionally the hardships of love, without resorting to sappy lyrics riddled with clichés.

So, what else should a musical-loving blogger do on a Valentine's Day than list her Top Ten romantic musical duets? I know, right!

10. 'We Kiss in the Shadow'  

The King and I
Tuptim and Lun Tha
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Tuptim and Lun Tha have to meet in secret because Tuptim is a concubine of the King of Siam. The agony of forbidden love ensues. The lyrics aren't as memorable as some of the others on this list, but I do like the melody.

9. 'Sixteen Going On Seventeen'

The Sound of Music

Liesl and Rolf
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Alright, so this song is maybe a tiny bit depressing in hindsight, knowing what Rolf decides to do with his life in the end. I think for me, most of the appeal is in the specific performance by Charmian Carr and Daniel Truhitte in the film version (which I've linked above) rather than in the song itself, which frankly doesn't have an awful lot to say. I just love Liesl's dress and the dance in the gazebo.

8. 'A Heart Full of Love'

Les Misérables

Marius and Cosette
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics by Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer

I adore every bit of music that Claude-Michel Schönberg has ever composed, but even considering we're in the realm of theatre where the rules of credibility are frequently experimented with, I find myself shaking my head at Marius and Cosette who vow eternal love after literally just bumping to each other on the street for a couple of seconds.

7. 'As Long As You're Mine'

Wicked

Elphaba and Fiyero
Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Rather than a promise of eternity, Elphaba and Fiyero go for "just for this moment". I love the intro to this song, it enticingly foreshadows the passion for life and the slightly fatalistic tone of the rest of the tune.

6. 'Mountain Duet'

Chess

Florence and Anatoly
Music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus
Lyrics by Tim Rice and Björn Ulvaeus

Once again we get a bit of a different angle to the traditional "love duet" because this is set in a reluctant, awkward meeting between Anatoly the Russian chess player and Florence, the assistant to his American opponent. It begins with the characters wondering what the heck they are supposed to be doing here, and then Anatoly goes "Listen, I hate to break up the mood..." And the mood really gets going from there!

5. 'I'll Cover You'

RENT

Angel and Collins
Lyrics and music by Jonathan Larson

I'm sure I've already gushed about the earnestness of Angel and Collins, the absolute joy that this song expresses, and Angel's overall awesomeness as a character. Lyrics, melody, mood, characters, I just adore the whole package.

4. 'One Hand, One Heart'

West Side Story

Tony and Maria
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

This is on a much more solemn side. So why am I pointing the finger at Marius and Cosette's sudden confessions of love but ranked Maria and Tony practically rehearsing their wedding on fourth place? Well, I think West Side Story devotes a bit more more time and explanation to the main couple's character histories and setting up the premise that their lives are lacking fulfillment which they try to patch up with an admittedly hasty commitment. The tune overall has a beautiful simplicity to it. If I ever happen to get married, I want this song at my wedding.


3. 'Come What May'

Moulin Rouge!

Christian and Satine
Music and lyrics by David Baerwald

What power there is in three short words, 'Come what may'. I never get bored of this song! Once again, the tactic of starting soft and quiet and building up to a massive power blend of two voices works wonders.

2. 'Last Night of the World'

Miss Saigon

Kim and Chris
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr.

Claude-Michel Schönberg does it again, there's something about this melody that makes me obsess over it. The world around Kim and Chris is dark and dangerous, but they have this lovely song. And the solo saxophone.

1. 'All I Ask Of You'

The Phantom of the Opera

Raoul and Christine
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe

There never was any debate in my mind as to which duet should be the top of the list. Out of the overall amazing score in The Phantom of the Opera, this song has always been my favourite (though Past the Point of No Return and The Music of the Night aren't far behind). As a rule, I turn into an emotional wreck as soon as 'Anywhere you go, let me go too' comes out. I'm also eternally thankful to whoever oversaw the casting of the 25th Anniversary performance because they gave us the chance to hear Sierra Boggess and Hadley Fraser sing this song to perfection. 

Bucket List Tag

Hannah at Miss Daydreamer's Place tagged me for the Bucket List challenge – thanks for this really fun tag! The idea is to list ten things you want to do before you die, and then pass the tag to five people. So here I go, my Bucket List!

At some point in my life, I would like to...

See at least one of these insanely talented gentlemen live on stage: 

Benedict Cumberbatch

Tom Hiddleston

David Tennant

Go on a riding holiday in at least one of these places: 

Scottish Highlands 

Iceland 

South Africa

(Mind you, I could fill an entire book-length bucket list of countries that I'd like to visit, on horseback or otherwise!)

Sing at a karaoke bar

But only if there's a song selection up to my taste, so probably not in Finland.

See a play on Broadway

See these musicals on stage (I can't put an "at least one of these" on this one, these are all a must):

I saw a Finnish production of this once, but it was mostly dreadful so I demand another opportunity!

Own a beautiful Leonberger dog (or two)

Move to London

Learn at least one new language (because three isn't enough!)

Read all of Charles Dickens' works

So far, I've read Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol.

Become a professional playwright!

Thinking up this list was really fun, so let's pass on the tag. Elwingda, Frankie Savage and Siiri L., are you up for the challenge...? I can't think of anyone else to tag, but everyone who happens upon this post is completely free to pick it up!

Random funny videos from the world of musicals

I was feeling down tonight so I decided to make a post to up my mood. This is basically a bunch of videos that always make me happy no matter how many times I've watched them! All of them happen to be related to musical theatre.

Christina Bianco's Diva Impressions
This one is a fairly new discovery I made, all thanks to Being Alive, a great Finnish musical blog! Christina Bianco is really funny and talented. It's such a great accomplishment to be able to sing well in your own voice, let alone trying to imitate about a dozen other singers... My favourite impressions here are Julie Andrews, Céline Dion, Britney Spears, Judy Garland and Kristin Chenoweth!

John vs Killian - Phantom Twister
John Owen-Jones and Killian Donnelly are both extremely talented West End performers whom I love to listen to, but on these John vs Killian videos, instead of singing they do funny challenges – because the Phantom of the Opera fandom is always pitting the Phantom and Raoul against each other.

Samantha Barks wins role of Éponine
Okay, anyone who's stalked on Les Mis film related videos will have seen it, but I have to mention it because it always puts me in a good mood. About halfway through the video Cameron Macintosh walks on stage with the cast of Oliver! and surprises Samantha :)

Colm Wilkinson is Back
Another Les Mis film featurette which I love for two reasons: 1. It has Colm Wilkinson in it and he's one of the most adorable people ever, 2. We get to hear his divine voice. Seriously, how many people can still sing so beautifully at the age of 68?

Neil Patrick Harris and Hugh Jackman at 2011 Tony Awards
Both of these guys are so handsome and talented and seem like such nice people I'd love to meet them... And here they are on the same video!

Les Mis Bloopers
One more video I added after I'd already published this post – I can't believe I forgot this one, it is amazingly funny! Vikidál Gyula, the Hungarian Valjean starting at 3:32, is absolutely priceless!

Have a great day everyone!

Let's get singin'!

Yay, back to blogging after a couple of weeks' pause. I've got some awesome blog posts on the making – I don't know if bloggers usually spend days and days typing and fussing over their posts, but I do. However, something great and unexpected happened today, well worth a quick post before I get those other ones ready!

 Don't you just love postmen (or women) when they come to your door with a package for you that you've been anxiously expecting for weeks? Well, today around midday I got a package all the way from the States! What was especially wonderful about this event was that I'd been tracking the package via Amazon and I was under the impression that it was still stuck in Virginia, customs delay or something. But here they are now: Be A Broadway Star! board game and The Teen's Musical Theatre Collection: Young Women's Edition, some wonderful sheet music!




As board games and musical theatre are two of my most favourite things, it was only natural that one day I started wondering if there was a musical-themed board game out there somewhere. Amazingly, Google gave me a very straightforward answer when I asked for "Broadway board game": it led me to Be A Broadway Star!, by Broadway producer Ken Davenport and BroadwaySpace.com.

In the game, you're pretending to be an aspiring Broadway star and as you roll the dice and move your piece you have to do things like buy a new makeup kit, pay your agent and publicist and audition for roles. If you audition successfully, you earn some nice bucks and you can even win Tony Awards! The goals are to reach the Broadway Hall of Fame and to gain as many fans as possible – the amount of fans is indicated in Fan Cards, each worth 25, 50 or 100 fans. Getting cast in shows gets you more fans, but if you do something bad like yell at a child actor, you lose fans. All you can do is throw the dice and see what your landing space says.

There are two especially fun things in the game. First of all, when you audition (by taking an Audition Card which tells you which show and role you auditioned for), you get an extra turn if you can sing two lines from the show in question.

But sadly, sometimes your audition fails and you don't get the part. I would never ever get this specific "cut" card in real life:

Another element of fun are the "Make or Break" challenges. When you land on a "Make or Break" space, you have to pull a card and perform the challenge, such as:

Actually, this challenge would be an easy one for me. By the time I graduated from high school (or whatever the heck this Finnish system would be called in English) I'd become such a Shakespeare nerd I put the beginning of the "All the world's a stage" speech into my grad party invitations. But most of these challenges are NOT going to be easy – like "Perform two Bob Fosse dance moves"...

The box is really long and thin. See how I can't fit it properly into my bookshelf with my other board games!



This game sounds like loads of fun, especially with a bigger group (up to six) of musical-minded friends! I'm going to do a test round tomorrow with a friend whom I'll call Em here, and then I'll try to round up a couple of more friends who might like this so we can have a proper supercalifragilisticexpialidocious game night. You'll be sure to hear about it in this blog if and when it happens!

Alright, item two of the package: great sheet music for women from musical theatre! Well, there's a couple of Disney songs as well (such as Beauty and the Beast and God Help the Outcasts), which is a bit weird as I wouldn't call Disney movies musical theatre, but I don't mind at all because I love most Disney tunes to pieces. The songs from actual musicals include some of my absolute favourites, such as Memory (Cats), On My Own (Les Mis), There Are Worse Things I Could Do (Grease) and Wouldn't It Be Loverly (My Fair Lady). Then there are plenty of tunes which I've never heard and I can't wait to get to know them! The music is presented in the regular sheet music fashion: melody and piano accompaniment. But with the unknown tunes, it's especially great to have the accompaniment CD which plays piano accompaniments to each song, with the melody as well.

Here's some of the songs listed on the back cover:


See how wonderfully chunky it is (I'm holding it between my fingers)! 33 songs!
I think I'll be spending even more time singing show tunes from now on. Thank goodness I have good thick walls in my apartment...

New York, New York

I'm in a New York state of mind today! Possibly because I ordered some really exciting, Broadway-related stuff on Amazon.com: a board game Be A Broadway Star, and a super amazing musical song book for female singers! You'll probably hear more about them when they arrive, but now let's get to the topic of the day...

There are a lot of New York themed songs out there, aren't there? Songs with New York in the title, or at least very prominently in the lyrics. I've never been to New York City (though I was very close to becoming a New Yorker once!) so I can't really comment on whether it lives up to its reputation in songs. The Big Apple certainly has an interesting history and has continued to grow into a home of multiculturalism and performing arts (Broadway!). The words "New York" and its derivatives are constantly being used as a symbol of some special kind of lifestyle – what it is precisely, I can't say. But I can share ten of my favourite, fabulous New York tunes!

Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down by Alicia Keys
The original one is by Jay-Z with Alicia Keys singing the chorus, but I happen to prefer this version. The vocals in the beginning are chilling, and I love the atmosphere in general. Treats New York as a city where you can fulfill your dreams.

New York by Paloma Faith
I really love the sound of this song, but to this day I can't figure out what "New York" stands for here. Is it the actual city or, literally, "another lady"? The music video only adds to the confusion!

I Love New York by Madonna
The queen of pop sings about New York as "the only city that makes me glad". I'd like to know why!

New York State Of Mind by Billy Joel
Has been covered numerous times, by Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand to name a few. Such a nice and mellow tune, with some beautiful piano and sax. And Billy Joel's voice, of course.

Englishman In New York by Sting
I start tapping my foot the moment I hear the first beats of this wonderful classic piece. Deals with culture clashes I guess, though eventually the melting pot will without a doubt consume the Englishman.

New York City Serenade by Bruce Springsteen
A ten-minute jumble of many parts and lyrics that kind of don't match, but it's really beautiful, which a word that I usually don't associate with Bruce Springsteen, though I do associate many other positive adjectives with him.

The Only Living Boy In New York by Simon & Garfunkel
I think it's so sweet that Paul Simon wrote this to Art Garfunkel when the latter was in Mexico and Simon felt lonely. It's a beautiful piece, once again. I guess it is possible after all to feel lonely in the city that never sleeps.

There's A Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon For New York by Sammy Davis Jr.
This is from the musical Porgy and Bess which I really know nothing about. Anyway, it's a nice song with a great swing! Presents New York in the usual light of the destination of "high life".

A Nightingale Sang In New York by Bing Crosby
I'm so happy I found a New York song by Bing Crosby because he's like one of my favourite people in the Universe. My Christmas is never complete without his White Christmas and O Come All Ye Faithful, but no matter what that man is singing, it sounds perfect. I don't know why this is called A Nightingale Sang in New York on Spotify and A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square everywhere else.

New York, New York by Frank Sinatra
Of course, you can't talk about music and New York without mentioning this famous piece by Frank Sinatra (who also sings about "Chicago, Chicago"). Jay-Z knows that too, as he pays tribute to Sinatra and his famous line "if I can make it there, I'm gonna make it any God damn where" in Empire State Of Mind

Maybe I should go find out songs about London next... Yesterday, a friend and I bought plane tickets to London and tickets to Queen's Theatre to see Les Misérables and we've been celebrating ever since! I'm so happy to be going to London again! My pilgrimage to New York and Broadway will have to wait a little longer, but it will happen.