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Marni Nixon has died


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The liner notes of musical soundtrack albums are of course mum about there being a ghost-singer.

But one tell-tale feature---which indicates that SOMEONE in the cast was dubbed--is when they listed the songs and artists.  Rather than list the actual actor/actress, they give the song credit to the character name. 

I didn't know who was dubbed in the Sound of Music movie, but I suspected it was Peggy Wood's Climb Every Mountain.  Turns out it was Christopher Plummer (probably in addition to Peggy).   The dubber expertly replicated what Plummer's singing voice would sound like.

2nd runner up is Lisa Kirk who subjugated her own voice quality to sound more like Rosalind Russell in Gypsy. (In Mame pre-production, it was rumored Liza would do Lucy's singing.  Also proposed "a 'singer' singer taking Lucy's high notes", which I wish they had attempted).  

 

The movie makers went dub-crazy, substituting very acceptable singing voices of stars in favor of dubbers.  I've heard Ava Gardner's original "Show Boat" vocals, Joan Crawford doing her own "Torch Song" songs and Juanita Hall recreating her South Pacific "Bloody Mary" solos; and all are perfectly fine, not enhanced at all by the dubbed voices.    Even actual singers get the dubbing treatment sometimes.   It's rumored that Rita Moreno is dubbed in West Side Story.  Angela Lansbury, pre-queen of Broadway, is dubbed in "Harvey Girls".   Roz Russell's attempts at the Gypsy songs are horrific.  It's a wonder they even bothered recording them.  

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The liner notes of musical soundtrack albums are of course mum about there being a ghost-singer.

But one tell-tale feature---which indicates that SOMEONE in the cast was dubbed--is when they listed the songs and artists.  Rather than list the actual actor/actress, they give the song credit to the character name. 

I didn't know who was dubbed in the Sound of Music movie, but I suspected it was Peggy Wood's Climb Every Mountain.  Turns out it was Christopher Plummer (probably in addition to Peggy).   The dubber expertly replicated what Plummer's singing voice would sound like.

2nd runner up is Lisa Kirk who subjugated her own voice quality to sound more like Rosalind Russell in Gypsy. (In Mame pre-production, it was rumored Liza would do Lucy's singing.  Also proposed "a 'singer' singer taking Lucy's high notes", which I wish they had attempted).  

 

The movie makers went dub-crazy, substituting very acceptable singing voices of stars in favor of dubbers.  I've heard Ava Gardner's original "Show Boat" vocals, Joan Crawford doing her own "Torch Song" songs and Juanita Hall recreating her South Pacific "Bloody Mary" solos; and all are perfectly fine, not enhanced at all by the dubbed voices.    Even actual singers get the dubbing treatment sometimes.   It's rumored that Rita Moreno is dubbed in West Side Story.  Angela Lansbury, pre-queen of Broadway, is dubbed in "Harvey Girls".   Roz Russell's attempts at the Gypsy songs are horrific.  It's a wonder they even bothered recording them.

 

Portions of Rita Moreno's performance for WSS were dubbed. Nixon sang the high notes for the Quintet and Betty Wand sang the entirety of Anita's part for "A Boy Like That."

 

I presume you meant to say Lisa instead of Liza. Now there's a visual, Liza Minelli's voice coming out of Lucy's mouth!

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Portions of Rita Moreno's performance for WSS were dubbed. Nixon sang the high notes for the Quintet and Betty Wand sang the entirety of Anita's part for "A Boy Like That."

 

I presume you meant to say Lisa instead of Liza. Now there's a visual, Liza Minelli's voice coming out of Lucy's mouth!

Kinda funny though that they'd dub some parts and not others, especially given Moreno can actually sing! :blink:

 

And thanks for the visual! Yes, hearing "Liza with a Z" coming out of Lucy with a pair of B's (!) mouth would be...entertaining if nothing else. :vanda:

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Kinda funny though that they'd dub some parts and not others, especially given Moreno can actually sing! :blink:

 

And thanks for the visual! Yes, hearing "Liza with a Z" coming out of Lucy with a pair of B's (!) mouth would be...entertaining if nothing else. :vanda:

I'll be honest, having heard Audrey's vocal tracks for My Fair Lady, I kind of wished they'd used them. Nixon's voice was certainly more polished, but I prefer an imperfect voice. For me it's more about emotion than technique, and voices that are rough around the edges really speak to me. Musicals should be more about acting than singing, IMO. At least Nixon made an effort to act the songs as well as sing them, unlike so many nowadays.

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Portions of Rita Moreno's performance for WSS were dubbed. Nixon sang the high notes for the Quintet and Betty Wand sang the entirety of Anita's part for "A Boy Like That."

 

I presume you meant to say Lisa instead of Liza. Now there's a visual, Liza Minelli's voice coming out of Lucy's mouth!

 

Although not that much more jarring than having Carole Cook's voice coming out of Lucy's "Big Spender" mouth.

 

Audrey was allowed to do "Just You Wait".  Roz Russell did "Mr. Goldstone" and the first part of "Rose's Turn".  Lisa takes over when Rose gets to the "I had a dream..." part. It's noticeably different but somehow it works.  Fooled me when I first saw Gypsy!. 

There's an interested video on Vimeo where someone has taken the Roz tracks, alternated them with Lisa's and made a new "Some People".  

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Although not that much more jarring than having Carole Cook's voice coming out of Lucy's "Big Spender" mouth.

 

Audrey was allowed to do "Just You Wait".  Roz Russell did "Mr. Goldstone" and the first part of "Rose's Turn".  Lisa takes over when Rose gets to the "I had a dream..." part. It's noticeably different but somehow it works.  Fooled me when I first saw Gypsy!. 

There's an interested video on Vimeo where someone has taken the Roz tracks, alternated them with Lisa's and made a new "Some People".

 

Funnily enough, the original soundtrack release for Gypsy contained Lisa Kirk's entire take for "Rose's Turn." I do believe subsequent releases have included the Russell tracks as bonuses.

 

The home video releases for "My Fair Lady" only feature Audrey's renditions of "Loverly" and "Show Me." I don't own any copies of the film soundtrack, but I'd presume these are featured on a special edition release. Audrey's versions of "Danced All Night" and "Without You" are on YouTube, played over the film footage. "Danced All Night" is the one I've heard where she seems to struggle the most. The fact that the sync isn't very accurate suggests Audrey filmed the sequence to Nixon's track.

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Funnily enough, the original soundtrack release for Gypsy contained Lisa Kirk's entire take for "Rose's Turn." I do believe subsequent releases have included the Russell tracks as bonuses.

 

The home video releases for "My Fair Lady" only feature Audrey's renditions of "Loverly" and "Show Me." I don't own any copies of the film soundtrack, but I'd presume these are featured on a special edition release. Audrey's versions of "Danced All Night" and "Without You" are on YouTube, played over the film footage. "Danced All Night" is the one I've heard where she seems to struggle the most. The fact that the sync isn't very accurate suggests Audrey filmed the sequence to Nixon's track.

 

According to the vimeo Roz-Lisa video poster, Roz made 2 attempts at the songs and the 2nd was much better.  The tracks featured as bonus material on the Gypsy soundtrack CD were from the first not-as-good attempt.  She's wonderful in "Wonderful Town" but her songs in that show were written with her limited vocal talents in mind.  "Gypsy" is a belter's show as Roz's attempts at sustaining some of the high notes are somewhere between a moo and a bray. Roz makes  Lucy in Mame sound like Marni Nixon!  (to bring the thread back full circle)

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According to the vimeo Roz-Lisa video poster, Roz made 2 attempts at the songs and the 2nd was much better.  The tracks featured as bonus material on the Gypsy soundtrack CD were from the first not-as-good attempt.  She's wonderful in "Wonderful Town" but her songs in that show were written with her limited vocal talents in mind.  "Gypsy" is a belter's show as Roz's attempts at sustaining some of the high notes are somewhere between a moo and a bray. Roz makes  Lucy in Mame sound like Marni Nixon!  (to bring the thread back full circle)

:HALKING:

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I second that. It's funny how some singers attempting to emulate the Broadwayesque Belt tend to come across like barnyard animals. Ricky Martin's recording of "A New Argentina" for Evita sounded like a horny goat.

Well...for some of us...citing Ricky Martin in the same sentence as "horny goat" kinda speaks for itself! :blink:

 

She bangs indeed! :HALKING:

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According to the vimeo Roz-Lisa video poster, Roz made 2 attempts at the songs and the 2nd was much better.  The tracks featured as bonus material on the Gypsy soundtrack CD were from the first not-as-good attempt.  She's wonderful in "Wonderful Town" but her songs in that show were written with her limited vocal talents in mind.  "Gypsy" is a belter's show as Roz's attempts at sustaining some of the high notes are somewhere between a moo and a bray. Roz makes  Lucy in Mame sound like Marni Nixon!  (to bring the thread back full circle)

 

Roz had trouble singing the sound "I".   Instead she substituted "Ah"

as in 

"Ah I had dream, a dream about you, baby...."

"Together Wherever We Go" one of the more famous songs from "Gypsy" was cut from the film but survived on the soundtrack album with Lisa Kirk but without Natalie and Karl.  Also included on the CD was Roz's attempt, the full version of the song.  They arranged the song in a key easiest for Roz to sing, forcing poor Natalie Wood to screech her notes an octave higher.   When you've got three singers and Karl Malden sounds the best, you know you're in trouble!

"Together" is a good example of the problem of: what works in the theater doesn't necessarily work in the movies.

The first acted ended with "Everything's Coming Up Roses".  "Together" was the first song after the intermission, when the play needed a little lightening.  In   at least one performance, the audience insisted on an encore and Merman broke character saying to them "you really want more?"

In the intermission-less movie, the unnecessary song slowed the action of an already slow part of the movie.   They kept the dialogue leading up to the song, a mistake...."well at least she's not alone" said Rose and the film dissolved to the next scene. 

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Well he did. He sounded like he was baahing when trying to force out tremolo.

 

If forcing out tremolos in a chronic problem for Ricky, I suggest switching to a high fiber diet.  Short term, a stool softener and a suppository should help. 

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If forcing out tremolos in a chronic problem for Ricky, I suggest switching to a high fiber diet.  Short term, a stool softener and a suppository should help.

 

 

 

Hahaha! Not what I meant but funny visual.

 

 

:blink:

Why is that your response for every single post now? You seem befuddled by everything lately, LOL!

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Hahaha! Not what I meant but funny visual.

 

 

Why is that your response for every single post now? You seem befuddled by everything lately, LOL!

Oh dear Brian! Not always "befuddled" (although that is probably true in most instances); I just find it a nice "shorthand" as a way to be a part of the "conversation" and/or to express a myriad of things, everything from "I can't believe I just read that!" to "I don't dare say what I'M thinking I'll get roasted over the coals and get run out on a rail!"; in essence, sometimes it's just I don't know what to say but something's elicited a reaction and it's the best (or safest!) I can come up with.

 

Call it my version of the "spider"! :HALKING:

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