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bag-of-broadway-snacks · 3 years

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So I finalky finished my Starlight Sequence Comparisons. And just a disclaimer: I think all the actors/actresses listed are amazingly talented. I am only rating one performance so who knows why they sounded like they did at any given time. Also note that these are my opinions! So don't freak out at me.

OLC (Ray Shell, Lon Satton)

-Okay so I'm biased in this case but Ray has always one of my favorite Rustys he has an credibly powerful voice with amazing diction. So easy to understand him and because of that you can connect with the emotion that the Starlight sequence is supposed to bring. The actor playing Poppa here also did a marvelous job he kept his voice very powerful and clear. Sometimes actors end up dropping off when Rusty starts singing but he didn't have that issue. I really liked both performances here. Overall one of the best performances of the Starlight sequence. 10/10

NSE (Greg Ellis, Lon Satton)

-Okay so for this production I still thought Rusty did very well. His voice wasn't as powerful as I like and he had a bit of a slurr to his words. However, I could still understand him very clearly thanks to his good diction. Overall I had no problem with his performance, I thought he did good. My problem with this performance is Poppa. Lon Satton was returning to the role and, for whatever reason, despite his amazing performance in the original London cast, he amped up and sounded way too much like a boy band gospel singer. And it just takes me out of the performance because the Starlight Express is supposed to be this God, this Heavenly being and that's why the powerful booming voice really works. It's supposed to leave you breathless in wonder not make you feel like you're in a concert. I have a problem with actors over singing in general so Poppa over singing here kind of took me out of the experience and its a shame because Rusty did fine here. He was just being out shined. 7/10

1988 Bochum (Steven Skeels, Trevor Georges)

-This is another performance I really like. But I do have one issue with it. Although Poppa and Rusty both sound very good, Poppa was a bit too loud, so I couldn't I almost couldn't hear Rusty most of the time. So you have this effect where it sounds like the two voices are competing rather than coming in for a harmony. though they're both singing different lines Poppa and Rusty should be feeling the exact same emotions so they should complement each other. It's always difficult to do Duets like this where you're singing two different lines over top of each other, so I can understand the difficulty they had here with moderating Poppa's voice to accommodate Rusty. So overall it was a very good performance I only had very minor issues with it. 9/10

1987 Japan/Australia (Bobby Collins, Richie Pitts)

-So this is how I die. All right now just a little disclaimer, I love Bobby Collins. I love his performance in a lot of songs from Starlight Express. However, I do not like how during the Starlight sequence, he sounds like Sandy from Daria singing The Starlight sequence. I have no idea what happens to Bobby during the song but he looses a lot of the emotion in his voice and he suddenly gets weird diction too it. I just don't like it. Poppa here had his own issue, he sounded like he was tense during the whole song and singing a bit too much from his throat. So while I like both of the singers in other numbers they just didn't come together to make this a good listen. I can see the appeal to some people, but not for me. It's not the worst performance favorites. 5/10

1991 Bochum (Colin Munro, Stevie Woods)

-I don't have too much to say about this one. I will say it almost had the opposite problem of another version. Rusty was a little bit too overpowering, but not so much that was noticeable for the whole song. Overall both Poppa and Rusty were very good singers, the diction was there. I could use a little more emotion but other then that I don't have many complaints. Good job for both of them. 9/10

2007 UK (Oliver Thornton, Michael Samuels)

Oh my gosh, okay this one is so beautiful. Rusty had wonderful voice that actually reminds me of Ray a little bit. Poppa brought home the whole number, he had this deep, booming, enchanting voice that I personally look for. My only nitpick is at the climax of the song, Poppa didn't quite reach that last note so the song didn't have that full on hit you in the chest feeling, but honestly that's so minor. 10/10

2015 Bochum (Kevin Kohler, David E Moore)

Another number that starts stellar! Poppa did so good here, he kept such a strong voice that really hit. It was more aggressive I'm usually used to but I honestly thought that fit the song as well. Kevin Kohler, of course, did good as usual. Unfortunately, he was just no match for Poppa and when it came time to sing his part of the climax you just could not hear him at all. A little bit of a shame but I mean with how loud Poppa was being, anyone would have trouble overpowering his voice. That would have to be fixed with mics rather than just singing alone. Overall its very good preformance. I love the energy that both actors kept up during the whole thing. I only have the one complaint. 8/10

2017 Workshop (George Ure, Mica Paris)

-This is just kind of a fun one for me. Rusty here short of sounds like a bratty teen. He has this problem throughout the whole Musical and I don't know if it was the day or that's how he usually sounds, but it was not my favorite performance for this song. Momma did fairly well for the most part. You can hear in her voice she was having trouble hitting her notes. I wouldn't be surprised if her vocal range was a little higher than was written for the Starlight sequence. As this was the first time Momma had sung to the public, are l I think it was a great first impression. I don't have much to say about this as it of course wasn't professional since it was just a workshop. So, I'll give it a 9/10.

2019 Bochum (Blake Anderson, Bianca Atalaya)

-This version is so underrated. Momma's voice is just as powerful as the original London cast. She sounds gorgeous and she really brought in a lot of emotion. Rusty here as well had a lot of emotion the voices collide and it just hits you. I really loved it. My one complaint is that Rusty did start off a little bit shaky. I was worried for a little while that he wouldn't be as good as he ended up being towards the end of the song. Really good tweaking it would have been perfect. 9/10

30th Ann. (Dan Ellison, Reva Rice)

-And to top it all off, this version may be like my favorite of all time. Dan Ellison as Rusty always puts a smile on my face. He really has earned his hype in the stex fandom. He's got a voice that carries so much emotion and projects like nobody's business. Ms. Reva Rice also does so beautifully as Momma in both productions I've listened to her in. She absolutely hits it out of the ballpark every time. I certainly hope that they'll release an album at some point. Its a gorgeous performance and deserves that sort of preservation that many others have gotten. 10/10

I had fun with this and if you want me to talk about any other songs let me know and I will!

#starlight express #stex #rusty the steam engine #poppa mccoy #momma mccoy #long post

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allekha · 3 years

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What are your thoughts on programs set to music by Igor Stravinsky and do you have any favorites among them? Also do you think his music is way to difficult to interpret in figure skating?

Hi! I'm actually not all that knowledgeable about music (most of what I know I learned from making fan videos and my beginner ice dance lessons), so I am probably not the best person to ask about this, but I'll try :)

As far as I know, of what he wrote, skaters pretty much only ever use Firebird - Tomoki did a program to Petrushka (Klimkin did too, but it was technically a composition by someone else, on whom I can find literally nothing, so I'm not sure what its exact relation to Stravinsky's Petrushka is - it sounds pretty similar to me?) and apparently Nathan used a bit of The Rite of Spring at one point.

The Rite of Spring is one that I can't really imagine ever being done well in skating. The music is weird and dissonant, sometimes literally painful to listen to, and the ballet is full of strange movements and a hypnotizing intensity. I mean, the original performance may not have literally caused a riot, but it still really upset people. You would need a choreographer and skater(s) willing to be just as transgressive when translating it to the ice to have a hope of making it work, and I honestly cannot see that happening for a competition program. Maybe for an exhibition, for a skater or team with good enough interpretive abilities and creativity.

Tomoki’s Petrushka isn’t brilliant either in terms of interpretation or choreography (or music cuts), though it did have some nice moments. I think portraying a puppet was also an interesting choice for him, considering that he is so flexible and tends to have trouble controlling that. Some of the simpler parts of the ballet sound quite skateable to me, though portraying a puppet effectively throughout a program would take some skill. Listening to the music makes me think Satton could pull it off.

The part of Firebird that always gets picked for programs is pretty difficult and demanding skating material, to be sure - it’s complex, unusual, kind of disturbing, and not visually forgiving to skating through it or half-assed arm waves - but I think there have been a few good programs to it: Watson & Oppegard. If you can deal with ‘80s music cuts, most of their skating matches the mood of the music, the exit on the first death spiral is interesting, and they have good lift positions. Yukari Nakano (video has a buzz, sorry; it was the best I could find :( ) She puts the ‘fire’ in ‘Firebird’, and the timing on her spins is great, especially the first one - it’s not often a spin gets to be one of the most exciting elements! (On a more shallow note, I absolutely love her costume.) Tatsuki Machida (my favorite of these). He feels like he truly gets the music. The choreo is complex enough to keep up with the more complicated parts, and he performs it with the commitment it needs.

Hope that answers your questions, anon!

#figure skating #(Mostly) text post

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