#if you have Michael and David together you don't need all the bells and whistles | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ingravinoveritas · 1 year

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So, I just finished watching Staged and I'm having so many mixed feels. One of the weirder impressions I got was it seemed almost like a vehicle to put a wedge between Michael and David. I esp hated the ep where Georgia did all the stuff to the office room (messed with the thermostat, starved them, etc) just to get them to bitch at each other (and then admitted that it was cos "people like to watch that". Er, no. I like banter as much as anyone, but the energy of this series seemed idk...wrong?

Hi, Anons! These are both completely valid opinions and I very much appreciate you both feeling comfortable enough to write in and share them with me.

Anon #1: I had a lot of mixed feelings watching Staged 3, too. I think the episode you’re specifically referencing is episode 4, and I also thought that much of that seemed really contrived. I get needing to create conflict to have a show, but it seemed like there’s so little natural conflict between Michael and David that Simon had to fabricate something, and it just went sort of beyond the limits of believability. (This was also just confirmed by David in a Times Radio interview that was released today.)

I think that in real life, if Michael and David ever did fight for any reason, Georgia knows the fight would last for about two minutes and then they’d find their way back to each other, without any intervention. The banter between Michael and David that we love so much doesn’t need to be engineered or cajoled, because it just happens naturally. I almost wonder if Simon deliberately went over the top because he knew no one would ever buy Michael and David “breaking up” in episode 6 unless he chose to be heavy-handed about it. Which then contributed to the energy of this series feeling the way it did.

And Anon #2, that ties into what you have said as well. That defensiveness, particularly in the scene with David/Georgia and Michael/AL reading the “reviews” of Staged 3. It was indeed very meta, but rather than that “meta” being the show not taking itself seriously, it seemed to not take the audience seriously. It was the idea that “You don’t get this series because you’re not clever enough” as opposed to, “You don’t get this series because Simon is trying too hard to be clever” (which is what I felt was actually the case).

To me, the funniest/best parts of Staged 3 were the ones farthest from the script. The little moments that weren’t rehearsed, and that let Michael and David be something more closely approximating themselves. It could be that some of the characters were dependent on the meta-ness to be relevant/have something to do with the plot, but not Michael and David. They have and always will work best just being who they are, together.

I also noticed some really interesting choices in terms of the dynamics this series chose to play up, and which parts of the characters were exaggerated/highlighted. I think the self-awareness tended to be apparent where it possibly wasn’t meant to be (as opposed to the scenes that were, and tried too hard to be). The place we got to at the end of episode 6 was ultimately where things got much better/how things should’ve been all along, but the process of getting there just seemed very circuitous and unnecessary.

Much of this is things I intend to cover in my analysis/review, so I don’t want to add too much more here. But I love that we are having these robust discussions and I very much enjoyed reading your thoughts, Anons. Thanks for writing in! x

#anonymous #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #georgia tennant #staged #or 'Brokeback Mount Him' which is what I am referring to Staged as from here on out #staged 3 #tbh i think Simon thinks he's more clever than he actually is #and it became apparent in the writing #if you have Michael and David together you don't need all the bells and whistles #and weird plot devices #in my opinion anyway #discourse

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jules-has-notes · 7 months

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The Sing-Off, s.4 ep.7 — Finale

And then there were three. But in the spirit of the holiday season, the show brought back all ten groups for one last hurrah. Most of this episode feels more like an old school variety show than a competition, but the individual performances from the three finalists are all excellent.

Group opener

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It can be easy in the modern world to discount the impact that art has on people's lives. But in times of difficulty, we often turn to music for comfort and inspiration. If this version of Michael Jackson's classic anthem doesn't stir something inside you, I don't know what else to say.

Details:

title: Man in the Mirror

original performer: Michael Jackson

written by: Glen Ballard & Siedah Garrett

arranged by: The Sing-Off arrangers

air date: 23 December 2013

My favorite bits:

the gradual layering and building of complexity throughout the arrangement

featuring a few more soloists than previous opening numbers

the eliminated groups entering the upper stage-side boxes and from the audience aisles just in time for the big key change

alternating Emoni's gorgeous riffs and Austin's high "woo"s over the full chorus

ending the season as it began, with everyone together, and a well deserved standing ovation

Trivia:

Austin from Home Free was sick in the final days of the competition, and ended up whistling his vocal parts during rehearsals to preserve his singing voice for filming.

VoicePlay recorded their own version of this song eight years later, which ended up being their send-off video for J.None.

Order of performances

Nick Lachey & Jewel — "It Had To Be You"

AcoUstiKats — "Jingle Bell Rock" bumper

Ten & Shawn Stockman — "Joyful, Joyful" from Sister Act 2

Street Corner Renaissance — "White Christmas" bumper

The Filharmonic — "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" bumper

Pentatonix — "I Need Your Love" by Calvin Harris, feat. Ellie Goulding

Calle Sol — "Feliz Navidad" bumper

Home Free — "I Want Crazy" by Hunter Hayes

98 Degrees — "I'll Be Home For Christmas" by Bing Crosby

Princeton Footnotes — "Deck the Halls" bumper

Vocal Rush & Ben Folds — "Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy" by David Bowie & Bing Crosby

Element — "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" bumper

VoicePlay — "Jingle Bells" bumper

Ten — "Love On Top" by Beyoncé

Home Free & Jewel — "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me In St. Louis

a cappella 101 tutorial

five eliminated groups with Pat Benetar & Neil Giraldo — "We Belong"

Vocal Rush — "Roar" by Katy Perry

VoicePlay performance

[h/t to voiceplay_randomnness on IG for archiving this clip]

Give these guys forty seconds and a chance to riff on a classic song, and they'll give you three different musical genres that will all have you grooving in your seat.

Details:

title: Jingle Bells (commercial bumper)

original song: traditional American carol, first published as "The One Horse Open Sleigh" (1857)

written by: James Lord Pierpont

arranged by: VoicePlay

air date: 23 December 2013

My favorite bits:

staying true to their name by playing with the beats and harmonies

their outfits — The wardrobe department clearly had so much fun dressing them for every episode, and this is no exception.

Trivia:

VoicePlay have never recorded a traditional version of this song, but they've done two mashups that include it – "Bollywood Jingle Bells" on their 2012 holiday album "Peppermint Winter", and "Mission: Jingle Bells" as a promotional tie-in for the home media release of "Mission Impossible: Fallout" in 2018.

A Cappella 101 segment

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Nick and the other judges may have poked fun at Ben for his vocabulary, but music does have a lot of specific technical terminology and jargon. (Props to Chris Rupp for actually offering one serious answer among the jokes.) A little wordplay never hurt anybody, though.

Tour announcement

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I couldn't find a clip from the broadcast episode, but this promo video seems pretty legitimate.

Group performance

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If there was one consistent theme for the whole season, it could be expressed by one line from this song: "We belong together." Dozens of talented singers coming together to create beautiful harmonies and rhythms are sure to brighten someone's day. This performance certainly puts a smile on my face.

Details:

title: We Belong

original performer: Pat Benetar

written by: David Eric Lowen & Dan Navarro

arranged by: The Sing-Off arrangers

air date: 23 December 2013

My favorite bits:

all five groups starting with traditional a cappella phonations that replicate instrumental sounds

building to a powerful backing chorus

the percussive stomping and clapping in the final section

everybody leaning in for hugs at the end

Trivia:

VoicePlay were a little starstruck performing with one of the biggest pop stars of their childhoods.

Several of the competitors joked on social media during the broadcast about Neil Giraldo bringing an instrument into an explicitly a cappella show.

And the winner is…

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Congratulations, Home Free!

With VoicePlay mostly being in the boxes or in the middle of big groups for this episode, we didn't get a great look at their full outfits, which is a shame. Luckily, they uploaded a bunch of backstage photos to their Facebook page.

VoicePlay's stalwart sound guy Paul and his mom were in the audience for the finale.

Vocal Rush's videographer shot some wandering videos of the post-finale party with competitors and crew members, as well as some friends and family. VoicePlay can be seen mostly in the background of the second video.

#VoicePlay #Honey Larochelle #The Sing-Off #season 4 #live performance #a cappella #music #video #Pat Benetar #long post

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ingravinoveritas · 1 year

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I'm sorry that you have to deal with anons like that abelist ass.... But l will tell you again that...

I love you and your blog ☺️🤩

I enjoy reading all your analysis (girl coz they're brilliant!) And also reading about your Thanksgiving dinner prep..... Haters are gonna hate sadly, but that doesn't mean you should stop your amazing work! For one stupid anon like that, you have hundreds of people who love and support you... Keep it up!

On a lighter note, the reason for which I was going to write an ask for you was this: I'm not going to ask you about staged 3 as l am eagerly waiting for your analysis of it buuuttt.... I couldn't help but think that if Georgia thinks that we like to see MS n DT bicker and she would do anything to make that happen (ep 4), so that means it is the duty of us audience to make her think that we would absolutely love to see MS n DT do utterly romantic things on screen, so she makes it happen XD XD

(on another side note, l would totally understand if you do not wish to interact with the asks sent in your way today, and that this goes unanswered, I wouldn't mind at all. That shitty anon is the reason I'm not asking this anonymously.... But again, it was brave on your part that you called their idiotic, harmful and downright toxic behaviour out, even when you had the option of ignoring em. Kudos to you, Amy)

Hey there! Aww, thank you so much. This is absolutely lovely and I truly do appreciate it. (I wanted to answer you separately since you made that excellent mention of Staged season 3, episode 4. Haha.)

As I’ve previously mentioned, my analysis is still forthcoming (and I apologize for the delay...just been a bit swamped the past week or so), but I did think that was an interesting moment, too.

As much as I wasn’t necessarily a fan of Georgia sabotaging the conference room or going through all that just to create tension between Michael and David (who already have mountains and mountains of tension and longing between them as it is), the underlying premise of the scene was intriguing to me. Mainly because it (like several other moments in Staged 3) seemed to come right out of the plot of an MS/DT Staged fanfic I read back during the second season: Georgia quite perceptively knowing what David wants/needs from Michael (in the case of the fic, being deliciously, roughly topped) and engineering it flawlessly.

The other thing about that scene was that all the dialogue was up against a backdrop of some serious throuple vibes between Michael/David/Georgia. Throughout the season and that especially that scene, the energy between them just had a certain edge to it, so when Georgia said “People just like to watch you tussle” it became even more interesting when I realized that another definition of the word “tussle” is “a physical contest.” Maybe, then, Georgia wasn’t just referring to Michael and David verbally sparring/fighting, but something else entirely.

(For me personally, all of the fighting Michael and David did in the show felt like the kind of fighting between two people that crescendos into/ends with a kiss, so I do wonder if that’s what Simon was subtly (or not-so-subtly) hinting at. Curiouser and curiouser...)

So yes, I would say that Georgia (Staged!Georgia, and/or actual Georgia) and probably Simon are aware of what the fans want to see Michael and David do, and found an interesting way to incorporate that into the show. And as I said, I think this was done in a couple of places, so I’m looking forward to discussing that further in my review/analysis of Staged 3. Thanks for writing in! x

#yami-no-kokoro #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #georgia tennant #staged #or 'Brokeback Mount Him' which is what I am referring to Staged as from here on out #staged 3 #subtext that is rapidly becoming a text #so many layers and little things to observe with each viewing #if you have Michael and David together you don't need all the bells and whistles #in my opinion anyway #throuples are totally cool now #or 'V style' as I now understand it #ineffable lovers #discourse

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