#flahooley

[theruffiansretrorampage]

art by Drawfee 

[arbitrarygreay]

I saw so many wonderful performances posted in the tag today, but haven’t yet seen any from this little gem of a show, which was Barbara’s Broadway debut! Years after falling in utter love with He's Only Wonderful from hearing it on the radio, I was delighted to find its soundtrack at the local library, so I could hear all of the other songs for the first time. And this little love song just bowled me over. Barbara makes it sound so easy to dip into and swoop around the tempo of the accompaniment, and matches the swells of the accompaniment, not just by adjusting sound envelope, but also the harmonics-based timbre, which is a key part of that "warm sound" that so many loved in her early interpretations, and is much rarer to find in even the best talents of past and present. The lyrics, structure, and melody will foreshadow the ironic similarities and contrasts alike of her future Marian's My White Knight.

[arbitrarygreay]

Relevant to my new Motherland Fort Salem followers

For potential link rot purposes, this is an excerpt from Yma Sumac's Chuncho, featuring the most famous example of her "double voice"/"triple coloratura". A version of Chuncho was adapted into the "Birds/Enchantment" number in Flahooley (which I posted years ago, hah), but interestingly that version does not feature the double voice, just a note so high you could mistake it for a whistling tea kettle (see below embed).

Leading actress of Flahooley and future Broadway darling Barbara Cook said of this moment (from the CD insert for the Flahooley cast recording):

I remember standing in the wings every night waiting to make an entrance during one of her numbers. While there was a vamp underneath, she did this slide up, went as high as she could go, then did a glissando down. As she did the glissando, Maurice and I couldn't believe how she actually worked in two notes an octave apart, like singing a double note. We thought, "What has she go in there instead of vocal chords?

[thes-hitoverlord]

art by Drawfee 

[arbitrarygreay]

I saw so many wonderful performances posted in the tag today, but haven't yet seen any from this little gem of a show, which was Barbara's Broadway debut! This song was my introduction to Barbara, as this song was featured on a Broadway songs radio show I listened to growing up, and it instantly hooked me into her voice. That enchanting warmth in the interpretation, imbuing pure character personality into that wonderful Sammy Fain music and giving vivid voice to those Yip Harburg lyrics. She's not much, Clyde, she's only marvelous!

[onewordshy]

In the flop musical Flahooley, the country of Saudi Arabia is getting all of its oil from a magic lamp, and one day the magic lamp breaks, so in an attempt to bring back the genie they hire a toy manufacturer to fix it. He succeeds, but in an attempt to become rich to impress the princess of Saudi Arabia, he wishes that every house in America would get one of his dolls, but the genie “doesn’t understand capitalism” and ends up just giving the dolls away to people who don’t want them, causing mass hysteria and revulsion. Somehow this was all wrapped up in a satire of the McCarthy era.

But anyways, Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac was in it as the princess of Saudi Arabia and supposedly she had a five octave range. Also it seems none of her songs had actual lyrics they were just her making noises.

[playbill]

TODAY IN THEATRE HISTORY: In 1951, Barbara Cook makes her Broadway debut in E.Y. Harburg, Sammy Fain and Fred Saidy's Flahooley. The musical's cast also includes Irwin Corey, Peruvian singer Yma Sumac, and Bil Baird's Marionettes. It will last only 40 performances at the Broadhurst Theatre.

For more on Flahooley, including a look inside the show's Playbill, visit PlaybillVault.com.

[arbitrarygreay]

Visit Original Link

How to ruin your productivity and self-esteem in one fell swoop: 1. Put Yma Sumac CD on at work 2. Gape in awe every time she does something ridiculous with her voice. Chwah.