So I’ve been hooked on watching Voiceplay reactions on YouTube for a while. (If you’re not familiar with them, please take a moment to treat yourself to their covers of Oogie Boogie’s song, We Don’t Talk About Bruno, and Hoist the Colours in particular, but they have a lot of other great videos, too. Their bass singer, Geoff Castellucci, has also done some stunning solo work.)
The reason I’m bringing it up here is because Voiceplay are known as the ‘Theater Kids’ of the a capella scene for their dramatic and entertaining costumed presentations, and I noticed some curious details about the Hoist the Colours video that I thought might spark some interest among fellow Good Omens fans (and possibly Tolkien fans as well:)
All else aside, this is a phenomenal piece of music that’s well worth your time to check out.
Two of Voiceplay’s members, Cesar and Eli, have similar vocal ranges. But in this video they’re positioned, costumed and singing in what appears to be almost competing parts in the arrangement.
In the center we’ve got featured guest Jose Rosario Jr., dressed as a ship’s captain in a white shirt and black coat.
On his right is Cesar, dressed in pristine white (curious choice for a pirate), who maintains a somber expression throughout the performance and for much of it, sings in gentle, almost ethereal tones. His scarred ‘blind’ eye makeup only adds to the overall haunting impression.
On Jose’s left stands Eli, clad similarly but in black, singing loudly and powerfully, with a sinister grin on his face and greedy, grasping gestures.
The music swings back and forth between them, and one almost has the impression the devil on Jose’s left shoulder is trying to overwhelm or drown out the angel on his right--but Cesar doesn’t let Eli get away with it! At one point (around 2:20) he actually cuts Eli off, not loudly himself but with a soft, intricate run that abruptly takes the wind right out of Eli’s sails.
A bit later in the piece, Cesar shows us that he can sing powerfully, too. Nearing the end, it looks as though Eli may triumph after all--but ultimately it’s neither the angel nor the devil who wins the day. They fall back into balance with Jose, as Geoff (who has piped up now and then to remind us he’s there, right next to their perpetually overlooked and underrated genius beatboxer Layne, but hasn’t really joined in the competition) carries us through to the end.
Apart from the angelic/demonic symbolism, which I have to believe was very much intentional, I think I caught an echo of the Singing of the Ainur: a loud, proud, greedy theme trying and failing to overwhelm a sweet, solemn melody that refuses to be silenced. Unlike the discordant braying of the followers of Melkor, though, there’s nothing ugly or unpleasant about any part of this song.
ETA: Forgot the mention the lighting, which is a soft blue overall; but with a glare of red that falls for a moment over the entire group early on; later it reappears over on the left, where it illuminates Eli more than any of the others, and at one point he (and only he) is sillouetted clearly against it.
