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From:  Linda Fox <linda@f...>
Linda Fox <linda@f...>
Date:  Tue Oct 30, 2001  6:10 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] UK "Amateur" versions


Colin Reed wrote:

> Have many people come across these "Operatic Society" versions of shows?

Yes, I've been involved in several of them. I think you're probably
referring to the ?infamous? Phil Park versions, published by Weinberger,
and I have mixed feelings about them. I don't think you can push purism
too far when finding good music for an amateur society which has certain
demands, including plenty for the chorus to do, including small solo
parts, voice ranges which won't put the show out of the running because
they have nobody who can reach the extremes, and scoring which works for
the kind of small orchestra that is all most of these groups can afford
or fit into their small spaces.

I think the arranger - Ronald Hanmer in the case of all the ones I have
done - has done an excellent job of bringing these pieces to a wider
performing sector; you may or may not like his bringing in music from
other operettas to swell the quantity of chorus work, as happens in a
couple of cases. But many people find Phil Park's libretto excruciating
enough to put them off doing the shows at all.

I've sung in Orpheus in the underworld and the Grand Duchess of
Gerolstein, conducted Lilac Time (a particularly good score, and nothing
at all like the older version I had on vinyl) and seen amateur
productions of La Belle Helene, La Vie Parisienne and The Merry Widow
(which my daughter misheard as "The Merry Wierdo")

cheers

Linda

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