Groban has a wonderful voice and could do the strains of a song like Gethsemane. As for Gillan, I used to have the original concept album and he failed to grab me. Same with Jeff Fenholt in the original Broadway version. The only one who could tackle the gymnastics of Webber's score has been Ted Neeley. Why? Neeley is a trained singer. Barry Dennen who was in most of the original productions told Norman Jewison when he was setting out to make the film Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson NEEDED to be Jesus and Judas. I just listened to Gillan's version on Youtube and he doesn't have the feeling in his voice as Neeley did. Neeley was not only THE Jesus of the production, but the all time favourite in the role from the fans of the many productions. As for whether Groban could do it, he'd be far better than Gillan, that's for sure. All you have to do is listen to Groban sing Tim Rice, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson's "Anthem" from Chess.
As for the "tailoring"..... ridiculous. Ted Neeley went from understudy to lead. Same with Anderson. The subsequent versions of the musical were tailored to fit the Neeley/Anderson paradigm. Except for the more recent versions in which Andrew Lloyd Webber has broken from Tim Rice in terms of who is cast in the various productions and usually those he chooses are usually subpar. Not too surprising since he chose Madonna for "Evita" and she completely missed the boat....not in fact, she never bought a ticket. She demanded the song "Another Suitcase In Anther Hall" become Eva's despite the fact that song in the original was for Peron's 15-year-old mistress. Webber also cast Gerard Butler as The Phantom in the movie version of "Phantom of the Opera". I say enough is enough. With each "re-invisioning" the original gets watered down. And I hate that. There was a version of JCS that aired on PBS and it was awful. No one has the capability any more to carry the demands of those songs as Neeley, Anderson, Dennen, Bingham, Yahjian, and others made them. That Alice Cooper will be playing Herod..... My god they are desperate.
Groban singing "Anthem" from "Chess": https://youtu.be/C78B_RvddmA
Listening to samples of Legend's style it does not lend to the demands this type of musical needs. While I love "Glory" with Common, I don't think Legend has what it takes to bring to this role what is needed.
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duckofprey (1557)
7 years ago
I guess you and I have very different thoughts on how Jesus should sound in JCS. I prefer Gillan, you Neeley and frankly, I’ve yet to hear a Neeley version of Gethsemane that I thought was “great”. He does not grab me as Gillan does not grab you. Such is life.
I just listened to the Groban link you shared. I heard nothing in it that makes me believe he could do Gethsemane the way it was designed nor did I hear him even approach Neeley or Gillan’s high range as the song demands. He’s GREAT, but not for the role of Jesus in this.
We agree to disagree.
And now that it aired, Legend CAN sing, but he fid not even TRY the high notes, they tailored it to HIM and THAT is ridiculous. Plus, his shoulder exercises wore me out :-)
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