Welcome to the Musicals Thread, the Avocado’s space for anything and everything related to musical theatre! Every month I’ll post a discussion prompt, but please feel free to comment on other topics, from new discoveries to old favorites. If you have ideas for future prompts or would like to write a feature for the thread, let me know!
Happy 2023, Musicals Thread! To kick off a new year, I suggest we look at new versions of classic (or even not-so-classic) songs. Imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery, and sometimes we do just want to replicate the performances that touched us so deeply the first time we heard them. Other times, though, covers can distinguish themselves, for good or for ill, by bringing in a new interpretation of the material.
I at first expected Jeremy Jordan singing “Losing My Mind” from Follies to be all belty, all the time. His jazzier, more intimate take, though, is fascinating. In the show Sally is presented as a torch singer, seeing herself as the tragic spurned lover and giving voice to her heartbreak with all the force and drama she feels it is due. Jordan’s version makes me think of the loneliness and mundane routine that the lyrics describe, that Sally lived as she kept these feelings inside. I can just see her listlessly drifting through the house – it is perhaps a Sally who has given up on getting a chance for that catharsis. The respective venues and the types of accompaniment they allow are not insignificant factors, of course, but it’s hard to call the piano lesser than the orchestra with results like these:
What are your favorite or least favorite musical theatre covers? How do they differ from the previous versions of the songs? We can expand this to include performances from full show revivals or even screen adaptations, too.