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1. Poker Face. I really love this song. And wow you can see how much a of a gal Ayu used to be. This full GALS! type gal, with the 60s style neon pink dress and white boots.
4. For My Dear. Simple Ayu. I know Ayu concerts are all about the over the top pagentry, but sometimes it's nice to see her stripped down and simple, just a woman on a stage with a microphone. A microphone covered in crystals.
6. Whatever. Ayu in full on Eva Peron revolutionary general get up, being carried on two uniformed dudes shoulders.
7 & 8: Two sit down acoustic performances. She sounds great.
9. Boys & Girls: Shouty hyped concert Ayu. I really don't like her with jet black hair.
10. Monochrome. Still one of my favorite Ayu songs. On stage, Ayu sings in jean shorts and tank top, while above her, a woman in a white empire gown does some sort of Isabella Duncan interpretive dance. I don't even know...
10. Too Late, Trauma I forget this backup dancers name, but I always loved him!
10. End roll: What ballad would be complete without a jeweled headdress?
11. Appears. God I was so obsessed with this song in college. Ayu in a seafoam green dress and pink roses, dancing with a turquoise costumed matador with red stockings.
13. Fly high. Oh god the bright pink plaid suits.
14. Vogue. Full on Chinese dress with stereotypical chinese braided bunhair. And huge fans. Uh...
15. Hey, i think this one is from her 2000 concert,which was my favorite ever!
17. Surreal. The male back up dancers appear to be wearing pimp style fur coats?
18. Audience. I don't even know what's going on here. Ayu appears to be wearing some skimpy gold armor like Gallaxia from Sailor Stars. And the male backup dancers and shirtless with huge feather head dresses. Are they supposed to be Native American? Brazilian? Aztec?
19. M. Another of my fav songs. Why have a ballad with a fancy white headdress (this one is dripping with pearls) when you can also have a huge diaphanous white train carried by 10 backup dancers?
20 Evolution. Simple cool Ayu. Black fedora, black lace dress. Nice.
21. Never ever. Satin corsets, black lace fingerless gloves and a cage. Because all ballads are more effective when sung from a cage.
22. Endless Sorrow. Rocker Ayu with black hair and black leather studded collars and cuffs....on a cross. Rocker Jesus Ayu?
26. Free & Easy. Another favorite song. Even the silver spangled top hat cannot subtract from how moving this song is. Or the back up dancers in tux and canes like Fred Astaire.
27. Hanabi. Ayu always has the prettiest fancy dresses. This song also contains one of the best lines she every wrote, in my opinion: There never comes a day where I remember about you because I've never forgotten you for a moment.
29: Ourselves. Uh...red, metallic...I take back what I said before because this literally looks just like Gallaxia's outfit. With an S&M hat.
30. Forgiveness. Now this is an Ayu concert. Live orchestra and Ayu in a huge ballgown made of pink silk roses with a skirt that takes up most of the stage.
31. No way to say. A tiered ballgown of bright pink, yellow, purple and blue ruffles. This skirt literally takes up the whole stage, looming behind her towards the stagelights above in a frightening mass of multicolored ruffles.

33. Game. Ayu in white showgirl feathered skirt, male back up dancers in S&m leather pants and criss-crossing leather straps over their naked torsos. Huh.
35. Step you. The male backup dancers have huge sequined numbers either pasted or painted on their naked chests. I don't even know how they did that. And here I was thinking Ayu's pink and black lingerie (teddy?) was cute.
38. Bold and Delicious. Live gospel choir.
38. Pride. Uh...it looks like a very dramatic Gautier fashion show? Or something?
39. Born to Be. Ayu swathed in a huge dress made of huge red silk roses...while the dancers cavort below in that Aztec/Brazilian/Native American headdress thing... Wait.i think it's a NEW one. It seems to be made of grass, sort of like a hula skirt worn upside down on their heads?
40. Blue bird. Thank god. Pig-tails, jeans, and a white t-shirt.
40. Glitter. Glittery silver sequin fedora, tie and sleeveless shirt. For once, it makes sense, because of the song title.
43. Mirrorcle World: Sort of like the Eva Peron get up from earlier, but with a full length pewter colored sequin coat.
44 Days. Our first kimono, so far. A bright red and black kimono. It's actually beautiful.
47. You were. Ayu in a white dress, while her back up dancers, also in white, act out the song (?) in a dramatic dance as white flower petals ran down and white smoke wafts around them.
50. Virgin Road. Fittingly, Ayu in a wedding dress, with female backup dancers as bridesmaids. (I think?) As the organ kicks in as the song ends, the background turns into a huge stained glass church window.
oritsu_luv: (Default)


Ignore the entirely unrelated images. This is the only video I could find with the song by the original 1991 broadway cast. (Which, btw, is the cast I saw perform, way way back when.)

The song is 'I Heard Someone Crying' from the Secret Garden. The song takes place Mary's first night at her Uncle Archibald's house, she's unable to sleep because she can hear someone crying somewhere in the house, through the night, Mary and Archibald "mourn their losses" while the ghosts of their respective past (the ghosts of Mary's parents and others from India, and most importantly, the ghost of Archibald's wife Lily who died 10 years ago after the birth of their son.)

The original Broadway cast featured Daisy Eagan as Mary, Mandy Patinkin as Archibald Craven, and Rebecca Luker as Lily Craven. There are dozens of performances available on Youtube, mostly of amateur or high school productions, and although many of them have one cast member who is quite good - the Archibald Craven part seems comparatively easy, for instance - the Lily part features a lot of extremely high tones, which most of the singers struggled to hit.

Also, I honestly think you can't get better than the original cast here. Mary sounds a bit thin, but the strength of her personality and her stubborn will really come through, and I think it's very appropriate considering that so much of the musical is about these two children (Mary and Colin) caught in a world made by the adult's passion, obsession, love and loss. (Also, Daisy Eagan won a Tony for her role as Mary, at only 11 years old!) Mandy Patinkin has an amazing voice, which has been documented by people far more official than me, and I really think the song showcases it beautifully. Many other singers could sing this part, but the raw emotion he puts into it is amazing. And then there's Rebecca Luker. Her voice is so indescribably beautiful (her part in the background of around 2:16ish just gives me chills); she hits these crystalline highs effortlessly, and the haunting quality is perfect, as Lily is a ghost for entire musical (save the flashbacks).

I love the part that Archibald and Mary sing together, because I think that the way that the same words mean something very different to both of them - the widower lost in his grief and unable to move forward - and the girl trying to to find out what life means - really comes through.

lyrics )

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