Seth, at the part where it's hard to tell what Charlayne Woodard is saying, she's saying " Here 'tis!"... (here it is). It kinda runs thru the show, they all say it at some throughout the show when there's a musical entrance or change of some kind coming up... Here 'tis! 😃😃
Here it tis! she kinda gives the it a slightly vocalized vowel sound. I couldn't believe he didn't realize that! and in two sleepy people the chair broke because Fats was in it with a girl on his lap! I think Seth just isn't that familiar with Fats Waller's vocalizations...
Oh, God...I SO love how much Seth enjoys all these crazy little details... It's SO infectious. I saw this show, 3 times... the last on New Year's Eve. (the reason?: Nell Carter kept canceling, so we kept going back... hoping to catch her.)
Brilliant deconstruction as usual. This is one of my all-time favorite shows. I think that's Nell laughing at 13:55 at the end of her trumpet solo like "yea, I did that". Do you think Charlaine was doing a Louis Armstrong vocal impression at the beginning of I've Got My Fingers crossed? And at 5:39 it could be "hotcha doodlee-too be true", like 40's scatting maybe. Have you deconstructed Black and Blue? That first note Nell sings on Cold Empty bed is like a low E or something. She had a crazy range.
Thank you!!! You helped me appreciate this even more. Though I was seriously in love with Nell Carter from the sitcoms and her amazing talents I just didn't know until now just how stratospherically talented. To think she's been gone 15 years. I do miss her.
This was a lot of fun. I saw this show live (different cast and location but still awesome) way back in the early 80's and still love it to pieces. I've transferred it from the original vinyl record to cassette tape and a few years back from that tape to digital so now I have it on my Showtunes playlist. I suppose I really should try to find it in actual digital from the master version and get a better quality to play. Listening to you deconstruct it puts a fascinating new twist to it. Thanks for bringing back such great memories as I pore over your many deconstructions, hitting numerous shows I've seen and enjoyed, taking me back to another era. Thank you so much, Seth.
Seth Rudetsky, just thank you so much for existing. im absolutley in love with obbsessed and your deconstructions AND Broadway101! they're so extremly helpful and entertaining for an aspiring broadway actor, you just pick up on every little detail. so brava to you for existing and doing what you do
Seth, could you please deconstruct "Johanna" (Anthony's solo) from "Sweeney Todd"? Sondheim says it's one of the most difficult songs he ever wrote, and when singers audition using it, they *never* get it right, lol! Mainly I want you to deconstruct something with Victor Garber, because I lurve his voice!
It's a shame (and a comment on our times) that something so high quality like Seth's videos aren't seen more. But "PewDiePie" gets 6 million views a shot. Ugh.
Seth , I know your the Master when it comes to everything music. But I must correct you, the final of the show was not on the Tony Awards. The cast did "The Lades Who Sing With The Band". The did perform the final on the old Merv Griffin show. That's where I think you got mixed up.
Seth, the reason the piano part sounds boring when the pianist, Fats Waller, is introduced, is that the piano player is not doing the piano part, the vocalists are, just as they were doing every other instrument.
I see it's been answered, but IMO she is replying to him saying he won't get her anything he can't get for free with "you're cheap!" or "pretty cheap!" …
Seth Rudetsky is sometimes painfully clueless about African American idiosyncrasies. When Charlayne Woodard growls as she scats at the beginning of "I've Got My Fingers Crossed", she is paying obvious homage to the iconic Louis Armstrong, a seminal architect in the building of American popular music. Rudetsky's contemplation that this might be an indication of vocal damage was cringeworthy. When Woodard opts for an alternative pronunciation of fingers ("fangers") after pronouncing it the traditional way the first three times, she is using a regional pronunciation for emphasis and nuance. It's no different from Barbra Streisand's insertions of the Yiddish idiom to color or alter a phrase of music or a line of dialogue. Finally, as a reputed fan of "Ain't Misbehavin''", it's bewildering that Rudetsky could not tell that Woodard was saying "Here It Tis" at the end of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Did he really think she was saying, "pair of jeans" after all these years? "Here It Tis" is a thematic motif that is heard throughout the show. Deconstruction is enriched by the ability to properly identify the pieces one has disassembled.
