| MercurialFreddie 30.04.2015 16:20 |
Taken from original thread by John S. Stuart "Ultimate Collection: 1987" Originally, (long before the appointment of Michael Crawford) for Andrew Lloyd Webber, only one person was destined to play his phantom (from Webber's musical 'Phantom Of The Opera') and that was Freddie. "Freddie was initially invited by Lloyd Webber to 'test' for the role, and a couple of these tests still exist. Basically, Freddie sang a guide vocal to karaoke type backing tracks, so the Freddie bits are mainly vocal only. However, these disembodied vocals can be electronically married to either the original (or even new) backing tracks - and thus a new 'unreleased' version could be created. However, as these tests have nothing whatsoever to do with either Mercury or Queen Productions, I guess that they will never see the light of day." Next year will be 30th anniversary of the premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical and I thought if we (fans) or Freddie's estate could use this opportunity to get a preview or even a release of tracks/guide vocals made by Freddie for the POTO back in the day ? Just imagine the way Freddie sang Music of the night (and backed by the backing track used in the 2004 film version) and Phantom of the opera title track with drums by Roger and guitar work by Brian. It could be fantastic.... |
| SBYVLIUS 30.04.2015 16:57 |
Oh we need thsi |
| noorie 30.04.2015 18:15 |
Oh, we definitely do! |
| gooddrills 30.04.2015 19:29 |
It's very exciting to think these may exist in the Webber vaults. They would be a very welcome addition to a special anniversary release. I would give my left nut to hear them. It's been reported before that Michael Crawford used Freddie's demo as a guide vocal, has this ever been confirmed? If not who could be contacted to try and get some more facts on the matter? I can really imagine Freddie singing Music of the Night, it suits his voice perfectly. More information please. |
| gooddrills 30.04.2015 19:41 |
Blog 19 - Ask Phoebe ; Andrew asked about Freddie auditioning for ‘Phantom of the Opera’. It didn’t happen, so, no, there are no existing demos that people haven’t heard. He was asked once by Joseph Papp, the New York producer, to audition for the role of Rodolfo in a production of Puccini’s La Boheme that he was going to mount in Central Park. You can guess Freddie’s reaction…. ME, audition? Also Freddie said he wouldn’t go back to singing seven shows a week, he had finished that in the 70s! |
| master marathon runner 01.05.2015 01:50 |
Only light I can throw, is ALW's statement after Freddie 's death, which went something like: 'i would have loved to have seen Freddie as the phantom, I think he would have been perfect" |
| Viper 01.05.2015 03:36 |
interesting... |
| miraclesteinway 01.05.2015 04:33 |
There were rumours about this way back - but I'm not sure if they were made up by a journalist or were actually true. My mum was reading an article shortly after Freddie died, and it was in one of these Woman's Weekly magazines or something, and the article said that Freddie was originally asked to perform in Phantom, but that he declined and said he was too busy with Queen. This article must have been published in 1992. Anyway I don't remember if there was a claim made about Freddie actually recording any tracks from it. As far as singing Rudolfo is concerned - could you imagine Freddie singing Rudolfo? I know he was asked, but I suspect he knew that it was technically out of his league - but that's not intended as an insult on his abilities because let's face it - Pavarotti could not have fronted Queen, either. |
| hobbit in Rhye 01.05.2015 13:33 |
Freddie playing the Phantom would be too much of awesomeness for me to handle. I can totally imagine he singing "Sing once again with me... you fuckers!" |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 01.05.2015 18:50 |
Paul Vincent (guitarrist, he published this year Love, a box of his songs, great musician, better person) said it was true about Rodolpho, but in a different context.... Freddie was afraid to do it at the time. Both versions could be true. |
| tomchristie22 02.05.2015 09:41 |
It's nice to imagine this, though I'm not convinced Freddie would have been able to sing as intimidatingly as the role required. His voice is much too endearing, if only because it's recognisable as his. |
| brENsKi 03.05.2015 05:18 |
tomchristie22 wrote: It's nice to imagine this, though I'm not convinced Freddie would have been able to sing as intimidatingly as the role required. His voice is much too endearing, if only because it's recognisable as his.oh, i don't agree with that. Death On Two Legs (two sections of ) March of The Black Queen Liar he could sound menacing when the song demanded |
| tomchristie22 03.05.2015 07:45 |
I guess I didn't phrase that very well. Even when he sings with that sort of intensity, it's still his accent, his inflection, which reminds you all the while that it's our beloved Freddie. For me, anyway. Perhaps the same wouldn't be true for people who aren't already fond of him. |
| MercurialFreddie 03.05.2015 09:30 |
Sorry for not replying guys, I haven't been able to access internet since the day on which I'd made the original post. The matter was brought to light in the Rhys Thomas Q&A and he gave his word that he would look into it... since then, we haven't heard from him as he was "abandoned" (in a way) by Queen Prod. and the last time he was needed was Let Me In Your Heart Again promo video. So far we have John S. Stuart's word vs Phoebe's word. Based on what I've heard about John and what he has stated himself in those fabulous threads entitled Ultimate Collection, I assume that he probably heard those bits and if he says that they still exist, they do exist. There's still plenty of time before the anniversary and we're in point of time, in which we (fans, FM's estate, other instit.) still can have impact on how will the anniversary of POTO look like. I guess there's no harm in contacting Jim Beach (head of FM's estate), Rhys Thomas or Lloyd Webber. Question remains if they will hear us out and if Lloyd Webber is willing to go into his own archives, restoring (if needed) the tape and asking Brian and Roger to work on these. |
| Costa86 03.05.2015 14:25 |
Won't be the first time Phoebe was wrong. He was his PA, not his constant shadow. He doesn't know every single thing Freddie recorded or was involved in. |
| cmsdrums 04.05.2015 04:08 |
Costa86 wrote: Won't be the first time Phoebe was wrong. He was his PA, not his constant shadow. He doesn't know every single thing Freddie recorded or was involved in. Exactly. I'm often amazed by people taking his word as gospel; he would not have been there for long periods whilst the band were in the studio, or working on demos elsewhere etc. To be fair to Phoebe though, his responses to such questions are often prefaced with "as far as I know..." or similar. |
| noorie 04.05.2015 11:39 |
tomchristie22 wrote: I guess I didn't phrase that very well. Even when he sings with that sort of intensity, it's still his accent, his inflection, which reminds you all the while that it's our beloved Freddie. For me, anyway. Perhaps the same wouldn't be true for people who aren't already fond of him.I know what you mean, but it does not necessarily apply. For instance take Madonna, I am NO fan of Madonna's music, but she did Evita quite well. Not as a major pop star, but as a singer and actress. I think Freddie would be way better than Michael Crawford as the Phantom. I think Freddie was made for the role - dramatic, dark, and yet very romantic, and I would probably enjoy the show a lot more. On the whole, I found PotO very boring in spite of a lovely story. |
| master marathon runner 04.05.2015 11:47 |
PotO ? |
| master marathon runner 04.05.2015 11:50 |
........only kidding. I saw it in Feb. '87 with.M.C. & S.B. Twas phenomenal. |
| noorie 04.05.2015 12:14 |
master marathon runner wrote: PotO ?Yeah, actually I really hate it when people abbreviate titles. But what can I say? Today I have tons of work (although I still find time for QZ - don't tell the boss!) so.... |
| rhyeking 04.05.2015 15:35 |
In researching The Queen Chronology, I found no evidence of Freddie being involved directly or indirectly with Phantom. And I was pretty thorough, so I'm positive this didn't happen. Part of why I co-wrote the book was to do my best to dispel rumours and hearsay about what the band and members worked on. The development of TPOTO has been pretty well documented (it was freakin' huge, remember) and there is no mention of Freddie at any point being a part of it. I suspect these things come out of a combination of wishful thinking, misheard statements and broken telephone reporting (or at worst, someone somewhere making stuff up). Freddie was involved in Dave Clarke's TIME: The Musical ("Time," "In My Defense" and "Born To Rock 'n' Roll") and the operatic Barcelona album in the mid/late '80s, exactly as Phantom was practically everywhere, so it's not a stretch that someone would put "Freddie Mercury," "musical" and "opera" together with TPOTO and it becomes "Freddie Mercury was involved with Phantom...somehow." The only other thing I could suggest help launched this rumour is that Freddie and friends were known to sing show tunes at Garden Lodge around the piano, with Mike Moran playing, so perhaps someone somewhere who was there or knew someone there mentioned a Phantom song the group (or Freddie) sang at one of these sing-around-the-piano session and it gets added to the jumble of misinformation. Basically, there's no evidence it happened and lots of evidence suggesting it didn't. :-) |
| Ghostwithasmile is BACK! 04.05.2015 16:16 |
Yes there is footage of TPOTO with FM singing : he is in a rockin chair wesring some kind of kimono while singing some Phantom stuff and of course Don't try so hard. :-) This never happend case closed ! |
| MercurialFreddie 05.05.2015 02:57 |
Rhyeking, so you're basically saying that John S. Stuart is wrong and those vocal guides doesn't exist ? |
| master marathon runner 05.05.2015 05:52 |
.................but AWL definitely made that statement after freddie's death - read it myself |
| musicland munich 05.05.2015 23:48 |
If there were recordings, we're talking about " Creatures/ Music of the Night" a capella version - (ey you guys didn't have it from me ) and "Phantom of the Opera". The auditions must have taken place somewhere around 1984,85, 86 ...well, "IF" he did it ! There are some quotes from A.L.W. about Freddie's voice " Jesus actor must have Freddie Mercury range" and so on.( of course not related to TPOTO) Can someone ask A.L.W. about that subject ? Ha, just kidding, I think he wouldn't take a break from "Botoxing" just to answer a fan question :) |
| Sebastian 07.05.2015 00:10 |
'Creatures of the Night' is a KISS song from (I think) the 80's. 'Music of the Night' is one of the most popular pieces from the 'Phantom of the Opera' musical, but it's sung, as far as I know, by the female lead. |
| tomchristie22 07.05.2015 01:24 |
Sebastian wrote: 'Music of the Night' is one of the most popular pieces from the 'Phantom of the Opera' musical, but it's sung, as far as I know, by the female lead.Nah, it's sung entirely by the Phantom. |
| MercurialFreddie 07.05.2015 13:18 |
Yes, Tom is right, I've watched both movie version of the Phantom and I've seen it at the theatre and in both versions the Phantom sings the song entirely. |
| cmsdrums 07.05.2015 16:24 |
I've seen neither the film or stage version but knew that - it was a fairly big single success for Michael Crawford in the UK |
| rhyeking 07.05.2015 22:43 |
MercurialFreddie wrote: Rhyeking, so you're basically saying that John S. Stuart is wrong and those vocal guides doesn't exist ?I found no evidence that Freddie was involved. (I had a bit longer reply, but when I clicked "Post Message," all but the quote above was gone when it posted. That REALLY needs to be fixed because it's not the first time it's happened to me on QZ and it really does piss me off.) |
| JohnH 28.05.2015 11:48 |
Michael Crawford was superb as Phantom - an astounding and haunting voice. Utterly unique. Freddie wasn't a musical theatre singer. He didn't have the control or stamina required to perform a demanding work like Phantom night after night. It's a different discipline to rock singing. However, he might have been able to do a good recording of something like Music Of The Night. But I don't think he could have done it as well as Crawford. |
| miraclesteinway 30.05.2015 09:51 |
I completely agree. Musical theatre is actually very difficult to sing properly. I mean, so are Queen songs, but we know from tour recordings that Freddie often changed the melodies to songs, dropping into lower ranges, and damaged his voice. Doing musical theatre without proper training would have been very difficult. I have heard, and again, this could be completely false information, but it is an interesting tidbit nonetheless (like all rumours!), that he had some help from Mary Hammond (a vocal coach to the stars, she knows Elton quite well, and trained Liza Minelli AND knew Judy Garland) in the latter part of his life. Now this could account for the change in timbre in his voice that happened after Barcelona - because he did completely change his technique around that time for reasons that still remain unclear. All it would have taken would be for Mary Hammond to say to a friend 'Yes, I said to Freddie he'd be wonderful in something like Phantom darling', and then before you know it, half of the London musical theatre scene thinks that Freddie is going to appear in Phantom. This is all speculation of course, but hell, this whole thread is speculation so why not! At least it beats dancing round in a red kimono. Of course only someone that knew Mary Hammond very well would be able to confirm that she coached him (speculation - it SOUNDS like she did, but that doesn't mean she did!), and she might not want to say - she's known for having a neat line in confidentiality (sometimes.....) |
| Adam Baboolal 31.05.2015 21:06 |
Can I just offer a nugget of thought to the -musical theatre is too hard for Freddie- comments? Long story short, of course he could've sung it, day in, day out. With training, I believe he'd have had very few problems. The reason I think this is perhaps, personal. I have spent many years moulding my voice to sing Queen songs. And for the most part, while hard, it works for me. But over the years, my fiancee has asked me to sing musical songs like "All I Ask Of You," "Last Night Of The World," "Music Of The Night," etc. Sometimes it has been difficult, but mostly, a mere change to my breathing and I can transition with some ease. Oh, and I have been in musicals, too. That sort of helps! But to be honest, I've never been trained in any way. My progression in singing is my own, which probably opens me up to some less than stellar technique! So, overall, while there is a lot of assumption here (on my part), because I'm nowhere near as good a singer as Freddie was, that's what makes me feel that, yes, he could have done it. It's almost obvious to me that he could've risen to the occasion with Phantom. But then, the real question for me would not relate to singing at all! No. Rather, I'd ask - could he have acted it well? |
| dudeofqueen 01.06.2015 09:43 |
Vocally, he'd have been truly exceptional. The PROBLEM would have been his body; I don't believe he'd have been able to restrain himself on stage with 'direction'. Look at the overblown movements in the Barcelona video as well as the performance at "La Nit" - there just wouldn't have been any room for him to "be Freddie". |
| hobbit in Rhye 01.06.2015 16:11 |
Adam Baboolal : that's an interesting insight. Not many people in QZ can say they tried both Queen's songs and musical like you. (I did try both, but it's not worth mentioning. No fiancee has ever asked me.) |
| tomchristie22 02.06.2015 08:24 |
dudeofqueen wrote: Vocally, he'd have been truly exceptional. The PROBLEM would have been his body; I don't believe he'd have been able to restrain himself on stage with 'direction'. Look at the overblown movements in the Barcelona video as well as the performance at "La Nit" - there just wouldn't have been any room for him to "be Freddie".It's an interesting point, but I'm not convinced. Having never seen how Freddie Mercury would approach acting*, it's simply too hard to say how closely he'd be willing/able to adhere to the direction he's given, and the predetermined characterisation. * Though one could argue that he was acting every time he took to stage with his bombastically confident persona... |
| jackunion 02.06.2015 13:33 |
Christ on a bike, this would be beyond wonderful if it were true. I think Freddie would have absolutely nailed the Phantom songs (he would have brought a natural drama and emotion to the vocals). Ok, so it probably is a rumour... ...but, fuck me, what a wonderful thought! |
| KevoM 02.06.2015 14:44 |
I do recall just after Freddie died, Andrew Lloyd Webber being interviewed on TV and saying he was considering Freddie for the lead role in a future MOVIE version of Phantom. |
| Adam Baboolal 03.06.2015 16:58 |
tomchristie22, your point about acting on stage is true. However, we all know that was Freddie's (mostly) improvisational, and very free style. Whereas musicals demand a certain amount of choreography and timing. In fact, I recently watched a video about Freddie's involvement in the 1979 ballet and, well, here's what Wayne Eagling had to say about choreographing Freddie - link - NOTE: it's at 1:28 if the link doesn't work properly. P.s. Thanks for that Hobbit. I enjoy the occasional musical, but my fiancee is a big enthusiast! |