Dream casting

[feliciakw]

So I'm listening to Gilbert and Sullivan tonight while I'm doing dishes. Specifically, The Pirates of Penzance. Btw, if you're ever in need of a pick-me-up, get your grubby little mitts on some PoP music and sing along. You cannot help but smile. Anyway . . .

I'm listening to this music, singing along . . . ("I am the very model of a modern major general. I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral . . .") and the following thought occurs to me:

Jensen would make a fantastic Pirate King.

"For I am a Pirate King!"

"He is! Hurrah for the Pirate King!"

"And it is, it is a glorious thing to be a Pirate King!"

Yeah.

As you were.

Comments

[just-ruth.livejournal.com]

I personally, would prefer Johnny Depp as the Pirate King, but Jensen would be an acceptable Frederic ("Oh, is there not one maiden here. . ?" - and the curtain comes down with the stampede to the stage. . .)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I thought about Frederick, but came to the conclusion that Jensen might be a scootch too old for the part.

Though I can totally get behind what you're saying. :-) Jensen could do the wide-eyed innocent very well, methinks. *nods*

Ah, your quoted lyric brings back memories. Yeah, I can see Jensen doing that . . .

*sigh* Good times.

[just-ruth.livejournal.com]

I think Rex Smith was Jensen's age when he did the movie with Linda Ronstat (who cannot act) and Angela Landsbury (who is a superb Ruth if I do say so myself).

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Angela Lansbury is pretty much superb in whatever role she's in.

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

Which version? I've practically burned out my Kline Broadway cd. Which is kind of why I can't see Ackles as the PK. I can't get past Kline. Or Rex Smith as Frederick. First time I heard him sing Maiden I nearly had a coronary. And the whole bunch of them singing Hail Poetry makes me cry every damned time.

BTW, your SPN meta is wonderful.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Welcome aboard!

Which version? Well, I believe the production I was in (I was a daughter) used the same script, libretto, and arrangement as the Broadway version, but since I'm more familiar with the show having been in a production, rather than the Kevin Kline/Angela Lansbury/Rex Smith/Linda Ronstadt movie, I can be flexible on the casting. Kline and Lansbury were indeed fantastic (see my above comment about Lansbury in particular), but the Frederick I worked with bore little resemblance to Rex Smith, and our Pirate King holds a dear place in my heart to this day.

So yeah, I could see Jensen as the Pirate King. Jensen as a pirate. What's not to love?

(And while I'm dreaming, I'll cast myself as Ruth. Oh, to do The Patter Song and Paradox would be hilarious.)

Admittedly, Jensen as Frederick would be quite the heartbreaker.

Oh, I'm glad you enjoy my SPN meta. (Is what I write deep and thinky enough to be meta?) I often feel like by the time I get my thoughts posted, everyone has already burnt out on the topic at hand. Thanks for reading.

[karenmiller.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, I guess if you've been in it that changes the experience. I have the video of the Kline film, and the dvd of a theatre production in Central Park. I just want the movie on dvd. Arrgghh. Yeah, Lansbury was great as Ruth. I think they were all great. And yeah, Ronstadt might not be a great actor but she sure has a set of pipes. And Kline doesn't have a great set of pipes but he has a great everything else, so I can live with it. *g* And Smith is just glorious, even with the silly hair.

I must confess, it's the melodic pieces in PoP that get me. I tend to ff through the fluffy stuff.

Yeah, you do meta. You have good thoughts and you express them lucidly and with a keen eye. Great. I love seeing eps through other people's eyes -- always educational.

And thanks! Nice to be here, if ever so sporadically as I stagger my way across another deadline.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Oh, tell me more about the Central Park cast recording. Is it the same cast as in the movie? The CD I have of PoP is a London operetta recording, which is, of course, much different from an American Broadway production, and I'm always interested in getting the recording that most closely resembles the show I was in. :-)

Oh, don't get me wrong. Kline makes a delightful Pirate King. He cracks me up, really. The role takes such gusto and flair, which I think is why I'd like Jensen in it. And Lansbury is Lansbury. I just can't really get excited over Smith and Ronstadt, though. I . . . really couldn't tell you why. I like Smith well enough, and I can take or leave Ronstadt, but . . . *shrug*

Interestingly enough, Geo got me the movie on laser disc back in the day. I've not looked for it on DVD.

Hee! You and I are the exact opposite regarding the music. I love the bouncy stuff. That's the stuff that wakes me up and makes me smile.

You mentioned "Hail Poetry" earlier. That was one of the most difficult pieces for us to get right, but when we did, it was great!

Good luck with the deadline!

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! I will check it out.

Oh, your PoP experience sounds like such fun!

The thing with Gilbert & Sullivan, I find, is that I'd much rather be in the show than watch it. Having been in PoP, I can hardly sit through the movie. It just doesn't compare to the experience of being in it. (I might change my mind if I ever saw a live performance.) And one of Geo's faves, The Mikado, really does very little for me, though I suspect my opinion would change if I were ever in a production of it.

Our Pirate King was late-20s/early-30s, and he was fantastic! That's one of the things about that particular role, I think; it can go either way. Same with Ruth. They can be youngish (though older than Frederick, obviously) but wordly-wise, or they can be older.

Upon further thought, from a character type point of view, perhaps Frederick would be more challenging. The Pirate King shares a lot of the qualities that Jensen says drew him to Dean, and it's been quite a while since he's played the wide-eyed innocent. And Frederick's humor comes more out of his naivete, which Jensen could play to the hilt, I think. *bg*

Still, the Pirate King is such a fun role, I can't help seeing him in it.

And the wonderful thing about Jensen? He's flexible enough, I think, to do either.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Re: the vocal chops . . . that's also kind of why I was thinking Pirate King. He can sort of get away without having a lyric voice. Still, from what little I've heard of Jensen's real voice, he could probably work into it. It'd be nice to see him in a romantic lead for a change of pace.

I've not seen the stage production of Sunset Boulevard, so I don't know any of the music. I saw the movie a long time ago, though.

However, I believe he'd also make a fantastic Sky Masterson from Guys and Dolls. Plus, he'd be in a fedora, but we won't talk about my love of fedoras right now. "Luck Be a Lady" . . . um . . . yeah.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

*spontaneously combusts from giggling at mental image*