So, my colleague told me she enjoyed my first post sharing my favorite moments from The Patti, and she didn't appear to think I was completely nuts, so the Friday Diva Lessons blog series will continue.
This one here is one of my favorite Patti moments possibly ever. It took me a really long time to cop on to the fact that she originated the role of Fantine in Les Mis. Growing up, I was much more into the Lloyd Webber oeuvre, and so I could sing along to all of Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor whatsit and some of his others, but Les Mis wasn't completely on my radar screen until much later. I had heard the song "On My Own" and LOVE the Eponine from the London cast and for that reason I purchased the recording (from the now defunct Coconuts record store on Dempster St., which is now a Chase bank). It wasn't until MUCH later when I dug out that recording that I realized that Patti is on it too!! That sort of thing happened to me with Jesse L. Martin and Rent, I was all like, the Law and Order guy is on my Rent cast album?? NO WAY! etc. In high school, Chamber Choir (wooo! 1st Alto Power!) and the overhyped Master Singers (no, I wasn't selected to be in it, and am STILL bitter about it, okay?) sang a lovely medley from Les Mis for our Pasta and Pops concert and that's when I learned more of the music. I saw it when the tour came to the Auditorium Theater when I was in college, I think, and then later when I went to DC like YEARS later, I saw the SAME EXACT production, but from much more awesome seats (thanks, Wanda!)
So that's my Les Mis story, and here's Patti's, along with her "I Dreamed A Dream"
May I say that I can't really ever hear Les Mis music now without her voice in my head, yelling "SHUUUT UUUUPPPP!!!! WORK IT OUT!!!"
No comments:
Post a Comment