music musing . . . lame title, i know . . .

I’ve been listening recently to the music of Wicked(thanks to Youtube hehehe). Love the songs "For Good", "Defying Gravity", "Popular", "What Is This Feeling", and "The Wizard and I" . . . and of course, that led me to be curious of the artists themselves. Idina Menzel who originated the role of Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West, I already know from watching RENT the movie. She played the drama queen performance artist Maureen in both the broadway show and the movie. She was actually one of the reasons that I looked up Wicked on Youtube. The other reason being, the musical’s storyline. I liked Idina in RENT, but it was in Wicked that I truly, truly became a fan of hers (just listen to the original cast recording of "Defying Gravity" and "The Wizard and I"). This woman is freaking amazing. I’ve been listening to her music for most of the day. "It Only Hurts When I Breathe" isn’t a recorded song, that is, it’s never been part of an album, so I was lucky to download a really good live performance of it that was taped by someone. Other songs I liked by Idina Menzel: "Here"(really cool chorus beat), "Defying Gravity Single Remix"(took a bit to get used to, but still really great), "Once Upon a Time", "I Told You" . . . actually come to think of it, I liked all of them. I hope to hear more from Ms. Menzel in the future.

brain test . . . saw this at Maricel’s blog and . . .

thought I’d try it out. I thought for sure, I’d be in the right-dominant group . . . guess not hehehe

            
              Nikki, you are Balanced-brained
            
         

         

         
            
 

   
      
   
   
 

         
         
         

That
means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left
hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.

When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a
detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is
responsible for your ability to solve problems logically, might kick
in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an
original way to file papers, the right side of your brain, which is
responsible for noticing subtle details in things, might take over.

While many people have clearly dominant left- or right-brained
tendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres of
your brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and
flexible thinker.

The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel
paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are
competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.

wicked . . .

I was surfing for some resources to use in a current project recently, when I literally stumbled upon this video clip of the Broadway musical "Wicked". The musical is based on Gregory Mguire’s book of the same title and is basically a backstory of sorts to the Wizard of Oz. I think I mentioned wanting to read the book a few posts back. The musical(and the book) tells the story of how the friendship between the Good Witch Galinda and the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba came to be and how it all fell apart.

Anyway, this clip I came upon was about the two writing to their families about meeting their new roommate. And it was just a funny little song, which proved terribly ironic, given this two(played here by Idina Menzel and Annalene Beechey) become bestfriends and all, that I thought I’d share it. The song is called "What is this Feeling?" or otherwise known as the "Loathing Song". Enjoy!

EDIT: Added two more video clips. This time it’s Idina Menzel (playing Elphaba) and Kristin Chenoweth(as Galinda) performing the song “Defying Gravity”. And the last video clip is the song “For Good” (definitely one of my favorite songs now), where the two friends are basically saying goodbye to each other (Elphaba is melted by Dorothy after this scene . . . so it’s a pretty emotional song). The video isn’t too clear, unfortunately, but the audio is pretty good.

WICKED – WHAT IS THIS FEELING(London Cast)

WICKED – DEFYING GRAVITY

WICKED – FOR GOOD