https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7KbhGQTak8
George Logan (Dr. Evadne Hinge) is now 77 years old and lives in France. Patrick Fyffe (Dame Hilda Bracket) died in 2002 at age 60. In the 1970s, their musical comedy was extremely popular on British television and stage. They first worked together in 1972 and became famous after they appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in 1974.
What was remarkable about their act was their superb musicality combined with their comic genius. Fyffe’s singing also recalls the extraordinary sound of the castrati singers of centuries past. We will never hear that sound again, but male voices singing falsetto surely come remarkably close. The best such singers (and Fyffe was one of them) can blend their “head voice” (higher notes) and “chest voice” (lower notes) in such a way that the sound is almost like a male voice and female voice singing together.
3 Comments
Had not encountered this duo before— priceless. Novello was a fine composer, not as admired as Coward nor witty as Porter, just very singable.
Hi James: One of the hardships of living in the sticks as I now do is the scarcity of trained musicians. In San Francisco, there was a bar down on Market Street called Martuni’s. Musicians and performers would gather around the piano there each evening after the theaters closed. It was almost always vintage musical theater. There was nothing quite like it. I do miss that.
We live in the briar patch of NE Ga. Too old to drive to Atlanta for a concert and back the same evening. Was OK 40 years ago. Even the restaurants here are nothing to write home about. Forces one to become a good cook. Simple ingredients cooked well are immensely satisfying.
Post a Comment