Customer Reviews

Defying Gravity

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What can I say about Debbie Gravitte that hasn't alreay been said? Ms. Gravitte is one of the leaders of Broadway Show music interpretation. I have the distinct pleasure of seeing Ms. Gravitte on the stage. I remember years ago - seeing Debbie in Denver in Zorba. I remember her sensational rendition of the song "Life Is". I performance I have remembered many years later. Several years ago I witnessed Ms. Gravitte thrilling a audience in Arvada, CO with the premiere performance of Defying Gravity . I knew from that moment on the the music from Wicked was going to be truly special. Thank you Debbie Gravitte. Please, please don't loose your humor and I'm looking forward to seeing you on the Great White Way again.

I heard Debbie sing with piano accompaniment in Delray Beach Florida last spring. The concert was lovely and I bought her CD there just to support her. Then I started listening to it and got hooked. The songs, orchestra, orchestrations, and Debbie's performances are first rate. This is a delightful and impressive display of great music and talent.

I bought this CD without hearing any of the songs, and I'm so glad I did. What a powerfully rich and beautiful voice! Many of these are songs we've heard over and over, but they sound new when sung by Debbie Gravitte. If you enjoy Linda Eder, Nancy Lamott, or Laurie Beechman, I believe you'll really enjoy this album.

OK, I admit it. I'm a fan, always and forever. That being said, I would still love this recording a WHOLE lot! The song selection is just right. The songs showcase her pipes, yet leave a little room for emotional interpretation. This is real talent, folks, not the bottled, packaged, over produced gunk that gets played on most broadcast stations. For any sophisticated lover of trained, legit singers, and especially the "Broadway voice", you must get this CD, now. I insist!

I really like the idea of this album. I've never seen Debbie Gravitte live, so maybe I'm missing something. But on this recording she overembellishes every song with vocal tics and catches that make the songs unlistenable. I feel as if she's beating me over the head and saying, "I'm a great singer, and you'd better like me." No thanks.

Specifically what bothers me about his album is an overall lack of rhythm within each song ("Junk Man" and "Monotony" excluded). Ms. Gravitte seems to always be wallowing in the production of her sound and is unable to drive the music forward - she sounds to be minutely behind the beat almost all the time. This makes the ballads drag, and the up tempos lose their excitement. The lady's got a good voice, no doubt about it, but she overuses the "cry" attack on too many notes, and she doesn't really sing with much color - every song is kind of sung in the same way no matter what the emotional content is. If you like a real Broadway belter you will enjoy this album, but perhaps it is best listened to in small doses.

My husband bought this album based on the Amazon reviews. I couldn't disagree more with them. She has a nice voice and parts of every song sound good but not one song on the album was good all the way through. This is a great collection of songs but some really bad arrangements. I suspect the arrangements may be attempts to adjust the songs to accomodate a singer who's vocal range is too limited for these great numbers. I expected some great belting based on the song list but got mostly shouting instead. Her diction is very good, but she seems to hold on to consonants too long which sounds harsh. Some parts of the album (especially the trio she sings with herself) were actually painful to listen to. I would give a 1 star rating to less than 1% of the CDs we own; this is one of them.