Wicked - Vocal Selections (Paperback)

by Stephen Schwartz (Composer)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Nominated for a whopping 10 Tony Awards and grossing more than $1 million each week, Wicked is this year's Broadway smash! A prequel to the all-American classic The Wizard of Oz, this new musical is a character study of Elphaba and Glinda, school roommates who grow up to become the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch, respectively. We are very proud to offer two songbooks featuring this delightful music: a Vocal Selections book which contains the vocal line with piano accompaniment (00313268), and a Piano/Vocal Selections book, in standard piano/vocal format with the melody in the piano part (00313267). Both songbooks feature a special section of color photos from the production, a note from composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, and these fantastic tunes: As Long as You're Mine * Dancing Through Life * Defying Gravity * For Good * I Couldn't Be Happier * I'm Not That Girl * No Good Deed * No One Mourns the Wicked * One Short Day * Popular * What Is This Feeling? * The Wizard and I * Wonderful.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634078828
• ISBN-13: 978-0634078828
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #382,035 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

222 of 226 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful arrangements, Great score for Vocal Acompaniment!, July 16, 2004

By	Sydney Head (Newport Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This version of the Wicked Songbook is the one that DOES NOT have the melody interpolated throughout the piano part-- it is meant as a "vocal line with piano accompaniment" version. It is described by Stephen Schwartz in his forward to the book as being "essentially a reduction of what is played by the show orchestra, edited so that it is playable by one person with two hands and ten fingers."

The songs have been adapted so that they may be sung out of the context of the show, with longer instrumental sections, chorus parts, and other such material being trimmed out in most cases. Though this gave me pause at first, I am learning that it really serves the material in this sense, making the music perfect for performing on its own, out of the story-driven context of the show. (Some cuts include the 'We Deserve Each Other' section of "Dancing Through Life", and the 'Who's that Mage...' counterpoint in "One Short Day")

All the favorite songs appear here, from "The Wizard and I", to "Dancing Through Life" and even an excerpt from "Thank Goodness" entitled "I Couldn't Be Happier". There have even been some small additions to the songs to make them work better for solo performance-- I love the new added verse in "No One Mourns the Wicked", for example. It makes for exciting rediscoveries of these already familiar pieces.

The arrangements are challenging, yes, and except for in one case all the songs appear in their original show keys (which means, e.g., that "Defying Gravity" is in Db, "One Short Day" is in F#, etc, but are well worth the effort-- both those songs sound amazing. "For Good" has been taken down a half step and appears in the book in C major). For those trying to compare this book to the P/V/G (with melody) version, I would say there is NOT a huge difference in degree of difficulty between the two books.

The wonderful result of this effort is that the arrangements are SO true to the score. It's really encouraging that Hal Leonard is starting to let composers publish more accurate and exciting versions of their work, and that what we get in the vocal selections is not some cheap simplified thing that sounds nothing like the nuanced and complex score but instead is actually rich and fantastic and interesting.

These Vocal Selections are without a doubt some of the best I've seen produced. Huge congrats to Stephen Schwartz for getting out the music in such a way that the core of the score really is still intact and ensuring that the great songs from this show will be performed for a very long time. Just Amazing.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great arrangements, one of the best "Vocal Selections" books, August 7, 2004

By	Nolan D. - See all my reviews

I ordered this music book after reading the real book and hearing reviews of the musical. Although I haven't yet seen the musical the songs contained in this book are excellent. I am very satisfied with this book. Unlike many "Vocal Selections" books I've come across, the arrangments of this are wonderful and sometimes challenging. Please note, these are NOT unplayable as some may have suggested.

Once again, I am very satisfied with this book...5 stars on the product.

Another note, I ordered this product when it was out of stock. It seemed like it took forever to come. My advice is to order this seperately if it is out of stock (I ordered 3 other music books, all in stock); I also used the budget shipping...everything came together in one shipment. So it took a little time to come. My little mistake, but just a heads up if you are eager to receive your orders.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a REAL piano accompanyment score, February 14, 2007

By	D. Blickstein (Hudson, NH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Most soundtrack scores are NOT suitable as piano accompaniment because they contain the vocal melody in the right hand, which no reasonable pianist would ever do to any vocalist they liked!

There are two scores available for Wicked with confusing titles "Piano/Vocal Arrangement" and "Vocal Selections. This book, "Vocal Selections" is what you want if you want to accompany a vocalist.

The arrangements are beautiful, basically they are reductions of the full orchestra score. I feel the full magic of Stephen Schwartz's incredible musical vocabulary when I play them and never seem to get bored of them.

As a previous reviewer, I'm not pleased with the editing of "Dancing Through Life", in which they've taken out several key sections that move the story line or accommodate a dance sequence (Glinda gets Boq to invite Nessarose, Glinda gives Elphaba the black hat,...). Although not part of the song itself, they contain wonderful themes. But I can't disagree that such editing is consistent with the notion of providing a score that might be performed as a soloist or duet.

The piano arrangement of "For Good" is particularly beautiful, particularly if you can play it with an synth bell-like piano (I think of such patches as Yamaga DX-7 piano as that was the original source of these type of sounds; think Whitney Houston's "Greatest Gift of All".)

These arrangements are NOT particularly easy to play, nor sight read. I noticed that several of them contain 5-note right hand chords (a first for me) and although all these chords allow for fairly natural hand positions, it's tough to get used to. Be aware that many of the chords I've encountered are much easier to play if you let your thumb play two notes although there are no notations for that.

In conclusion, I HIGHLY recommend this book. It's probably the best score I've ever purchased and playing thru it is like a lesson from the master.