Play Suggestions

Post by **TriciaG** » January 20th, 2016, 7:50 pm

It depends on the character. Frau Quixano has lines such as "Yesimcho elôhim ke-efrayim vechimnasseh—yevorechecho haddoshem veyishmerecho, yoer hadoshem ponov eilecho vechunecho, yisso hadoshem ponov eilecho veyosem lecho sholôm."

But also speaks in what looks like German: "Gut? Un' wie soll es gut gehen—in Amerika!"

Mendel seems to speak a smattering of German, too.

Other characters don't speak anything but English. There's one Irish servant with the appropriate accent.

Post by **Availle** » January 20th, 2016, 7:52 pm

My goodness! The German I understand, but that other... sounds? Maybe really ask Julia (I think?) if she's interested.

Edit: Yes, it was indeed Julia who did the short Yiddish/German story in the 10th anniversary collection.

Post by **TriciaG** » January 20th, 2016, 8:00 pm

The other is Hebrew/Yiddish. I understand "Shalom".

Baroness speaks smatterings of French, with a French accent: "I have a headache. You muz excuse me. Herr Pappelmeister, au plaisir de vous revoir."

Pappelmeister speaks smatterings of German with a German accent: "Nein, nein, mein liebes Kind! I fear I haf not de correct shape for an angel."

Vera and David, the main characters, have no major accents.

SweetPea · Post by **SweetPea** » January 20th, 2016, 8:19 pm

TriciaG wrote:"Yesimcho elôhim ke-efrayim vechimnasseh—yevorechecho haddoshem veyishmerecho, yoer hadoshem ponov eilecho vechunecho, yisso hadoshem ponov eilecho veyosem lecho sholôm."

I think it's Hebrew. The first part looks like a traditional prayer, and the second part looks like a completely different one

I understand some words here and there, but I'm not exactly sure of the whole thing together.

J_N · Post by **J_N** » January 21st, 2016, 1:17 am

There isn't really much Yiddish in the play... Frau Q speaks mainly German with 1-2 Yiddish words thrown in (like meshuggah)... There is some Hebrew, though, which I have not the slightest idea of how it's pronounced...

Does Librivox not have any practising Jews? They should be able to read the Hebrew and if they know at least some Yiddish they should be able to struggle through the German, might sound quite authentic.

Post by **Availle** » January 21st, 2016, 1:29 am

Oh Julia, my Julia... there goes our only hope.

I have a German friend who lived in Israel for a year and learnt some Hebrew in that time. While she may not know what it means either, she may be able to at least pronounce every language that is involved here accurately. She has just recently started recording herself reading stories to her godchild. I'm not sure if she would have time or interest enough to participate, but if this ever got underway and we don't find anybody else at all, I can certainly ask her.

Post by **TriciaG** » January 21st, 2016, 7:02 am

Thanks for checking, Julia. I'm wondering if this is one reason the play hasn't gotten recorded before.

SweetPea · Post by **SweetPea** » January 21st, 2016, 11:25 am

It looks to me like she mostly speaks German, with some Hebrew prayers thrown in. I know a little bit of Hebrew, and I recognize those prayers - is there something I can help with? (Apart from actually reading the part - I don't speak German

)

Post by **TriciaG** » January 21st, 2016, 1:04 pm

OK, I think there are enough folks interested or at least willing to help.

I'll put it together and launch it some time in the next week or so. Thanks!

Post by **TriciaG** » January 21st, 2016, 7:04 pm

It's launched: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=59548

Post by **ToddHW** » January 24th, 2016, 9:11 am

And as I am housebound by the record breaking blanket of snow over Baltimore, howsabout some more Moliere for our catalog? The Bourgeois Gentleman is launched.

viewtopic.php?p=1203019#p1203019

Thanks, Todd

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » January 24th, 2016, 5:22 pm

Iolanthe, the most recent of the Gilbert and Sullivan poetry readings is almost complete.

I had planned to launch "The Mikado" next - this is the one with the famous and hilarious song "I've got a Little List" (of people who never would be missed). All you need to do to BC this one is find someone willing to edit it - admittedly, editing a chorus of poetic readings can be a bit tricky. If you want tips or advice or are thinking of taking this one on (no script prep required!) PM me and we can discuss it. I'm not in a position to BC this one myself, but I may be able to provide some support if needed.

Text is here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/808 (It's the 5th one in the book.)

Tortilla · Post by **Tortilla** » January 24th, 2016, 7:06 pm

Some cool plays that I think should have a look-see:

- Androboros by Robert Hunter (written in 1714, survives as the earliest known play ever written and published in the North American British colonies)
Link: https://archive.org/details/androborosbiogra00huntrich

- The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom by (1858, first professionally performed play by a African American man in the US)
Link: http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=mayantislavery;cc=mayantislavery;view=image;idno=18865210;page=root;seq=7;size=100

- The Indian Princess by James Nelson Barker (perpetuated many of the myths/Americana surrounding the Pocahontas story/account, early American drama)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Indian_Princess_(play)
Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29230

- The Prince of Parthia by Thomas Godfrey (1765, first play written by an American to be presented in the United States by a professional cast of actors)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince_of_Parthia
Link: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29222

- The Octoroon by Dion Boucicault
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Octoroon

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » January 25th, 2016, 3:21 am

I'd forgotten how much fun The Mikado is; I saw the D'Oyly Carte company perform it at Sadler's Wells long years ago. I had a quick look at the text just now. I'll watch out for the DR to appear: I'd love to read Pooh-Bah.

By the way, when a number of readers are doing the same piece together, would it be worth either sending them all a time-tick mp3 to coordinate their readings? ... or possibly, coordinate subsequent readings to the rhythm of the first reading to be submitted?

Peter

Elizabby · Post by **Elizabby** » January 25th, 2016, 3:51 am

Peter Why wrote:or possibly, coordinate subsequent readings to the rhythm of the first reading to be submitted?

This is what I usually do - ask people to take a listen to the first one. When I did the narration for one of these - Patience, I think it was - I recorded the chorus along with the narration and used that as a basis.

In Audacity is also possible to stretch or compress the readings a bit, and with poetry it doesn't have to be as strict as if everyone were actually singing, and it is possible to insert or close up gaps at the end of lines.

My last resort technique is to reduce the number of people - usually I only have one or two "chorus" members and add in principal voices as needed. For example, in Iolanthe, there are some choruses which are sung by basically the entire cast: fairies, peers, principals, etc. It just isn't possible to combine that many voices and make it all clear, so I've removed some voices from one chorus and some from another to make it balance out. Or sometimes I've taken out the principals - in the Finale of Act 1, if Phyllis were singing a descant over the top of the chorus it would make sense to have her, but if she's just speaking the same words as everyone else it doesn't actually add very much.

The Mikado is pretty funny - I wanted to be Pitti-Sing, as my sister always sang Yum-Yum (since she has the actual operatic trained voice) but these days I'm guessing I'd be more likely to be cast as Katisha!