Ellen Greene - Somewhere Thats Green / Suddenly Seymour
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- čas přidán 13. 08. 2010
- This is my FAVORITE performance of Ellen Greene... She is AMAZING singing these two songs... From the tears running down her face to the veins bulging in her neck. In my opinion, this is the BEST version of her singing, "Somewhere That's Green" & "Suddenly Seymour" from "Little Shop Of Horrors"..
This clip comes from the DVD - "Hey Mr Producer" - "The Musical World Of Cameron Macintosh" - "The World's Greatest Concert of Musicals" - Zábava
I dunno how to explain this but, she's not just generically singing notes, she's emoting the song like she's going through it. Sounds so unique and intimate.
Yes. Glen Close does the same with Sunset Blvd. Lots of people criticize her because she doenst have the voice like Lupone has, but her emotions and to it and her voice does wow at times, but the EMOTING makes any song a winner. Look at Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables!
That's the thing that I love when she and Rick Moranis sing this, they both give such emotions to the song.
Harlan Krissoff then you have those who can both emote and have great vocals Lea Salonga and Sam Barks
You’re so right, Jennifer. Night after night, year after year, she’s totally knocked it out of the park!
I think its called "acting". She's really good at it.
There's actual tears in her eyes, one even leaks down her left cheek. No one in the audience would ever see that... When she's singing she's actually Audrey.
Very few actors can become their character. I always thought Jean Stapleton and Carroll O Conner became Archie and Edith. Jean told Norman Lear that Edith was fiction when he agonized over her death. Norman told her that Edith was real to him.
from my understanding, her father died that day
@@TheGapboynokc Wait. What?
yep she just found out her father had died
16 yo me: She sings weird. I don't get why everyone loves her.
37 yo me: I'M NOT CRYING. YOU'RE CRYING!
yup. exactly.
I'm 22...and I'm still in that first stage!
i know right?
@@98jdk you'll probably get there, I was still at the same stage at your age. not everyone's the same tho...
Wow you're so handsome!
Her voice is ridiculous. In the best way. No matter how many times I hear her sing I'm always surprised at her talent.
The talent is obvious, but the control and range is just...something else. She obviously worked hard to master her voice in such a way.
"SIAHDENLEI-SEE-MOEEEE!!"
@@Doorhenge calm down lol ^_~
You do realize that she speaks and sings the way she does as part of the character...she has a normal voice in life.
@@taylorbanaszak4105 Uh, yes? What's the point of your comment? Try harder next time.
She does not portray Audrey... she becomes Audrey
She IS Audrey
She is Audrey just like Glenn Close is Norma Desmond
MJMcD seriously
She has since the film....
I'm sorry but whatever remake they do...
No one on this planet can replace Ellen as Audrey.
Even after 34 years absolutely untouchable.
@@crazyorganist1609 And Patti Lupone is Evita
It's insane the amount of emotion that woman can put into one note. Simply beautiful.
She does it so effortlessly as well
I have always loved Somewhere That's Green. Ellen always gives me chills. She sings it beautifully. I also love Suddenly Seymour!
the way she sings is so strange but its so different and creative i love it
She’s great. She’s singing in character. It’s not how she sings, it’s how Audrey would sing.
I don't know if I'd call it creative... That's just her voice. The emotion is amazing, though. But this is her voice naturally
It's scaring me
She's amazing.
It's how the character is suppose to sound. Anything else would be awful
It's no wonder that Ellen was still playing the part on stage so many years after the movie, no-one else could play the part or sing the songs as well as she can!
Ik i have the same feelings about the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar. Andrew Lloyd Webber really screwed the role over by using Ian Gillian as Jesus on the concept album
Amazing talent! It took me a while to get it, but she's switching from that baby voice to that rich booming sound to show how the baby voice was a mask she used to put on to make herself small, but now she doesn't have to.
She fell out of a fairytale and is pure magic. Ive always been so jealous of people who can do something so beautiful it makes you cry.
She has always reminded me of a sylph - An elemental air spirit.
That puts into words what I always felt about her Audrey, but never managed to quite define.
It's like she slipped out of a fairy tale into Skid Row and was suffering through a cruel world she couldn't defend herself in.
I don't think anyone has "owned" a role like she does Audrey since Channing in Hello Dolly
Jennifer Hoilday as Effie in Dreamgirls
💯💯💯
Glenn Close as Norma Desmond
Tim Curry as Franknfurter in RHS / RHPS
I was JUST THINKING THAT! She is the Audrey standard the model
I love her interpretation of this song. She brought depth to a very satirical and enjoyable musical. She portrayed a woman with very complex issues, she imited undertones of PTSD and trauma perfectly. Satirising the lower working class lady who falls for the badboy (i.e orin) He is a bad boy with a profession. Perhaps she fell for him due to her own insecurities. She finds a caring and sweet person in Semour, perhaps representing the father figure she never had. She sings in the song that her father left early. She is a tragic figure with a innocent and loveable quality. To think that every appliance she sings so passionately about is taken for granted in the west. She is insecure, naive and has low self esteem. She breaks your heart even in a comedy. She portrayed the character of Audrey brilliantly.
The tragedy of Audrey is so sad I don't know that I've ever seen the show and not cried when she tells Seymour to feed her to the plant. Even when the production is really bad, it always punches me in the gut that she dreamed of just having a comfortable life and was caught in the crossfire.
@@tfolkedahl have you seen the alternative ending?
@@casasanimations7048please, DO tell!!!
I agree completely with your comments here. When Ellen sings - the unabashed emotion that pours out of her is incomparable. She is a marvel. I only wish more people appreciated her talent.
And that emotion is still so authentic even after how many countless times she’s played this role or sang these songs. She never ‘phones in’ a performance.
Omg she was really crying when singing Somewhere that's Green
She learned her father passed away right before she went on stage.
Ida Baca holy shit! Seriously? The show must go on, right? She’s a legend.
@@1978rharris Nope, her father died 1971. Still a legend though :)
@@idabaca3878 Why make shit up? it was makeup!
It makes me cry. This was a big deal to 80s of babies. But we really thought she was saying somewhere that screams.
Her street wise survive at all costs persona while remaining innocent at heart, the way she moves her body, the poses, are pure Broadway at its best.
If you were at the encores performance a few years ago you would have sworn the theatre was going to cave in when ellen Greene made her entrance. Every line, every song received incredible responses from the audience and her solo bow was amazing. Jeff backed off the stage so she could receive the praise she earned.
After all these years
Ellen still slips into Audrey as seamlessly as stepping into your favorite pair of slippers.
There is absolutely noone on earth who can even touch her shadow in this role...
She lives each & every word, every line she sings.
Ellen Greene OWNS this role!
Yes
Ellen is brilliant. No one can top her as Audrey.
She also never ages. She’s in her 50s/60s and she still looks like how she did in Little Shop Of Horrors
Amen!🥲she’ll always be Audrey
Ellen Greene IS Audrey!
@@richardharoldmeddows728 Greene was born February 22,1952 in Brooklyn,NY. Making her 71 as of 2023.
The most amazing thing about Miss Ellen Greene is that she makes 3 types of voices when she sings :
- 1 ) Fisrt one > " Inocent and naive cartoon littre girl voice " . ( Her real voice )
- 2 ) Seccond one > " Vocal Deficiency voice " .
- 3 ) Third one > " Desperate cry and torture voice " .
I just love all the three voices for her UNIQUE way in combining them togheter when she sings a song.
____ A True tallent * * *
Pedro Barbieri couldn't have said it better!
youve heard her real voice?
Ian Smith he means her voice in the show
She gives me chill every time
Ive noticed her different voice pitches too. I love them all😊. And the fact that she still has her voice is amazing to me. I love her breathy way of singing.
At 5:28 to 5:36 something happens and Ellen Greene takes her performance to a whole different level. By the time she hits the 5:43 timestamp you can see something physically comes over Ellen and she is all in heart, body, and soul with the character, with the song.
It is at this point she rockets her performance (of a song she's sung hundreds of times by then) into the stratosphere of live performances few ever reach and you feel the orchestra, the chorus, and Teddy jump up and go with her. Together they create likely the most powerful finale to the song ever recorded. There's no mistaking it...you can see it, you can feel it.
Just 15 seconds later, when they hit the 5:57 mark, listen to Ellen singing at the top of her volume forcing the orchestra, the chorus, and the Teddy to go with her and go bigger and go louder bringing the whole theater to a crescendo of music and emotion that its likely no one saw coming just seconds before! By just six seconds later, at 6:02 to 6:04, listen to the trumpets in the upper brass sail their melody over everyone and everything else, as the song hits its climax reminding us with clear, sharp, upper range brass clarity that this is the point, if you call, in the show where the sun comes out, a new Audrey has arrived, and nothing will ever be the same. The upper brass returns at 6:28 being the only thing other than Ellen you can make out in the cacophony of voices, instruments, and energy. At this point, its all on Ellen. All eyes are on her, all voices are supporting hers, and if you watch the cutoff of the last note, its clear the orchestra's Director is watching her for the cutoff as everything comes to a halt when she brings her arm down. In fact, count the beats...she holds the note two whole beats longer than any Director would. The song ended, she was holding the note, and everyone stayed with her. FANTASTIC!
Its very clear this is likely THE performance of her life for this song. Nothing before has come close, and nothing to follow ever will.
Watch it carefully...the ending energy and delivery is completely different from its beginning where she almost seems to stumble over her first few lyrics. By the end, she appears to have channeled Audrey, feeling her pain, her moment of self-actualization, and in just a few lines takes us along with her to the most dramatic and spectacular ending the show has ever seen!
30+ years later, still moves me to tears.
emma duncan uhhh it was 1998
Indeed !
@@vhgr875 The original off-Broadway version was in the mid 1980s.
she is crying when singing the first bit, i think she gets totally in to it. She is awesome!!! What a voice!!!!!!
Thought I was alone in noticing this. Her passion makes my heart melt.
Little factoid Ellen wasn't the first choice for Audrey in the film they originally wanted Cyndi Lauper but she turned it down. It went to Ellen by default as she was the original off Broadway Audrey.
Thank god for it as no one can play Audrey like Ellen can. It wouldn't have been the film it was if Cyndi had accepted the role.
Oh and it was actually filmed in the UK at Pinewood.
I heard in an interview that they also considered Barbara Streissand, but Frank Oz specifically wanted Greene and fought for her to be in the movie.
Btw the Suddenly Seymour scene was also filmed on the 007 soundstage (like the name suggests, it's where the James Bond movies are filmed!).
I remember hearing that it wasn't insulated for the winter, the season it was being filmed in, and that Greene and Moranis had to suck on ice cubes so their breath wouldn't come out while singing. They also had to kiss each other 36 times, and actually gave each other lip burns because of it.
Don't mind me, just a girl obsessed with Little Shop and knows useless things about it 😂😂
I don't picture Cyndi Lauper as Audrey, either, but I didn't even know they considered her for the role when making the movie.
@@EntertainmentFan11 I think Cyndi might've been able to pull it off. I'd sure like to see her sing the songs now.
Where did you get that information from? Everything I have read it was Cyndi Lauper who was originally approached to play Audrey in the film.
@@Dermacrosis I apologize and misread/misunderstood...i was referring to Faith being the first choice for Audrey for the original off-Broadway production, not the film. Sorry to have added incorrect information and I've deleted the erroneous post. The Faith Prince casting is well documented in many theater circle discussions.
It's Ellen Greene's world. We're all just living in it.
I'm crying like a baby. She's livin' the dream.
3:07 And your not the only one... :)
Imagine... an ironing machine!! 😭
She's crying as she's singing it. Damn. She made me feel it too.
She learned her father died right before she went on stage
Sometimes whenever I get the note that perfectly fits my voice, I tear up. I have no clue why
Ellen Greene raised the bar so high on this that nobody can follow in this role.
Now thats how you fill a stage.
Why do I cry like a baby every time I hear her sing somewhere that's green?
Empathy
Ellen’s performance of this song always brings me to tears a little. She performs it with such sincerity and such skill.
Ellen Greene can blow the freaking roof off! What a performance!
There are parents who speak with less emotion about their kid's accomplishments than Ellen Greene singing about frozen dinners and plastic-covered furnisher. She must be spiritually beat after pouring her heart into this song every night.
I love Ellen Greene. She can sing so soft, and then in the next moment just belt it out. She is amazing.
I LOVE Ellen Greene❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Ellen Greene isn't just a singer. She isn't just and actress. Ellen Greene is a star
Howard Ashman was a lyrical genius. The greatest of our time.
I gotta say, this guy, this nerdy, perfectly cast “Seymour” guy, ALSO blows the roof off his role, coming ever so clooOSe to tapping the peak of perfection reached by the irresistible Rick Moranis. Love this take. 💗
Anyone that can put so much emotion and character into a role is an incredibly talented actress... And she sings too!
One of the biggest talents I've ever seen.
Her vocal control is out of this world.
Her voice at 5:43 is so satisfying. She sounds so raw, I love it. I feel like no one comes close to Ellen when it comes to portraying this character. Also at 5:59 ugh the emotion ?? Wow, She owns it.
She is amazing. She is still amazing. Something about the way she goes from that whispery voice to those power notes just blows me away. I've never heard her do a bad version, but this one is my favorite. Suddenly Seymour almost sounds like a hymn.
Omg, she looked EXACTLY the same in 2010 as she did in 1986! 🤯
As an adult, I feel Audrey a lot. Abusive relationships, believing I never deserved better, dreaming about average because that’s impossible… this hits hard. I found happiness alone before meeting the love of my life, but I still feel Suddenly Seymour.
I love love LOVE Ellen Greene's character! She pours real emotion into everything she does in Little Shop and it never fails to pull a smile across my face. She's the best Audrey EVER!
This woman was 35 when the film came out and this was 12 years later and she looks like she has not aged a day. Howwwww
Ellen has transcended "performer" to becoming one of the New York City Legends. In our time she has taken her place among the Nyc greats of Broadway and theater. Just as Bernadette Peters. These people live to perform and literally become the characters that they portray. They took a dream and made it real. Theatrical performers are the greatest inspirational people because they take what seem to be impossible dreams and make them real. They live it each time they take to the stage. To carry an entire show on your morale and passion is no easy feat. You MUST believe in yourself to stand in that space. There is no try. You either do or do not. And give your entire self. Ellen Greene = Legend.
Still gives me chills every time. This is simply one of the most honest, raw, and beautiful performances of a Broadway song I've ever seen.
She is a star!!! I've seen Little Shop idk how many times now, I stopped counting and she still manages to get me crying! Underneath all of the silly comedy, Audrey is very tragic.
15 years later and still a knockout. Especially in that outfit.
ELLEN GREENE. No one else could possibly embody this part even half as well. Every time I see this video pop up on my timeline - I have to watch it and I cry every single goddam time and her raw emotion and phenomenal voice kills me.
without disparaging other actresses, but there is no one who is so perfect playing the role of Audrey as Ellen Greene, she is unique!
When I saw the movie when I wss a kid I didn't really care one way or another about it because I didn't understand it. Now? This song never fails to make me cry. She's so sweet and she wants so little out of life. I mean, she's asking for an existence that is so plain, so poor ro middle class and would consider it a major win if she can have the small luxuries in life. Ellen is breathtaking and it really speaks to how amazing she is that when ever there is a production of it, regional, international and Broadway, have always had Audreys who are 100% basing their characterization one her. From the voice to the level of air headedness and charisma. She's just so fabulous.
Everytime i hear Ellen Greene sing this song, I am right there dreaming with her.
That ending. SHE IS AMAZING
I always come back to this performance, Ellen Greene is the blueprint. Pure camp, but imbued with the fullness of herself. So many people play camp as straight shtick nowadays, but she really understood what it's about: seeing your character in this world, but living in it truthfully and with empathy. A total knockout performance.
Howard Ashman wrote this play, directed it, wrote the song lyrics, and the screen play for the movie. When hired later at Disney, he wrote the lyrics, guided story telling, and had the guiding vision behind The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast before his passing of AIDS on March 14th, 1991. He was truly a genius and most Disney employees at the time would tell you he was most responsible for the Disney Renaissance. /salute Howard!
Her performance here is mesmerizing. I feel like she is trying so hard just to get through the number after learning of her fathers passing- but it make for such a raw, emotional performance that Is just indescribable. I think I’ve been watching this nonstop since yesterday
all of the pain of so many beautiful friends can be tied up and shot out in one song.
Tears every time I hear Ellen Greene sing this
I cannot listen to Somewhere that's Green without crying, it's just impossible.
Maybe not after hearing Herbert sing the song.
I'm so excited! I will be performing with Ellen Greene in December with the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC. The concert is called Red and Greene. Can't wait!!!!!
I bet those tears were of memories of filming the movie… The one and only Audrey, never to be beaten 🥹💞
Don’t know anyone who can sing in character and never break it. And her normal voice is great too!
Anytime I see a video of her singing live, I jump to click. Her voice gives me the shivers
Even at this point, decades ago, Ellen had mastered this role. She could have gone the other way and become resentful of Audrey, but instead she dug herself into this role and perfected every moment of it. This is the most perfect performance I've ever seen and I keep coming back to it time and time again and always will
Honestly ellen is the only and definitive Audrey, the emotional generoisity and authenticity she brings to her performance is just unreal and second to none.
Ellen Greene is simply out of this world. Walking that fine line of acting ditzy, overacting for effect and nailing every note on the head when appropriate is something they will teach in theater school for centuries to come.
Ellen Greene owns this role -- in the movie, on stage, anywhere she performs!
Right outta the ball park!
051823. After many yrs, I heard this again - and was shaken to my core. Ellen Greene, what you created through Audrey still feels titanic and cross-generational. Many years past LITTLE SHOP, I appreciate your artistry and voice.
Nobody does this quite like Ellen.
That woman was made for that part and can flat out sing! Awesome!
No one comes close to playing Audrey then her. Elaine is Audrey! Perfection!!!
Ellen Greene is absolutely crushing that guy with her voice, he's practically invisible next to her
With that voice, it's difficult to believe she only made one CD. :(
In his eyes has some great interpretations. Songs for a winters night is a masterpiece as well, with 2 recordings from the 70’s from a cd she was supposed to release, but never did. She would have been the perfect dolly, adalaide ( which she did in l.a. ), and lily in on the 20th century. She understands camp better than any living performer. Most end up campy which destroys the show for me. Midler camped it up in dolly and cheneworth was definitely not anywhere near Madeline khan, who also understood camp.
I get so emotional everytime I see this performance
When u play this and then somewhere that's green reprise... Balling 😭😭😭
Her use of dynamics is so incredibly on point it's almost scary. Such talent!
Ellen Greene captures my heart. What I would give to go back in time and take the place of that guy singing with her. Seriously. He just stands there... She's all kinds of dynamic and he's all kinds of nothing. If you weren't going to act out the part, you might as well have sung this offstage instead of taking up the other half of Ellen's spotlight.
Taylor Matlock With respect to the guy; his character is supposed to be nerdy, awkward and a bit hopelessly lovestruck... I imagine he was "in character" in this scene.
thecassman It doesn't matter how "in character" an actor is in a scene. If an audience member finds looking at a character to be boring, then their entire performance was boring. There is always something an actor can do to keep audience members engaged whether it be subtle facial expressions, vocal interpretation, or slight changes in body language. I'm not saying that he should have been running around the whole stage doing jumping jacks or cartwheels, but his performance was almost non-existent after his solo and even during his solo, it wasn't anything special. I've watched characters be awkward, nerdy, and lovestruck without being boring before. If they were going to pull this guy in for Seymour, they might as well have selected a non-actor from the audience to do it because he's doing a lot of nothing.
Taylor Matlock I see what you mean... Fair point... Perhaps I'm giving the guy a little too much credit. :)
Does anyone know the name of the guy?
Taylor Matlock knowing Ellen Greene's alleged diva persona, she had probably told him "Move while I'm singing and you'll never work again."
If you look at her '87 rendition on Johnny Carson, she also has tears in her eyes. She is fab, and that is probably the best matched Seymour in terms of pipes for her.
WOW! You can feel the emotion.
That voice coming out of that small body never ceases to astound me, love watching and hearing this woman.
Ellen is a gifted, singing powerhouse. I apologize for my description of her, I so admire & appreciate her talent.
YES ELLEN GREENE. GIVE ME ALL THE LIFE..
This is so captivating in a way that is hard to explain.
I have never ever been as obsessed with a musical so much as Little Shop, but Ellen Greene to me is the most insane talent I’ve ever witnessed in this role - film and theatre. She’s pure joy. The voice, the acting to emotion. Nobody compares
Her performance here has had a chokehold on me for years. The power. The emotion. The technique. The way she flips the vocal all over her range adds so much... Even though she had been playing this same role for so many years at this point, you wouldn't know it by watching this... It still feels fresh. So thankful this was captured, and especially on video. The audio recording of this concert must have been done in a studio or something and is different to this, it's just not quite as magical for some reason, maybe they told her to tone it down or something but I'm so glad she really went there in this especially at the end of suddenly Seymour...... She blows me away.
Oh my God. What was this performance- it seems like the kind of thing they'd have at the Tony Awards... Anyway, easily the best performance of Somewhere That's Green. It would probably be the best (in my opinion) performance of Suddenly Seymour if the actor playing Seymour wasn't so... featureless in comparison to her. I can't say I always find Ellen Greene's voice to be pleasing to the ear, but it's certainly one of a kind, and the delivery makes up for everything.
I am pretty sure that this is from Hey! Mr. Producer. It was a celebration concert of Cameron Mackintosh shows.
they prob made Seymour boring as hell to make her stand out even more (he's only there because he's needed for the song)
Erin D Loves Broadway and Loves To Sing deary me, Erin.
You need to listen to some more of that Broadway that you "love".
Then you might understand how perfect this performance was.
I think he is lipsticking too, if you watch 6:46. That is to say, he is just there for her to play off of, and he does a passable job as a 'stand-in'.
@@sibilaiton
Umm...it's called lipSYNCING. And no, he wasn't. He performed it live, just like every other person featured.
This is absolutely fabulous - this isn’t a fantasy it’s real life that is Audrey right there singing to us
Ellen Greene is everything ❤
Little shop will always be one of my faves
I cry ever fing time
No one can duplicate! The movie is my all time favorite. I know every word and not just the songs but also the dialog! She is one of the reasons.... The way she sings from the depth of her soul! Like everybody in the movie!
She is divine
Legendary woman. Legendary movie....just awesome. :) Will always be my fave movie until the day I die. Go Ellen Greene. :)
After all the years have gone by, I still LOVE watching and listening to Ellen Greene... She is one of the best performers ever....
No one can sing this like Ellen. To meet her would be a dream come true.
I am obsessed with this video. I don't know what it is... Is she screaming a bit, is it a little off-key? Yes. Is it perfect? YES!!!!
Omg. Woaw. The finale of the song was so good I had goosebumps. I agree. Has to be one of her best performances!