Am 7. Juli 2008 erscheint mit Kerry Ellis‘ “Wicked in Rock” die Single-CD einer der beliebtesten Londoner “Elphabas”. Queen-Gitarrist Brian May übernahm die Produktion der Scheibe.
Erhältlich wird die Single-CD unter anderem beim Londoner Cast-Records-Spezialisten “Dress Circle” sein. Freilich ist die CD längst im New Yorker Gershwin Theatre im Verkauf und auch bei iTunes/USA ist sie erhältlich. Wenn man die Produktion mit einem Wort beschreiben wollte, wäre das wohl: bombastisch. “Wicked meets Queen” hat durchaus Hitpotential.
Tracklisting:
1. Defying Gravity
2. I`m Not That Girl
3. No One But You
Über die Entstehung des Tonträgers schreibt Brian May auf seiner Site:
Well, I’d been working with Kerry for a long while in odd moments … from the very first moments when I heard her sing for us, I knew she was one a million … she truly is … I made a commitment to her that somehow I would help her make a Kerry Ellis record.
And we were always looking for material to record which would really suit her voice and special talents. When I saw Wicked, even before Kerry was in it - I immediately had a feeling about “I’m Not That Girl” … very touching … and I couldn’t wait to see Kerry sing it … But I thought that, on the whole,the music of Wicked was quite difficult to assimilate, unless you went back and saw the show lots of times (which I did!) … so I hit on the idea of trying to make versions of the songs for Kerry which would make use of her wonderful range of emotion, and at the same time make the songs more accessible to people outside the Musical Theatre world. In the beginning, I didn’t think we could do “Defying Gravity” at all … it was too complex and hard to unravel … but I became obsessed with it, did my own arrangement, which was designed to make the song hit home without the context of the show …. and as soon as Kerry began singing on the track I’d roughed out, we knew we were on to something great! Our friend Steve Sidwell did a great job orchestrating too … and Taylor Hawkins on drums … well, what can you say?!!!
Well, I don’t know if we will do any more Wicked songs this way … but I think we have found a style. Glad you like it ! And, in five months’ time when Kerry has conquered Broadway, hopefully we will get the chance to finish the whole album. [brianmay.com]
