Wicked

Wicked - Piano/Vocal Arrangement by Stephen Schwartz (based on 42 customer reviews)

(Paperback)
Author: Stephen Schwartz
Publisher: Hal Leonard

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Most useful review as voted by customers:
153 out of 154 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 7/9/04

Great score, arrangements! (melody in the piano part)

After waiting for so long to finally get this book, I've discovered it to be well worth the wait.

Stephen Schwartz is releasing two versions of vocal selections for wicked, this version containing the melody interpolated into the piano part, and another book that is billed as a professional acompaniment without the melody necessarily built into the piano arrangement. This led many to speculate that the "with melody" version would therefore be much easier and less true to the music. Although I haven't seen the other book yet as it has yet to be released as I write this, you should definitely know that this book has not one "easy" arrangement. The arrangers have done a really excellent job of keeping the parts interesting while building in the melody. For instance, "Defying Gravity," the amazing Act-One closing number, is particularly well done, and if you can work through the key-- (it remains, as in the show, in Db) you will be VERY satisfied with the richness and fullness of the sound.

Schwartz has adapted the songs for use as solos or (where applicable) duets, removing longer instrumental breaks, trimming ensemble sections, and providing some new lyrics and endings to make the songs work really well for this new format. This in my opinion is yet another reason to purchase the book, as it gives fans of the show a way to interpret small sections of some of the songs differently.

Sometimes I do wish some cuts could have been avoided (notably I miss the wonderful "We deserve each other" theme that appears on the cast album intersecting "Dancing through Life" and the counterpoint melody "Who's that mage..." in "One Short Day"), but Schwartz is right, it would have impeded the creation of solo pieces to put those in.

The score for Wicked is definitely not to be missed, it really is a must have-- (especially while I wait patiently for the imminent release of the other version of the score!)

Overall, the music is wonderful, the arrangements remain challenging, but are extremely well edited and contain chord diagrams to help you along as well. Well done.

19 out of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/1/04

Great arrangments of great music

The piano arrangements in this book are very faithful to the orchestrations. If you're like me, you ordered this book because you are familiar with the recording; you will not be disappointed with the accompaniments. A couple of the songs have been edited down, presumably to avoid the selections becoming too long. Very good buy.

12 out of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/13/04

These keys are hard to play, but I love the music!

I am musical theater singer who loves to buy sheet music and sing through all the songs I love. This past year I have purchased Avenue Q, Wicked, and Assasins on sheet music. Unfortunately I am an intermediate pianist, so I often find myself player the right hand melody line and adding in as much of the left as I can. All these new musicals have such difficult keys, and they change constantly throughout the songs.
I can also recommend "Voice Lessons To Go" by Vaccarino. They are voice lessons on CD. They have saved me a ton of money in voice lessons. I may need the money for some more piano lessons to play these scores!

10 out of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 9/9/04

"Wicked" songbook

I bought this book about two weeks ago. I had never actually seen Wicked, but I recieved the soundtrack as a gift. I enjoy the music very much, and I found out shortly after that there was a piano and vocal selection book. I like to sing, and I play the piano as well. So, I bought the book, and I am very happy with my purchase. The piano pieces are challenging, which I think is a good thing. My only negative about this book is that I wish some of the cuts hadn't been made, even though it does make the selections easier to perform. However, I am still very happy with this book and I give it 5 stars.

7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/24/06

Wicked Piano/Vocal Selections

I bought this book because a friend gave me the Wicked CD and I fell in love with the show. This book is a selection of the most popular songs from the show, in a format where a singer could perform them with only piano accompaniment. Most of the songs are pretty close to the versions that you hear on the CD, but some have been altered to make them easier to perform as solos or audition pieces. Most of the speaking and chorus parts (like in "Popular" and "One Short Day") have been removed and some of the songs have new endings. In "Dancing Through Life", the second half of the song has been cut so the entire song can be sung by only one person. Also, the part in "The Wizard and I" where Elphaba has a vision also appears in "Defying Gravity". Lastly, "For Good" is written so it can be sung as a duet or a solo.

This book is good for anyone looking to sing these songs as a solo, duet or for an audition. The piano part is a simplified version of the orchestral score with the melody line usually occurring in the right hand and it is easy enough for almost any accompanist to play. However, if you are looking for an exact translation of the songs from the show, you will be disappointed. Otherwise, this is a good buy for any Wicked fan who wants to perform their favorite songs from this fantastic show!

5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/14/05

Wicked is my favorite musical. The music is inspiring. And although at times the music can be dificult to master, it's nothing that a little practice can't solve.

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