Sparkling Eyes--Jason M. Hammond

[caffienehigh53]

fantastic!

[msgdobes]

Jason, nicely done...however, pay more attention to your phrasing of the vocal line. You are tending to 'bite off' phrases such as "happy man" and "if your can"...these are legato dotted quarter notes and your singing them as if they were staccato eighths. Good stage presence!

[jmham1]

Thanks for your thoughts. You have to realize this is a silly performance for my senior recital--where I truly was just messing around. I did play the character in the show earlier in my senior year in college, and I assure you I sang it as written...otherwise I would have been in trouble. :)

[ilovecollecting]

This is a great performance of an old song, and so I'm not quite sure why the audience is laughing - unless there's something just off camera that we can't see?

[jmham1]

You're quite right. ALL the people in the audience had moved ALL the way forward, some people were even sitting right on the stage with me. It was an audience of friends and family--and they were just being "funny".

[scouserjoe]

very good performance but as G&S is staunchly middle-class English, the American accent comes across a little bit too much. Excellent portrayal of Marco however

[Neurozumim]

Handsome and theatrical, this guy is going to get a career if he doesn't have one already.

[charsmam]

Brilliant, I really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing. A beautiful song, beautifully sung

[ZeppelinRochey]

Amazing! wow man that was brilliant! Piano wasn't the best but at least you were ha ha

[vanhoyden]

really really cool!!!!wow

[gertvenghaus]

Being a great Gilbert & Sullivan fan, THIS PERFORMANCE IS ABSOLUTELY GREAT. Great voice and acting with a natural air of irony and humour. I love it.

[outsideofadog]

Too much wine and has brought the froth of my sub-conscious to the fore....I watched the Go-Between (if you haven't seen it, seek it out)a few weeks back and this very song was performed by Alan Bates with the gorgeous Julie Christie on the piano. An idle, hopeful Youtube moment yielded this bravissimo performance . Great voice, what inspired you to choose this song?

[jmham1]

I was in this show in college, that's why I sang it at my recital.

[ellokittyca]

I love you.

[ballyboreen]

That's a great performance. The irony is caught perfectly!

[jessihackenson]

He sang this about ME in the production! Aren't I lucky? Thanks for posting this, Jason. It was a great trip down memory lane.

<3 Jessica

[racehorse87]

Oooo, I get to have this song sung about me in a production this year. :D

I just hope my Marco does as good a job!

[boz246]

hi, i was wondering if you wouldn't mind telling me what this song is all about, why he's singing it and who he is singing it to. i'm doing it for an exam and need to tell the examiner the background to the story and the background to the song but i just can't find it anywhere. i would really appreciate it if you replied.

thanks :)

[happykitty11]

well, marco learned that either he or his brother is the king of barataria. they're not sure which, so they both go to be king until someone finds out who's the actual king. they have to leave their wives behind, so the brothers are slightly depressed while they are king. if i remember correctly, marco is singing, (either to himself or to his brother, giuseppe) about why they miss their wives so much.

[jmham1]

You're correct--I was singing to my brother Guiseppe; because he was feeling sad that we were away from the women we loved. Oh, the simplicity of operettas!

[katerinski7]

Wow! That's quite some voice.