Defying Gravity (English version!) by Willemijn Verkaik

[wickedautograph]

i LOVE her!!! and i can speak english, dutch and german like her!!!! well- my german isn't as strong as my dutch

[jolijntje12]

Yes she is the best Elphaba ever

[sunderlandgrl]

I prefer Rachel Tucker. I've never seen Willemijn Verkaik, but out of who I have seen (Idina Menzel, Kerry Ellis, Alexia Khadime and Rachel Tucker) I do personally believe Rachel Tucker is the best vocalist and she brings so much originality to the role. All the others were quite similar but Rachel was something different.

[handofblue]

@sunderlandgrl I'm not really sure how you can say Idina, Kerry and Alexia sound similar.... they're completely different. Particularly Alexia.

[sunderlandgrl]

@handofblue I was talking about similarities in the way that they potray the role, not their singing. When I watch Rachel I actually believe it's Elphaba but when I watch the others at some parts in the show I was reminded that they were actresses.

I know they're completely different when it comes to vocals, and as you said, especially Alexia. I never like her as Elphaba and I recently saw her as Eponine in Les Mis and didn't like her vocals in the role either. It's merely my opinion

[handofblue]

@sunderlandgrl Ah okay :) We all do have our different opinions! I find Rachel's portrayal to be rather bland and one dimensional. But she has great vocals.

[guiwilluk]

@sunderlandgrl agree!!! ive seen all of the ones u mentioned except for alexia and imho rachel is the best! and she's so nice in person too!

[MsMaxi901]

Okay.. Defying Gravity.. and the dutch translation.. Ik lach om zwaartekracht.. Sounds kinda weird? But I love the song in dutch :D I am dutch xD Whoehoe

[jasonr1929]

in my opinion, jemma rix is better check her out

[chouchou778]

it is rather fast isn't it?

love Willemijn! (:

[EsmeeKapaan]

willemijn your rock kisses from the netherlands best musical world !!!

[lisambofoh]

Wow! Her accent even isn't very thick. Get her on Broadway!

[rentobbesion]

Well that settles it. Shre's gonna be Elphie in the movie, no ifs ands or buts

[iluvwickedandelphie]

she is so amazing it brought me to tears!

[DontKicktheBritV2]

Does anyone know how long she's going to be doing Wicked in Holland? I don't speak Dutch, but I'm going to be studying in Germany in March and I'd still love to see it!

[michaeldeboer]

@DontKicktheBritV2 The musical is here for a year and who knows how much longer if it stays succesfull.She will be there the whole time.

[hahallo9]

@DontKicktheBritV2 wicked is still playing in march so you can see willemijn. but they say wicked is gonna play for 365 days but i think it's gonna be longer. sorry for my bad english, i'm not that good at languages as willemijn.

[MissIrisJN]

@jasonr1929 who is jemma rix?

[jasonr1929]

@MissIrisJN look her up shes amazing!

[MissIrisJN]

she's amazing! I hope I can go to the dutch wicked!

[PurpleParrotPizza]

She's amazing,it sounds like english was her first language ,still the best Elphaba I've seen in person was Alexia Khadime.

[Jeppie95]

@PurpleParrotPizza She's dutch but played elphaba in germany, so she's very good at languages haha

[PurpleParrotPizza]

@Jeppie95 I know she's Dutch I was just saying how good she is at English.

[MissElphiex3]

Willemijn is simply one of the Best Elphies. Outstanding!

[BEKKY2131]

willemijn ois the best elphaba ever!!!

she can acr the role in three different languages!

she is awsome!!!

[WishingOnIyWounds]

Are people actually falling for this? That's not Willemijn.

[jdthemindfreak]

@WishingOnIyWounds Yes it is, dude. Go check her singing live with Stephen Schawartz!

[WishingOnIyWounds]

You mean, this? "Willemijn Verkaik (F/ Stephen Schwartz) sings DEFYING GRAVITY - Live @ Birdland"

Far less orchestrations, no ensemble.

[maxi2310]

@WishingOnIyWounds

well then check the video description ;)

I mixed the audio from the "Willemijn Verkaik (F/ Stephen Schwartz) sings DEFYING GRAVITY - Live @ Birdland" - video with a karaoke track of Defying Gravity, and synchronized it with a video from one of Willemijn's shows in Oberhausen, Germany. But this is still Willemijn singing it :P

[jasonr1929]

shes great but jemma rix is better, everyone look her up, you'll know what i mean

[RuckalltheFules]

@jasonr1929 and Rachel is better than Jemma :P

[pilchard96]

@jasonr1929 She's good, but so is every woman ever to have got close to this role - I prefer Rachel and most others before Jemma!

[WickedMulti]

Willemijn is sooo great in every language!!! :)

[Jeroen1983]

She's the only reason I'm still somewhat proud of what my country produces.

[s0undstrulycrazy]

She sounds like Eden Espinosa.

[marypierce1909]

@s0undstrulycrazy Eden is 1000times better!!!

[delibessylvia2]

@marypierce1909 thats your opinion but eden cant sing it like 4 years constantly and willemijns isnt even nasal like eden sometimes is

[maxi2310]

@delibessylvia2

also, I've never heard Willemijn sing one single flat note on any of her recordings, but there are quite a few on some of eden's recordings^^

[delibessylvia2]

@maxi2310 yes i think that were edens problems .i love her as elphaba but thats was the only thing that concirded me .her me s

[elisabethkenner2]

@marypierce1909 Willemijn is the best Elphaba ever, but Eden is also very great

[pilchard96]

She is trilingual (very rare, to be fluent in 3 languages) and, can act and sing her way through this song for, 4 years? GET HER ON A ENGLISH-SPEAKING STAGE.

[J0k394]

@pilchard96 hey, give the dutch people a chance to see her first! Now if she'd go to london I'd have absolutely no problems with it, i can still manage to get there. It is only a 12 hour trip instead of 3,

[MattManOhYeah]

Because ive got alot of Dutch family who speak english i can hear her accent but only a little. Its only on the "bring me down"'s she sounds dutch i think.

[stevmar96]

she might just be my fav elphaba.. THREE FRIGGIN LANGUAGES!!! INCREDIBLE!!!

I WOULDNT EVEN GUESS THIS ISNT HER NATIVE LANGUAGE!!! MAN GOD WHAT A CREATION! =]

[WickedProductions100]

I really don't hear much of an accent if at all in her speaking for sure. Singing takes time to adjust accent (*cough* Kerry *cough*). But she could really get a Broadway or West End (or both :) ) run together. She could be the first Elphie on ALL continents that play Wicked, lol.

[J0k394]

@WickedProductions100 All continents? That means she'd have to learn Japanese as well unless the 30-minute wicked is still running as well

[SMSProductions1]

@J0k394 She could do it, lol.

[J0k394]

@SMSProductions1 yeah, but it'd take time to learn, time which I'd rather see her spend on a stage, preferrably somewhere near where I live.

[WickedMusicalBuffalo]

@J0k394 Wicked doesn't play at Universal in Japan anymore :(

[tooty644]

She sounds so much like shoshana bean in english :)) !!!!!!!!!!!1

[35Owl35]

ou mjan, sie sollte alle leider auch in englisch singen ;:D

[Elphiesgreenfriend]

She does speak English with a regular accent, and her on Broadway would be GREAT

[maxi2310]

@Elphiesgreenfriend

She does? That's what I've been asking myself: Would you, as a native speaker, immediately pick up on the fact that English isn't her native language while listening to this?

[Elphiesgreenfriend]

@maxi2310 well ive seen her in videos of people who see her in Germany who speak english, and she sounds like an American speaking english

[WhenTheNightIsOver]

@maxi2310 To be honest, the accent is slightly noticeable but overall it's very good. I notice some of her vowels are slurred together, and the 'o's are quite noticeably in her native accent (eg. 'Look to the western sky') -- but overall it's REALLY good and with some work she could quite easily do it in an English speaking country.

[maxi2310]

@WhenTheNightIsOver

yeah, I agree... I think if you're as musical as she is, it should be easy to get rid of that little remaining non-native accent quite soon... after all, that's what she already did once, in the German production, which also wasn't in her native tongue. And in the end, you really couldn't hear AT ALL during her performance that she wasn't a native German speaker, so I'm sure she'd manage equally well in an English production :)

[J0k394]

@maxi2310 You can hear now she actually has a German accent in Ik lach om Zwaartekracht :)

[strudllekitte339]

@maxi2310 i can tell cause at 0:34 she doesnt prnounce high defying gravity as an american wold

[VHudgensFan19]

@maxi2310 Nope, she's Dutch! :)

[WickedMusicalBuffalo]

I've been dying to hear what she'd sound like singing this in English. She's so awesome. I'd love to see her transfer to Broadway or perhaps play Elphaba in the Wicked movie :)

[WhenTheNightIsOver]

Amazing! Well done. When did she sing this? It sounds amazing sun in English.

[maxi2310]

@WhenTheNightIsOver

She sang this at the "Broadway at Birdland" concert series, only a few days ago. She also sang lots of other songs there, accompanied by Stephen Schwartz, Scott Alan, and Jason Robert Brown. :)

And I agree: it DOES sound amazing in English :D

[WhenTheNightIsOver]

@maxi2310 Oh wow. Is the original audio on YouTube? And did she do Wizard and I in English?

[maxi2310]

@WhenTheNightIsOver

Yeah, you can find the original audio/video on the channel of wwwmusicalsnl , it's the newest uploaded video there...

Unfortunately, I think that's the only song from Wicked she sang there :(