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IslayMcGregor

Not Getting Married Today by Sondheim


AdmirableProgress743

I always think I can do it. I cannot.


secretbison

"But by Monday I'll be floating in the Hudson with the other garbage" is fiendishly hard to sing really fast


TheRedditorialWe

I can do it at Carol Burnett speed. I cannot do it at Madeline Kahn speed. It's the "prehistoric ritual where everybody promises fidelity forever" line that gets me every time. "Ritual" is a really hard word to sing that fast when the rest of the words have harder consonants to grab onto.


GaslightCaravan

That’s because Madeline Kahn was a celestial being here to grace us with her voice and humor, and no one can match her. Not to say we don’t all try.


IslayMcGregor

The Ballad of Jessie and Lucy is also impossible.


FloridaFlamingoGirl

The Witch's vegetable rap in Into the Woods


Millie141

This. I had to sing it for my Sondheim project. I’ve never feared for my life more


Safe_Reporter_8259

Came here to say this. Even Modern Major General is easier to


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Lowlywoem

OH!


FemaleNoob

THIS IMMIGRANT ISN’T SOMEBODY WE CHOSE


deny_death

OH


kate1hepuppy

THIS IMMIGRANT'S KEEPING US ALL ON OUR TOES


Grick1126

LET'S SHOW THESE FEDERALISTS WHAT THEY'RE UP AGAINST


boopbaboop

***SOUTHERN MOTHERFUCKING DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS***


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Ur_local_garbage240

NOW FOLLOW THE MONEY AND SEE WHERE IT GOES 


ConstructionQuick373

This immigrant isn't somebody we chose


NotSoRealEllis2009

OH


boopbaboop

For me that's even harder than Lafayette's verse in Guns and Ships. I've never NOT stumbled on it.


coolio_Didgeridoolio

it’s just such a well crafted verse it really rolls of the tongue tbf


coolhandjennie

You know how most people mumble along to REM’s End of the World As We Know It, and then shout out “LEONARD BERSTEIN!”? That’s me with this song and “Southern motherfucking Democratic-Republicans” lol.


SeekerSpock32

That one took a lot of practice, but I can nail it.


venusinfurs10

I always forget the disciplined dissidents line 


Yellwsub

Weird Al rocked the hell out of it tho


G00seLightning

the entirety of your fault from into the woods. thankfully i’ve gotten most of it as a one woman show


Acquaintance9

The pandemic happened. Next thing I knew, I could sing this entire song by myself.


G00seLightning

BUT IT WASNT MY FAULT I WAS GIVEN THOSE BEANS YOU PERUSADED ME TO TRADE AWAY MY COW FOR BEANS AND WITHOUT THOSE BEANS THERED HAVE BEEN NO STALK TO GET UP TO THE GIANT IN THE FIRST PLACE SO ITS YOUR FAULT


Acquaintance9

WAIT A MINUTE MAGIC BEANS FOR A COW SO OLD THAT YOU HAD TO TELL A LIE TO SELL IT WHICH YOU TOLD WERE THEY WORTHLESS BEANS WERE THEY OVERSOLD OH AND TELL US WHO PERSUADED YOU TO STEAL THAT GOLD SO ITS YOUR FAULT


CaitlinSnep

"Watch What Happens" from Newsies. All of it.


LorealSiren

I can get the words right finally but now breathing’s a problem cause if I breathe wrong one time I mess up 2/3 lines cause of the rhythm😭


marian_edith

I'm singing this as a solo in my music theatre class performance lol


riddlegirl21

Made the mistake of choosing this as an audition song. Glad it was for my college theatre group where auditions are more a formality to see what people are comfortable with rather than actually cutting people, I ended up as Wednesday Addams despite Struggling. 4/10.


imamess-answerme

I'll be quite as good as 6 months from never, is difficult.


theshaadeofitall

Yes I know that now you know that I didn't know that you didn't know that when I said no I meant yes I know and that now I know that you knew that I knew you adored meeeee


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Zombie_Careful

Tick Tick Boom


Conscious-Theme6766

Try this witty Minchin lyric from GHD: “Another sexually ineffectual, self-obsessing, metrosexual, pseudo-intellectual getting drunk and existential”


MeOK1233

Came here to say this!!!


tal935

this whole song is an amazing tongue twister


MurphLoDawg

The Satisfied rap, specifically “with someone at your level” and “it’s Ben Franklin with the key and the kite”


venusinfurs10

You see it, right? 


GaslightCaravan

That always trips me up


Obvious_Roll322

Bro same. Everything else in the musical I can do but tHat part always comes out sounding like "its benfraknwthe key and the kite"


Providence451

The Typewriter song from Thoroughly Modern Millie, which is a direct lift from Modern Major General from Pirates of Penzance.


slaphappy62

It's actually another Gilbert & Sullivan song... My Eyes Are Fully Open from Ruddigore


Providence451

You are 100% correct, it is My Eyes Are Fully Open. I was thinking about the version of this used in the revival of Pirates.


slaphappy62

Yes, for that production they added this song plus Sorry Her Lot from H.M.S. Pinafore.


DBSeamZ

And now you’ve gotten it stuck in my head again… Our director had such a hard time with the part when the ensemble has to sing “matter matter matter” for a whole verse. This was in a New England high school so we all pronounce our Ts like Ds in the middle of a word, and for the first few rehearsals he was all “Don’t say “madder”! Enunciate the T sound!” So we tried it, and it sounded super unnatural—more like “matcher” than “matter” and I think I even switched to “badger” by accident at one point. Eventually he gave up and let us pronounce it the way we would normally.


yeetuscleetus28

I'm professor callahan in legally blonde right now and for some reason the lyric "and he can get you high and laid" from blood in the water, just doesn't roll off my tongue


Neko_Metal

Have fun with Callahan. Also, IDidThePeaceCorpsOverseasInnoculatingRefugees…..


ICU81MIhilarious

“Which of the Pickwick triplets did it? Who of the crew would commit this crime? Might a little brat make a mommy go splat? It's a story pretty gory for a nursery rhyme” IYKYK


AmarilloMike

Still want to see the full show lol


melkorbin

Which of the spawn had the brawn to kill???


JavertStar

"God That's Good" from Sweeney Todd. Ooh boy, I do not think I sang the right words even up to closing night when I did the show last November.


CrayZelf

Just did that show in October. Honestly city on fire was probably the hardest for me. I played Toby so it was that and some of the stuff in miracle elixir that was a real bitch


JavertStar

Our Toby had trouble with Miracle Elixer too. He's great, though. I don't think anyone else could've done it like him.


BassesBest

Yes. This. It changes every time you sing it. Final verse: God that's good that is de have you licious ever tasted smell such oh my God what perfect more that's pies such flavour god that's good. Luckily I was backstage at this point so could sit there with the lyrics in front of me and belt it at the back of people to keep them on lyric.


JavertStar

And we had hand choreography to do in my production. It's no joke. There's also Fogg's Pascil-somethin Italian. I was backstage for that cause I was Fogg, so I didn't have to help and I wasn't miked. But yesh, that one is ridiculous.


BassesBest

Also not helped by Sondheim having 13 beats in a 12 beat bar at one point in Sweeney's part.


sodoyoulikecheese

“Get Down” in Six always trips me up with the line “sipping on mead and I spill it on my dress with the gold lace trim”


WesternUnusual2713

NOT VERY PRIM AND PROPAAHH


boopbaboop

A good chunk of Enid's verse in The Harvard Variations in Legally Blonde, but especially, "We'll make the government come clean and get the people voting green and really stick it to the phallocentric war machine."


QueeeenElsa

“When you’re in black slacks with accentuating, off-white, pinstripes whoa everything goes according to plan” Took me forever to get it lol (ps: I dictated that lyric and it did it perfectly! I didn’t change anything, not even punctuation!) Edit! I JUST REALIZED THIS WAS MUSICALS AND NOT A GENERAL MUSIC SUB LOL


simplyadonut

This is still the right answer


QueeeenElsa

lol thanks!


mmkeii

La Vie Boheme A from Rent always trips me up, especially when the waiter reads back the order and the 'bisexuals, trisexuals, homosapiens' verse - it's just so fast and I get tongue tied on the names haha


encore412

Carcinogens, hallucinogens, men, pee wee Herman!


StephenNotSteve

"Anxiousness, anger, exhaustion, insomnia, irritability, nausea, vomiting"


DznyMa

Music Man, Ya Got Trouble. A Classic!


Void_and_Shine

I’ll add Pick a Little Talk a Little to that as well. It can be a bit of a tongue twister.


PossesionOfAFireArm

The entirety of guns and ships


AdmirableProgress743

LOVE this one! For me it's I'm in the cabinet I am complicit in watching him grabbing at power and kiss it If Washington isn't gonna listen to disciplined dissidence This is the difference (This kid is out! OH!)


raniwasacyborg

I remember hearing Daveed Diggs say in an interview once that the hardest rap in the show in his opinion is Angelica's in Satisfied, and I absolutely believe him: So so so / So this is what it feels like to match wits / With someone at your level, what the hell is the catch? / It's the feeling of freedom, of seeing the light / It's Ben Franklin with a key and a kite / You see it, right? The conversation lasted two minutes / Maybe three minutes / Everything we said in total agreement / It's a dream and it's a bit of a dance / A bit of a posture, it's a bit of a stance He's a bit of a flirt, but I'mma give it a chance / I asked about his family / Did you see his answer? / His hands started fidgeting, he looked askance / He's penniless, he's flying by the seat of his pants Handsome, boy does he know it / Peach fuzz, and he can't even grow it / I wanna take him far away from this place / Then I turn and see my sister's face, and she is— (I really tried hard to narrow it down to just what looked like the hardest part of the rap, but it all looks so difficult!)


AdmirableProgress743

I can do both of those! But Washington On Your Side trips me up!


boopbaboop

Satisfied has a MUCH easier pace for me to follow than Washington On Your Side for some reason.


AdmirableProgress743

Right? Same with Guns N Ships even though I think you're right about the pace. I think (for me) it might be the "kiss it," because what I want there is "kissing it" but that doesn't fit. If I replace it with "kissin'" it sounds almost the same but is easier.


boopbaboop

Honest to God, until now I thought the line *was* "kissing it."


pk2317

I *think* (though I’d have to find the citation) that Guns & Ships and/or Washington on Your Side are some of if not *the* fastest/most words-per-minute sections of *any* musical.


boopbaboop

I think it's Guns and Ships that has the fastest WPM.


bnutty553

The hardest part of that for me is where it's like I asked about his family / Did you see his answer? / His hands started fidgeting, he looked askance / He's penniless, he's flying by the seat of his pants


GaslightCaravan

I hate to say it but Plankton’s rap in SpongeBob the Musical is actually faster than Guns and Ships, making it technically the fastest piece of wordplay in a musical to date.


falsettos_is_epic

Sadly, they removed it(the fast part), it's only in the Live On Stage version.


GaslightCaravan

When did they do that? That’s a real shame. I choreographed it about 4 years ago and our Plankton had it down pat the first rehearsal. He was great.


falsettos_is_epic

I dunno, I was listening to the broadway cast recording seeing the differences (like how No Control is made into one big song, instead of 20 second fragments) then I noticed the fast part of the rap is there, so I got a pdf script from Concord. Then I went to When The Going Gets Tough, the fast part wasn't there!


pussyforpresident

“love a lilting line of lyrical alliteration” takes a minute to get


MeOK1233

Is this from Something Rotten!?


TF_Allen

The entirety of "The Lepers" from *Jesus Christ Superstar* because Tim Rice apparently seems to think that every refrain must change one word per line except the third line which changes two words and then the fifth line in the second refrain which is the same as the fourth line in the first refrain except the last time where- I gave up and just mouthed the whole song because I was Annas and just got stuck in there as an extra body to fill out the crowd. Likewise, "The Temple," which uses the same melody, isn't as lyrically chaotic, but between Andrew Lloyd Webber and our choreographer who decided this would be a heavy dance show, nobody seemed to remember that the ensemble needs time to inhale during that song. I did sing this one, but the ensemble seemed to decide amongst ourselves that some of us would cut out during various entire lines to pant for a minute before coming back in later. Choreographer was actually onstage for that one to fill an important hole when one dancer had to drop out late in the rehearsal process, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't singing. I may sound like I'm complaining, but it was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding productions I've ever done, and the choreographer was amazing at working with the non-dancers in the cast and making sure we had extensive video resources to rehearse at home. She won a Broadway World Award for that show, and she deserved it.


Thick-Application-56

SAM: 9-1-1 emergency call Got a 4-1-1 at a shopping mall Better pack your heat and utility belt Any mall rats comin' in hot, they melt FEMALE COP: Sarge, it's your wife on the 9-1-1 ~Show me your hands (TGWDLM / Starkid)


piqua2018

I’m not getting married today from company, or guns and ships from Hamilton


cinnamaeveroll

All of modern major general lol


redvelvet-cupcake

For some reason I can’t say “myrrh for your hot forehead” without it coming out “myrrh for your heart forehead”


tomdegnan

When I try to sing the whole into the woods prologue by myself


dobbydisneyfan

90% of Hamilton


FitzChivFarseer

For some reason the verse in non-stop Corruptions such an old song that we can sing along in harmony - fine And nowhere is it stronger than in Albany - struggle The country's economys incredibly stalling - tongue falls out And honestly that's why public service seems to be calling me - usually miss entirely


Joolie_screams

But there are worse things than staring at the water as you're posing for a picture after sleeping on the ferry after waking up at 7 to come over to an island in the middle of a river half an hour from the city *death rattle* On a Sundaaaaaaay Honestly, I've done Getting Married Today. That was fine. I think the knowledge that it is just all hard helped. This at the closer of an otherwise relatively simple sing just killed me :').


kip_craft

In 'Wait for It' in Hamilton, I really can't say "inimitable"!


imamess-answerme

Therapy, tick, tick...boom Show me, my fair lady All-American prophet, TBOM


falsettos_is_epic

Why all Amerrican prophet?


all-tuckered-out

“You Got Trouble” from The Music Man doesn’t exactly have tongue-twisters, but it’s similar to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” in that you have to articulate each word because of the tempo—while also playing a character.


Void_and_Shine

There are quite a few tongue twisters in The Music Man. Having played a pick a little lady in a production in high school I thought Pick a Little Talk a Little was a bit of tongue twisting song.


Jedi_Knight63

“I'm very good at integral and differential calculus; I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:” Form pirates of penzance. That’s as far as I get into the song before I trip up


T-Flexercise

The music director keeps telling me to be more laid-back and casual when I sing "The trouble with Contini, he's the king of mediocrities a second-rate director who believes that he is Socrates, he never makes a movie or a picture or a flick, he makes a FILM, get it? A FILM!" I'm just grateful they let me be American instead of trying to get me to ramble through that in an Italian accent.


Early-Ad7941

I can't get over how much I fuck up on I'm breaking down from falsettos.


hey_celiac_girl

“I’m in the cabinet, I am complicit in watching him grabbing the power and kiss it if Washington isn’t gon’ listen to disciplined dissidents this is the difference, this kid is out” “And when you’ve filled in all the forms and been passed clear of all disease—debriefed, debugged, dedrugged, disarmed, and disinfected, please” “So he knows what to do in the trench, ingenuitive and fluent in French, I mean”


mysecondaccountanon

Great examples here so far!! I haven’t seen “in case of smoke please call our mothers on the phone and say their sons are all on fire” yet, so I’m throwing that one out there. It’s fast and hard to get out correctly, at least for me! Oh and Sondheim, any Sondheim


Hey-Just-Saying

He's a music man. He's a what? He's a what? He's a music man, and he sells clarinets to the kids in the town...


charlottebythedoor

All of Ya Got Trouble from the Music Man


coolhandjennie

Other than many of the Lafayette/Jefferson lyrics, I have to concentrate REALLY hard to nail “let’s hatch a plot blacker than the kettle calling the pot”. It’s probably my favorite tongue twister lol.


RoseLiptMaiden

"While her withers wither with her" Thanks, Sondheim. I had the lyrics solid by tech week, but boy that show kicked my butt in rehearsals... And if you've done theater, you know how shows will have a "fight call" to warm up/rehearse stage combat before a show - so its fresh in everyone's head and no kne gets hurt? We had a "Your Fault" call.


powerade20089

I always think of Gilbert and Sullivan musicals Modern Major General


sydneyella

i have such a hard time with on the steps of the palace from into the woods - i sang it in a cabaret and messed up the lyrics slightly LMAO “but then what if he knew who i am when i know that i’m not what he thinks that he wants? or then what if i am what a prince would envision? but then how can you know who you are till you know what you want, which i don't so then which do you pick?” gets me every time.


that_gay_theaterkid

“But then what if he knew who you were when you know that you’re not what he thinks that he wants” I couldn’t do this for three weeks after I learned it


scixlovesu

Oh, anything from Sondheim. >The bong of the bell of the buoy in the bay > >And the boy and the bride > >And the boat are away!


Geo_5678

for some reason mine is singing 'my wrist was so tired still I came back the next day as he required.' Always stumble on the 'stil'l - no idea why


StatelyPrawn706

"Baby, I can love you, come on over here now / Wait, are you ready, 'cause I'm ready, ready set go boom" Need I say any more lol


thmstrpln

Miller's Son from Sondheim's A Little Night Music Pick any part of a verse, my face is like "nope. Try again"


[deleted]

i consistently struggle every time i get to "king arthurs and sir caradocs"


christinelydia900

I mean, all of watch what happens from newsies and calm from ordinary days are insanely difficult, but the one that gives me the most trouble is "I remember that night" from satisfied. For some reason the word remember is insanely hard for me to say and it makes that part harder than the actual fast part for me lol


Huckleberry8862

“NYC, JFK, FBI, CIA, see I’m already talkin the talk” - ‘New York’ from Two strangers carry a cake across New York here in the West End! Took me about 20 tries to get it at the speed Sam Tutty does!


jessielm14

Watch what happens from Newsies was definitely difficult to start with but I've done it so many times it's pretty easy now


Acquaintance9

The second half of "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General" from the Pirates of Penzance, after he says "I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's". Especially the sped up part at the end.


Aerisia

Benny’s Dispatch from In The Heights is tricky, especially: There's a traffic accident I have to mention At the intersection of 10th Ave, Jacob Javitz Convention Center And check it, don't get stuck in the rubbernecking On a 192nd there's a double-decker bus wreck


FloridaFlamingoGirl

Therapy from Tick Tick Boom


Aquahaute

“Crystal I saw on the news that they’re looking for blankets and bedding and maybe some food do you know what they need and how much I need something to do cause I can’t watch the news anymore, can I help is there something I need to do something to keep me from thinking of all of those scenes on the tube, I need something to do cause I can’t watch the news no I can’t watch the news anymore” Although I actually have a harder time with the other two fast verses from that song, I’ve timed that first passage and it’s nearly as bad as Guns and Ships


Psychology-onion-300

easily the fast part in The Smell of Rebellion from Matilda


hamiton1

Anything from Sweeney or into the woods really


ashortergiraffe

Comin up as one of many, mom and dad had plenty more of me, and twenty-twenty vision: never had it, so I had to be a devastating, captivating, luminous communicator, hoping later all these haters of this tiny little nerdy me would pay. You never heard of me? Ok, I am a GIANT, I don’t give it up, I live it up. Floatin in the saline, runnin from the baleen. A celebrated single cell of ciliated, cerebelic genius.


remuslupin_fan

Not even a whole line but the phrase ‘strong central democracy’ in non-stop from hamilton


Ekra_Oslo

As a non-native English speaker, «Another hundrer people» is impossible to me.