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The RUSH-based soundtrack to Stephen Hawking's life


oghond2112
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Stephen Hawking died today.

 

Immediately thought of Cygnus X-1.

 

Any other RUSH songs that would fit Hawking's life and struggles with ALS?

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I have another suggestion. Imagine this:

 

You are Stephen Hawking.

You have been diagnosed with ALS.

You are told you have only two years to live.

 

What do you do?

 

You decide to make the most of your life now, not knowing you'll live for about 5 more decades and go against all doctors.

 

In other words, you'd be thinking:

"I want to look at life

"In the available light..."

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...I am now seriously considering a Theory of Everything-based musical. Sounds crazy, I know. A ton of questions are going through my mind, and admittedly, this would work MUCH better as a play than a musical, even though many of the RUSH songs used here are NOT hits and are extremely emotional songs. The biggest question, of course, is: how can the actor playing Stephen Hawking sing about his problems with ALS and pneumonia if ALS and pneumonia left him unable to sing? Well, I have a bit of an idea. I don't know if this is offensive, and I apologize if it is, but here goes.

 

For the entire first part of the show, from "Cygnus X-1" all the way up to "Available Light" (after Hawking gets the ALS diagnosis), whoever is playing Stephen Hawking (preferably, Eddie Redmayne himself) will be on stage, bursting into songs about black holes, galaxies, light and so on.

 

Then he will be hit with ALS and start to lose his ability to speak. And here's where things get crazy.

 

Normally, people would be thinking, "This is why 'The Theory of Everything' will work better as a play. If you have Stephen Hawking singing RUSH songs about his problems, no one will take this show seriously. Especially since he is losing his ability to speak and, therefore, sing."

 

Except for one thing. The song he sings when he starts losing his ability to speak is (what else?) "Losing It." But by that point, Eddie Redmayne will not be playing Hawking anymore. It will be another actor who is in that wheelchair, and he will not be the one singing "Losing It" because no one will be able to understand him.

 

So, how can he sing "Losing It"?

 

Simple: Redmayne's not playing Hawking, yet at the same time, he is.

 

While the new Hawking actor sits in a wheelchair and types words, Redmayne will be the walking, talking personification of Hawking's subconcious.

 

Every single song that is performed by Hawking as a solo, among them "Bravado," from that point on will have the first line be sung by the actual actor playing Hawking in the wheelchair, before Redmayne steps on stage. For "Bravado," for instance, the music will start and you will hear the famous voice of Hawking utter the words "If we burn our wings, flying too close to the sun."

 

Then in walks Redmayne, who will sing that line, and perform the entire song while the words are typed on Hawking's computer. From this point on, Hawking's musical numbers are no longer "bursting into song on a whim." They are his thoughts. They are what he wishes he could sing, because he can't actually sing them, per ce. All this information will be relayed at the beginning of the show so that no one in the audience will be confused when Hawking sits at his computer and "sings" the first line of "Bravado," then all of a sudden they see Eddie Redmayne walk out on stage and sing the rest of the song ("WHY ARE THERE TWO STEPHEN HAWKINGS?! THIS IS SACRILEDGE!" etc.).

 

Like I said, "The Theory of Everything" would work way better as a play than a musical, but even then the musical could be dramatic because of songs like "Bravado," "Losing It," "Available Light," and "How It Is." All of which are EXTREMELY sad RUSH songs. Besides, I have not heard of ANY musical ever where a person's subconcious is personified. Besides, let's face it: Stephen Hawking's personified mind singing RUSH songs? Stephen Hawking singing RUSH songs, period? That would have been AWESOME.

 

RIP Stephen Hawking. May you live on among the stars. By the way, this is The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne (who can sing- and sing WELL) as Hawking: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Everything_(2014_film)

Edited by oghond2112
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