h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm subbing your entry at A4157985, pop over and see if you like what I'm doing with it!

One point - pre-released cast recordings seem to be popular in France, especially for the musical 'le roi soleil' which is out on CD (along with two singles) at the moment, and has done well in the charts, but the actual performances don't begin until September... Just wondered if it was worth mentioning, but it's up to you.

Is that a concept recording, or a recording of the actual cast who will perform the musical? If it is different to the concept idea (I know that Notre Dame de Paris in France and Elisabeth in Germany had concept albums as well as stage cast albums), then perhaps we should add a paragraph about them, but I'm not sure what to call them...

David

I get the feeling that it's the actual cast - I've read interviews with the main male singer where he's saying he's rehearsing for the show etc. It's up to you if you want to write a paragraph about them for me to put in somewhere. They seem to be doing the same thing with a musical called 'Graal' too, although I don't know when that's on stage or anything.

http://www.musicactu.com/radio-actualites-radios/flash/44167-1/Le-Roi-Soleil.html - about le roi soleil but in French

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.musicactu.com/radio-actualites-radios/flash/44167-1/Le-Roi-Soleil.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522roi%2Bsoleil%2522%2Bmusical%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D - google translation of the previous site into English

Hmmm, maybe add a sentence or two to the end of the 'concept albums' section:

'Generally, concept albums feature singers who are unlikely to portray the roles on stage, but occasionally a recording featuring cast members will be released before a show hits the stage in order to drum up publicity for the production. This is a particularly popular marketing strategy in Europe.'

Is that OK? I think the site read better in French, but thanks for sending the translation link as well, as much French is rather rusty - it was interesting to read them side by side!

David

Yup, I'll add it to the entry.

Anything else you want changing while I'm at it? I've not had chance to run it through a spell-checker yet, that'll have to wait until I go home at the week end I'm afraid.

I'm not entirely happy with the first paragraph (I'm not very good at writing introductions!), so will have a quick think to see if there's anything I can come up with to improve it. Other than that, it looks fine!

David

Let me know when you've had your think - I'll let you know when I've done the final polishing and it's ready to go back. Shouldn't be too long

Have you thought of an improvement for the final paragraph, or can I send it back?

I haven't thought of one, no, so it must just be that I'm too critical of myself. So, yep, send it back to the editors. Thanks for subbing.

David

Ok, back it goes, look out for it on the front page!