[The Drama Queen]

I'm currently playing Coricopat in a community production of Cats, and we're unsure of the pronunciation of "vivat". We were originally saying it "vee-vaht" since it sounds Italian, but on the Broadway recording they say "vie-vat". Does anyone here know the correct way to say it?

[Rumblepurr]

I found this on a discussion forum:
http://lists.ansteorra.org/pipermail/ansteorra-ansteorra.org/1999-March/022136.html

"In classical Latin, the letters C and G are always hard, and V is pronounced as a W. In medieval Latin, C and G are soft if followed by E, I, or Y, and V is sounded like V. In medieval Latin, SC is sounded as SH."

And... "...be more correct than "vivat" [wee wut]..."

Hope this helps a little...
Rumblepurr
The Writer Cat

[Spikesters Munk]

Every video clip and production I've seen pronounces it vy-vaht

[Smudge]

The production I was in had a music director who was a stickler for pronunciation, so we pronounced it "Vee-vat" despite the way they always said it in the Broadway cast.

[Lady Jemima]

What exactly does "vivat" mean?

[Carbucketty]

[Moongewl]

I didn't know it was an English interjection--that's interesting. And it boils down to "Live long and prosper." Hehehehehehe.
Latin's pronunciation isn't all-important, because it's a dead language. For example, the correct Latin pronunciation of "Caesar" is more like "Kysar," not "See-zur." Most church Latin simply takes Italian rules(which bothers me, for no rational reason). However, since it's got an English meaning, I'd say go with "vie-vat," which is the pronunciation I've heard in every English version.

[demeter_cat2010]

In my production of Cats we prononced it "vy-vhat" xD