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re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer....

Posted by: perfectlyfrank 05:57 pm EDT 03/31/14
In reply to: re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer.... - sf 04:57 pm EDT 03/31/14

I agree with you. Certain roles lend themselves to actors who can sing rather than singers who can act. LES MIZ needs the latter in the leads. It is not the case with Desiree which was specifically written for a non-singing voice. Eliza, on the other hand, requires strong singing (or else why dubb Audrey Hepburn, right?)

Sally Bowles, at least in the original stage show, may have been able to get by with less singing chops but she does need to be able to sing. This revival adds songs written for Liza so this ups the ante vocally and thus the requirement for an actress who can sing.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be plenty of people willing to shell out big bucks to hear Williams in the role. Maybe she'll get a rave from the Times like Melanie Griffith did in CHICAGO for her musical artistry. I'll save my money and rent the film version instead.


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re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer....

Posted by: AlanScott 06:10 pm EDT 03/31/14
In reply to: re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer.... - perfectlyfrank 05:57 pm EDT 03/31/14

Yes, I do think that is a problem in this version. "Mein Herr" doesn't necessarily require a great voice, but you want a good voice for "Maybe This Time," which, IIRC, was not written for Minnelli but for Kaye Ballard.


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re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer....

Posted by: sf 06:06 pm EDT 03/31/14
In reply to: re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer.... - perfectlyfrank 05:57 pm EDT 03/31/14

Well, in this revival, last time around, the late, great Natasha Richardson *did* get raves from pretty much everybody, and she also got the additional songs from the movie, and as wonderful as she was (on CD, anyway - I didn't see her in this, although I did, when I was a teenager, see her in another musical), she didn't have much of a singing voice. The role - even the expanded role in this production - requires an actress who can put a number across. It does not necessarily require a great singing voice.


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re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer....

Posted by: perfectlyfrank 06:39 pm EDT 03/31/14
In reply to: re: So if Sally Bowles isn't supposed to be a good singer.... - sf 06:06 pm EDT 03/31/14

True. But there's a big gap between an actress who can sing and has the ability to put over a song and one who is lost in a musical. We shall see if Williams manages to put over the role as well as Richardson did. I have my doubts that she will receive the same notices in the role.

Then again, this is simply not what I personally look for when going to see a musical. And as good as Richardson may have been in the role, I'll still prefer seeing and hearing Liza actually belt out "Maybe This Time" and the title song. Just as I prefer to hear Ethel Merman or Patti LuPone belt out the score of GYPSY over Tyne Daly. John Raitt over Michael Hayden in CAROUSEL.

The songs are why I go to musicals. Otherwise, I'm just as happy seeing a play. Badly sung musicals do nothing for me, no matter how wonderfully acted they may be. All I remember is the bad singing, not the great acting.


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