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re: The girls can't belt like the originals!

Posted by: theaterdude 11:55 am EDT 08/10/14
In reply to: re: The girls can't belt like the originals! - Alcindoro 10:28 am EDT 08/10/14

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but most people loved the belting that Alice and Emily did during Side Show. I've never heard anyone think of Alice and Emily in Side Show as an example of Belting They Hate. It was featured in nearly every number for a reason. In fact, Alice was hired for that very belt in nearly all the shows she's done, not her lyric soprano, which was never really the prettiest sound. She was one of those belters who could also handle the music requiring her to use her lyric soprano- but her strongest asset was always her belt. She wanted to let people know she was capable of singing songs like My White Knight, and recorded it on one of the Duets cd's, but the response was more of an appreciation that she could actually do it on top of everything else. An actress with a great belt who could also sing that way when necessary. It worked great in a duet, but listening to it alone was never something you could compare with a Rebecca Luker type soprano. (Just an example)
Also, Next to Normal is what killed her voice, which started declining in the Bway run. The national tour was the nail in the coffin.
Finally while many agree thatTunnel of Love was laughable, there are just as many who regard it as a guilty pleasure, some of whom have already been on this board wishing it hadn't been cut from the new version.


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re: The girls can't belt like the originals!

Posted by: chrisampm 06:18 pm EDT 08/10/14
In reply to: re: The girls can't belt like the originals! - theaterdude 11:55 am EDT 08/10/14

I feel no guilt in my admiration for Tunnel of Love. I thought it fulfilled the conceit of using Side Show attractions as sources for numbers, like vaudeville in Chicago et al. It was staged and lit with panache. And the over-the-top passionate singing was more thrilling than anything in that, or the new, production.


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re: The girls can't belt like the originals!

Posted by: Singapore/Fling 03:45 pm EDT 08/10/14
In reply to: re: The girls can't belt like the originals! - theaterdude 11:55 am EDT 08/10/14

Ripley's voice was going downhill long before "Next to Normal". Listen to her on the recording of "Little Fish", her voice is already shot. I was among those who were surprised that she was cast in "Next to Normal" in the first place, and even watching her in the Second Stage run was occasionally difficult.

I loved Skinner and Ripley in "Side Show", and I loved them on their Duets CD. But by the second volume of that series, Ripley's voice is getting that hard edge that will one day lead to her vocal blow-out, and Skinner's melodious tones (yes, I'm biased) are helping to even out their sound and keep them both on track.

Emily always seemed to have more control of her voice than Alice did (though, unfortunately, less control of her overall health), and she has kept her voice in shape. Ripley's voice now is a strange beast - I heard her recently in a new musical reading in which the songs made great use of the sounds she is able to make, and it was stunning. But her range and the material she can work with is limited.


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re: The girls can't belt like the originals!

Posted by: Alcindoro 03:01 pm EDT 08/10/14
In reply to: re: The girls can't belt like the originals! - theaterdude 11:55 am EDT 08/10/14

If you had read my post carefully, I was only referring to that one song as an example of "Belting I Hate", and not their contribution to the show as a whole, or even their work in other shows. I have been seeing her in shows and cabarets and special events ever since she came to NYC, and I particularly remember her as the Princess in the 1998 concert of Porter's JUBILEE, where she melted the polar ice caps with her luscious soprano. Then in the same season (I think) in Encores!' L'IL ABNER she chose to sing Daisy Mae in a high belt. It was very strange. The "White Knight" recording was done sometime after all this and clearly she was losing her grip on her soprano. She went where the money was, and it's her career to do with it as she sees fit. But I can't help regretting that Ripley has been horribly reckless with her voice. The results have sometimes been thrilling, but clearly took their toll not only on her "legit" voice but the voice as a whole. Her forays as a rocker haven't helped, either. I just think it's a crying shame.


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