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| re: Brian d'Arcy James | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 08:38 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Brian d'Arcy James - AlanScott 11:11 pm EDT 04/06/18 | |
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| Yes, thanks, I remembered most of that. But I guess you and I disagree as to whether or not Brian would have been right for Billy. Of course we will never know, not having seen him play the role, but it seems to me he would have been almost perfect for it at that time. Can I ask in what way you think he wouldn't have been right for the part? | |
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| re: Brian d'Arcy James | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 10:40 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Brian d'Arcy James - Michael_Portantiere 08:38 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
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| I'm tempted to plead the fifth, but that perhaps sounds worse. I just never saw him as having had looks that would make the local ladies swoon. And he doesn't seem physically intimidating in any way. I'm not saying he couldn't make up for these things. Hayden made up for the latter to some degree, as I presume Burgess Meredith did when he won high praise for playing Liliom and as Charles Boyer certainly does in the Lang film of Liliom. But perhaps the text of the musical ups the need for an actor who is both very good looking and has a physicality that looks like people would be a bit afraid (or a lot afraid) to get on his bad side. Anyway, I do think that James could have made up for the latter but not so much for the former. I'm not saying he's unattractive, but I also don't see him as having the exceptional good looks that Billy should have. If he had played the role, perhaps I would have felt that he pulled it off. But he hardly seems ideal or a natural for it to me. |
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| re: Brian d'Arcy James | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 11:47 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Brian d'Arcy James - AlanScott 10:40 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
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| Thanks. I guess we disagree that he didn't have the looks for it, but of course that's tremendously subjective :-) And yes, as for being physically imposing in terms of brawn, I would say Hayden was pretty much the same in that regard, although maybe a bit taller? All I know is that a few years after CAROUSEL, when Brian was coming into his own as a performer (in TITANIC) and I realized that he had been in the ensemble of CAROUSEL, I thought it was unfortunate that he hadn't been tapped to play Billy. | |
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