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| re: I can, and I hope to see her | |
| Posted by: BillyG 05:30 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
| In reply to: I can, and I hope to see her - Ann 04:49 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| Yes, Betty is an actress, but she hardly exudes warmth or humor--especially if you've met her. I think she's wonderful in parts she's well cast in, but I cannot see her as Dolly AT ALL. She's got the wrong personality and temperament for it. |
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| re: I can, and I hope to see her | |
| Posted by: SCH 11:37 am EDT 05/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I can, and I hope to see her - BillyG 05:30 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| I've met her numerous times and she has always been quite gracious and personable. I've also seen her bring great warmth and charm to certain characters. I find her to be capable of not only portraying, but rather inhabiting myriad types of characters. She is a very talented actress. In fact, in cabaret and concert she becomes a completely different person for each and every song she sings, which is quite mesmerizing. | |
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| re: I can, and I hope to see her | |
| Posted by: bobby2 12:25 am EDT 05/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I can, and I hope to see her - BillyG 05:30 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| Under what circumstances did you meet her? Stage door? I've seen her be very nice to fans. | |
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| Weeeeeeeeeell, yes and no... | |
| Posted by: GabbyGerard 06:20 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I can, and I hope to see her - BillyG 05:30 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| On one hand, I can definitely see what you mean when you say that Betty “hardly exudes warmth and humor.” Her work onstage—and, of course, she will be onstage as Dolly—is often characterized by a chilliness and/or melancholy. These qualities are a crucial reason why many of her performances are so hauntingly indelible. On the other hand, to “mainstream” audiences, Betty is probably most recognized for two roles that exemplify warmth: Abby (the kind stepmother) on Eight Is Enough, and Miss Collins (the kind gym teacher) in DePalma’s 1976 adaptation of Carrie. Yes, as a theatre person, when I think Betty Buckley, I first think of her epic longing as Grizabella, her baroque vulnerability as Norma Desmond, her frightening intensity as Margaret White, and her heartbreaking tentativeness as Hesione. But to television and film audiences, she’s probably most remembered as a kindhearted mother figure. I don’t, however, know that there’s anything in Betty’s filmography or long list of stage credits that suggests she can pull off the broad sort of comedy that Dolly requires. The closest thing that comes to my mind is the short-lived revival of Dear World she headlined on the West End, which was...not a good fit. I love that Betty is headlining a big show. She’s big theatre talent and deserves opportunities to have productions built around her, especially where the material is genuinely good. I’m trying to keep an open mind and reserve judgement. I hope she will surprise me. |
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| re: Weeeeeeeeeell, yes and no... | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 10:41 am EDT 05/31/18 | |
| In reply to: Weeeeeeeeeell, yes and no... - GabbyGerard 06:20 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| I too am curious about what Buckley will bring to the role and am wondering if she'll be surrounded by a cast of names we know who might also give interesting, fun performances. Like others, I see that she doesn't seem like a natural fit for the role, but, as we saw with the original production and the endless tours that it spawned, this is a role that can stretch and accommodate a variety of talents from a whole spectrum of actresses. And, if we get a darker, more melancholy Dolly Levi here, I bet that Buckley and Zaks will make it work, possibly in a way that nobody expects. And, sometimes, brilliance can be achieved by taking something so familiar and spinning it in a completely new way. I really hope I can make a field trip to New Haven or Philadelphia to catch this. Or maybe, if the Broadway production has closed, Buckley's company can play a tour engagement in New York for a couple of weeks if there's a theatre available. I wonder if an actress of Buckley's stature had to audition. If so, I imagine that Zaks (and Rudin) saw something there that worked for them before hiring her. I just cannot imagine Rudin risking a national tour, even on someone with Buckley's resume, without seeing her. But, on the other hand, she is someone whose work they could be expected to know, so perhaps she's offer only. |
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| re: Weeeeeeeeeell, yes and no... | |
| Posted by: bobby2 11:34 pm EDT 05/31/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Weeeeeeeeeell, yes and no... - JereNYC 10:41 am EDT 05/31/18 | |
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| I think Betty, Patti, and Bernadette all auditioned for Woody Allen for Bullets over Broadway so maybe nobody is offer only nowadays. | |
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| Betty Buckley -- exuding warmth and humor | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 06:06 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I can, and I hope to see her - BillyG 05:30 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| "but she hardly exudes warmth or humor" I would say that she exuded warmth in roles like Martha Jefferson in 1776, Miss Collins in Carrie, Sondra in Frantic, and warmth and humor as Abby in Eight Is Enough. She's a versatile actress and has had a long and varied career. I suspect she will be up to the challenge as Dolly Levi. |
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| She's warm and human; she's not known as a skilled comedienne. My mind is still open. | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 11:41 am EDT 05/31/18 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 11:40 am EDT 05/31/18 | |
| In reply to: Betty Buckley -- exuding warmth and humor - BroadwayTonyJ 06:06 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| I was stunned by the choice, for this reason. I've seen every one of her NYC performances, and admired most of them. I've also seen her Rose, which was so dark, she literally started in the mindset of Rose's Turn. She was so poorly handled by the production's heavy humorlessness, the show was wildly off, a rarity with "Gypsy," certainly. She sang "Sunset" so gloriously, I mostly forgave her take on Norma, which once again, played the end. She started out defeated and mad, and had nowhere to go. One of the strengths of Close and later Elaine Paige was a kind of gleam in the eye. It's built in, and Swanson made the black comedy just delicious, as scary as it was. Buckley couldn't remove a patina of victimization from Norma, demonstrated from the first moment with the dead simian. Without that in act one, she's just a sad lady, more Havesham than Desmond. But she's become if anything warmer. In the M. Night Shamalian film opposite James Macavoy, she was quite wonderful. As his almost codependent therapist, her humanity infused the film. I saw about 40 minutes of if again recently on cable, and pictured her Dolly. She will likely compensate for not being inherently comical by being a winning sort of grandmotherly businesswoman who cajoles rather than steamrolls. It's the Zaks staging, and I've no doubt that she'll land some of the Shirley Booth "Matchmaker" performance (she says she's already watched it, as Peters and Midler did). Many of us have talked about the comic demands of the part, that they are a cornerstone. But maybe the Zaks staging will serve and Buckley will just bring what she does along for the ride. Certainly her "Parade" should be as full-throttle emotional -- and stunningly sung (the voice is still great) -- as any Dolly, ever. Now, if they can keep her from playing it at the top. |
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| re: She's warm and human; she's not known as a skilled comedienne. My mind is still open. | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 04:25 pm EDT 05/31/18 | |
| In reply to: She's warm and human; she's not known as a skilled comedienne. My mind is still open. - Delvino 11:40 am EDT 05/31/18 | |
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| My assumption is that Buckley would play it more like Shirley Booth did. | |
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| re: I can, and I hope to see her | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 05:43 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
| In reply to: re: I can, and I hope to see her - BillyG 05:30 pm EDT 05/30/18 | |
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| Like you said, she's an actress. She is good enough to play this not that challenging role. | |
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