Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Comedic timing | |
| Posted by: bobby2 11:31 pm EDT 06/19/18 | |
| In reply to: Did anyone ever come close to Joanna Gleason as the Baker's Wife? - bobby2 01:00 am EDT 06/19/18 | |
|
|
|
| Thanks for all the interesting responses. One thing I'd say that made Gleason so unique is her comic abilities. Funny how many people miss this in their performances. I felt the same way about Norma Desmond. Glenn Close got laughs. Many others in the role didn't. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Comedic timing | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:02 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: Comedic timing - bobby2 11:31 pm EDT 06/19/18 | |
|
|
|
| Well, I think "comic abilities" is the important phrase. Not everyone has them to the degree that Gleason does, and the role was built on her. It's not that people who play the role don't realize that it's nice to get laughs in the role, which is what it sounds like you mean when you write that people "miss this in their performances." I'm not sure if that's what you intended. One thing that I can tell you is that all those laughs didn't come overnight for Gleason. She worked through weeks of previews to find them, and she'd already played the role at the Old Globe. Admittedly, changes were being made during the Old Globe run, and what started previews at the Martin Beck had significant differences from what had played at the Old Globe, and then lots of changes were made during previews. Still, a fair amount remained fairly consistent for her, and she nonetheless had to keep working to find all those laughs. I think it's perhaps impossible to expect another actress with a few weeks of rehearsal and then a run of just a few weeks altogether, as in most productions of the show. to get those laughs. I'm sure that some actresses playing the role find it a strain to know that they are going to compared with Gleason, the actress on whom the role was made, and that they will be found wanting if they don't get all those laughs. Should they imitate her? That's rarely a good idea. Some will be happy to watch her and learn what they can while also trying to avoid directly imitating her, while others will simply not want to watch her at all, and I can understand both choices. For one thing, if you know that you're failing to get the laughs she got, it's probably going to affect your confidence. So it can be better to just not know where she got laughs. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Comedic timing | |
| Posted by: bobby2 02:27 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Comedic timing - AlanScott 02:02 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
|
|
|
| I just meant in general not specifically as The Baker's Wife, some people in musical theater fail to get the laughs. It was called musical comedy at first after all. I was just trying to praise Gleason as somebody who had the ability to be funny. (sort of like how I remember Glenn Close getting huge laughs in Sunset Blvd. on the part when she presents her Salome screenplay to him and he asks "how old is this character?" and she says 16. Close brought the house down with her delivery of that line while I've seen others get nothing. BTW how was Cynthia Sikes in Into the Woods? I was a big St. Elsewhere watcher as a kid. |
|
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
| re: Comedic timing | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 02:46 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Comedic timing - bobby2 02:27 am EDT 06/20/18 | |
|
|
|
| I'm sorry to say that Sikes was overall the weakest of the women I saw as the Baker's Wife in the original production and the tour. She got by, but she seemed to be kind of pushing for laughs, and not really getting them. It seemed like she must have seen Gleason several times as she often seemed to be imitating her, but to much less effect. I couldn't help but wonder how much Lapine worked with her. It seemed to me that with the right help, she could have been better, but perhaps he did give her good guidance and it didn't help enough. Still, she was passable. and she had presence (whatever that really means). | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message |
Time to render: 0.015320 seconds.