| Crivello, Carven, Chioran, and McGillin (oh my!) | |
| Posted by: GabbyGerard 09:37 pm EST 12/20/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Some names that I haven’t yet seen mentioned - AlanScott 09:07 pm EST 12/20/18 | |
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| Crivello was the weak link for me in the original cast. His performance struck me as technically proficient, but devoid of true fire—both in terms of Valentin’s political fervor and in terms of the performer’s charisma. Mitchell, in addition to being wildly sexy and singing the score more beautifully than I ever imagined it would be sung, better captured both Valentin’s fierce dedication to his cause and his growing tenderness, even surprising love, for Molina. I saw Chioran’s Molina on tour and McGillin’s on the matinee of closing day. I found Carver, Chioran, and McGillin all to brilliant and exceptional in completely different ways. Carver’s vulnerability was heartbreaking. We came alive as he did, and were as surprised and as afraid by the risks his Molina took as he was. Chioran was also quite sexy and more of a chameleon. I had the sense that his Molina has been forced to learn how to “pass” in the years before he came out, and that his flamboyance was, in part, an act of defiance. McGillin—probably the best sung of the lot (vocally, the closing trio of the underrated Maria Conchita Alonso, McGillin, and Mitchell was probably my favorite)—was so damn debonair, I couldn’t shake the feeling that part of the tragedy of his Molina was that he was born in the wrong time and place. His elegance seemed a natural extension of the movies he would have so religiously studied. Though vulnerability did not come as naturally to him as Carver or Chioran and seemed a bit more put on, it eventually stopped bothering me because his entire life was a performance...until he found his courage and it didn’t have to be. Right before he and Valentin sleep together, Molina has a wonderful line of dialogue, saying that the wonderful part of being happy is that you never think you’ll be unhappy again. (Is that Puig? McNally? From the screenplay? If any experts know, I’d much appreciate it.) I found each actor’s delivery of the line almost to be a microcosm of his entire characterization. As he said it, Carver’s pathos was palpable; it was laden with a sense of sad recognition of the tragic ending’s inevitability. With Chioran, it was as seductive as it was appreciative—an invitation to Valentin as much as an expression of gratitude. With McGillin, it was like a piece of sad poetry that he was quoting because he finally understood it. With Chioran and McGillin, it was an empowering moment of claiming one’s space in the world; with Carver, it was a recognition of his sad fate. |
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| Previous: | re: Some names that I haven’t yet seen mentioned - AlanScott 09:07 pm EST 12/20/18 |
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