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| re: Close was electric in LA | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 10:25 am EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: Close was electric in LA - bobby2 09:54 pm EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| Thanks for sharing. I had nearly forgotten that I had tickets to see Close in LA but my trip was thwarted by the earthquake in 1994. Perhaps if I had seen her there my feelings would be different. And to be fair LuPone is my favorite musical theatre diva so she was going to be a touh act to follow for me. By the way I have no investment at all in this whole idea that Close stole the role from LuPone. I just simply want to hear a bigger voice sing the score. But by many accounts, including your above, Close was quite special live, and I don't doubt it. | |
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| re: Close was electric in LA | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 10:44 am EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Close was electric in LA - EvFoDr 10:25 am EDT 08/27/19 | |
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| What sometimes gets overlooked in this LuPone v. Close conversation is that Close was playing a different version of the show than LuPone ever got to do. The show was revised for LA and those revisions did not go into the London production until Buckley took over from LuPone. So I've always wondered if LuPone was handicapped from the start by having to play an inferior version of the piece. Or, to invert that thought, was Close's performance always going to be superior because she was starting with a better version of the material? I have friends who saw the show in London and loved Patti for exactly the reason you state...that the role really works with a big voice. But I'd also heard that LuPone's best performances as Norma were at the tail end of her run, in the immediate aftermath of finding out that she'd been replaced for New York. So maybe LuPone just didn't find that extra "IT" factor in the role until it was too late. In any case, I've never understood the, apparently since buried, animosity that LuPone had for Close. Close didn't hire herself for the role. She was a actress who was offered a job and decided to take it. If she'd declined, there's still no guarantee that Andrew Lloyd Webber, et al would have brought LuPone to New York in the role if they were unhappy with her performance in some way. Although, I wonder if LuPone, given the revised material and, perhaps, some different direction from Trevor Nunn, based on his experience with Close in LA, would have been able to revise her performance in such a way that she would have gotten the acclaim that Close did. |
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| re: Close was electric in LA | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 12:59 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Close was electric in LA - JereNYC 10:44 am EDT 08/27/19 | |
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| What a tantalizing notion that LuPone could have improved in the new production! Although weren't most of the changes not related to the core Norma material, aside from whatever adjustments were made for Close's vocal abilities? Like, does the addition of Every Movie's a Circus (a horrible song in my opinion) for the ensemble make the show better and improve the Norma experience? I think you have to take LuPone's animosity with a grain of salt. It's not rational, but her thinking was no doubt clouded by the anger and sadness she felt being from being fired. You'll notice if you read her book that she holds (or held) a lot of grudges. And this it the theatre and people are dramatic. I suppose there is a world in which LuPone could have been terribly rational and said: well of course Glenn Close was just taking a job she was offered, I can see beyond my own situation and acknowledge that. But that would have been awfully clear headed. Maybe unrealistically so. |
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| re: Close was electric in LA | |
| Last Edit: JereNYC 01:39 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 01:39 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Close was electric in LA - EvFoDr 12:59 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
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| I'm actually not familiar enough with the material to know exactly what the changes were for LA. But, even if all the Norma material was identical or nearly so, the fact that the show played better in the revised version (as per the creatives who, of course, thought it did) would have likely reflected on Close and every other aspect of the production. Is it better to be the one bright spot in a terrible show or the shiniest bright spot in a good show? | |
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