I looked at the various clips on YouTube, which provide a close-up record of Grimes. NIce guy. Talented. Inventive. But, unlike Gregory Hines, there doesn't seem to be anything UNDER those performances. A gravitas or a darker persona, so necessary for Jelly's Last Jam, seems missing, which is why Gregory Hines was so astonishing. It wasn't just doing the steps and showing off athletic prowess that expresses the character like Hines did. As further proof of what I mean, I reference (again) Hugh Jackman's shallow performance in Music Man. He works hard, but it's all on the surface. In this case, Jackman actually seems to work against the book. His character is in the lines, but he subverts it to project an unswerving persona of a "nice guy." And that's not the point of the character and the character's development.
Jelly's Last Jam is actually a pretty dark show. Let's hope Jerry Zaks doesn't get his hands on it. |
