| Phylicia Rashad as The Witch. |
| Posted by: portenopete 11:45 am EST 11/19/22 |
| In reply to: What are folks' take on the original cast vs. replacements? - DistantDrumming 12:26 am EST 11/19/22 |
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I am guessing that Phylicia Rashad was brought in as a way to keep interest high in what was the top-billed role (although it is very much an ensemble show). She was at the height of her Cosby Show fame and presumably she did her three-month stint when the TV show was on hiatus.
I was not a Cosby fan so she wasn't an exciting replacement for me. I had bad luck with Bernadette as I saw Sunday in the Park just a week or so after she left. I finally got to see her in Gypsy, thank God, even though I remember Maureen Moore went on quite regularly in that.
My main memory of Rashad was her imprecise diction. I'm never a lover of sloppy consonants in any song (nor am I a lover of extreme and unnatural crispness) but in Sondheim and specifically in a song like The Witch's Rap, it was kind of lethal. She had great warmth and her vocal tone was beautiful, but if I hadn't listened to the OCR a thousand times I doubt I'd have been able to get much of what she was saying. |
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What are folks' take on the original cast vs. replacements? - DistantDrumming 12:26 am EST 11/19/22 |
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re: My take on INTO THE WOODS - theatreguy40 01:42 pm EST 11/18/22 |
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