Oh, it was clear that she was not bothered by it, and felt it probably helped her relax before going on.
McMartin found more comedy in the role than any later Ben I've seen has found. He really found Ben's charm. I think his lighter, much less legit voice than the voice we've heard in some later Bens served the part well. Ben is always in denial about feeling tortured over the wrong choices he thinks he's made. The lighter voice made sense. Surely they could have cast someone with a more legit sound if that was what they wanted, although we know they had particular trouble casting Ben, with Jon Cypher quitting shortly before rehearsals started as he felt he was not up to the role's demands. I really don't understand why revivals have so often cast guys with heavy (at least as far as musicals go) voices.
And now this is really off-topic. |
