| Memories of Linda Balgord (and Sondheim, and Webber, and Boublil and Schonberg, oh my) (long) | |
| Last Edit: DanielVincent 10:53 pm EST 03/06/24 | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 10:39 pm EST 03/06/24 | |
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| I wonder how many other performers can make the claim that they opened original productions of musicals by Stephen Sondheim (Passion), Andrew Lloyd Webber (the first national tour of Sunset Blvd.), and Boublil and Schonberg (The Pirate Queen). What an amazing testament to Balgord's singular talent. I always felt she was one big break away from becoming a major theatre star. I first encountered Balgord when she was on as Fosca at the performance of Passion I attended. I was just a little drama kid who didn't live in the city and was crestfallen to discover that, on one of my few annual trips into NYC, the acclaimed leading lady of the new musical I was seeing was out. Although I would later discover and cherish Donna Murphy's performance thanks to PBS, Balgord won me over in SECONDS. Her intensity was palpable from the first steps she took onstage. When she sang "I Read," my jaw dropped. I had never heard a voice like hers--and I perhaps still haven't. It was impossible to tell where her chest voice ended and her head voice began. Her Fosca was haughtier than Murphy's and even had a touch of entitlement, but was no less vulnerable. I remember her wide vibrato reverberating throughout the house when, in "I Wish I Could Forget You," she sang, "For now I'm seeing LOOOOOOOVE." It was the first time I had ever seen an understudy go on in a principal role, and Balgord FOREVER changed the way I feel when I walk into a theater and see that understudy board. I learned just how exquisite a cover can be. Because I was such an obsessive little adolescent, and because she had made such an impression on me, I suspect I was one of the ONLY people who was ecstatic when it was announced she (rather than any of the celebrities people were gossiping about) would open the first national tour of Sunset Blvd. The uniqueness of Balgord's instrument was polarizing, but I loved it. I know that she and LuPone were the only Normas to sing the score in the keys in which Webber wrote it, but did anybody sing the anthems in *higher* keys? I don't know, but the bright, full-throatedness of Balgord's voice gave me goosebumps. Did anybody else sound good singing Salome?! I marveled at the way she could start a big note seemingly in head voice and then, as she crescendoed, end in what sounded like a big Broadway belt. Soon after, when I started taking voice lessons, I'd learn what it was to "mix," and I realized that's what Balgord had expertly delivered in so many of those moments as Norma. The imperiousness that she brought as an undercurrent to Fosca she fully embraced as Norma, creating a character who was as elegant as she was arrogant. (It was a quality that would serve her equally well, if not even better, when she played Queen Elizabeth in The Pirate Queen.) Because she read as so much younger than the other women who'd headlined productions of Sunset, her Norma's dreams of a comeback seemed less farfetched. You got the sense that it wasn't going to happen not because she was, as DeMille's assistant calls her, "about a million years old," but because she was such a supercilious b*tch. Her age also suggested that she might be a more reasonable romantic match for Joe; consequently, his chemistry with Betty presented more like a genuine love triangle. Still, what was most memorable about her Norma was that huge and unique voice of hers. I hope she knew how thrilling it was. All day long, I've found myself more saddened by Balgord's passing than it seemed like I should be. After all, I didn't know her. It had been years since I'd seen her onstage. And I didn't even see her live that many times. And yet her death colored my whole day. As I reflected on why, I think at least part of it is that Balgord was a real journeyman actor. Sure, her career had some astonishing highs, but she really just kept on working, and worked consistently without ever becoming a star. (Sidenote: I wish I'd seen her in the title role of a regional production of The Drowsy Chaperone that she did. I bet she was perfect.) She represents a sort of "middle-class actor" who's becoming rarer and rarer these days. Indeed, several years ago, I believe Variety or The Hollywood Reporter even ran a story titled, "The Death of the Middle-Class Actor." Although I don't think those actors will ever wholly disappear, I also don't think they're celebrated the way they should be. It's my wish that, when Balgord died, she was confident that she had touched her audiences the way she touched the young theatre queen I was when I first discovered her, and the way memories of her performances touch the old theatre queen that I am now. |
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