I used to love Hunter Foster and Michael Cerveris around the time of Urinetown and Assassins but now I feel like Foster hasn't given a decent performance since then, and Cerveris is just doing very poor variations of his performance of Booth.
Norbert Leo Butz is becoming incredibly one-note to me as well.
I've also grown to dislike Idina Menzel's voice. It's nothing personal, nor does it have anything to do with her fans or her role in Wicked either.
I think it's fascinating how much these performers' personalities and personal lives are coloring peoples' choices. I rarely give a care about what someone does in their personal life or what they're like to work with (obv. I'm not in the industry, just a fan). I only care about the quality of their performance.
That being said, Bernadette hasn't really done anything that has interested me in years. And it pains me to say that.
That being said, Bernadette hasn't really done anything that has interested me in years. And it pains me to say that.
I think the thing for me is that she's just being a very static performer and personality. I wish she'd let her...acting style and choices mature as she did. I totally understand why people aren't fans of LuPone's, but one thing that keeps me interested and engaged with her is the sheer variety of projects she's done over the years. Peters isn't branching out and growing as a performer in the same way, in my opinion.
Colm Wilkinson. I'm sorry, when I was younger I used to LOVE the 10th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables. Now, when I hear him sing he sounds so pretentious or something. I can't put my finger on it, but the way he sings just annoys me. Along with his acting. He has become one of my least favorite male Broadway stars.
Patti Lupon FANatic: I totally agree with you on Ethel Merman.....tho I've always found her annoying. But I kind of feel the same way about Patti Lupone. Sure, she can sing, but its just not pleasant to listen to.
"I think it's fascinating how much these performers' personalities and personal lives are coloring peoples' choices."
As much as sometimes you try to separate the personal from the performance, sometimes certain people are just very unsavory, or you have had experiences with them that are hard to forget about. I think most people who work in this industry struggle with figuring out where the line is. However, I certainly understand how certain sour personalities or profoundly upsetting experiences, especially when you are working or interacting with an idol of yours, can take away from enjoying that person onstage.
Mattbrain - I'll join you with Uwe. Not that I like his old performances any less, but I don't enjoy him today the way I did when I first discovered his work. This is a big thing for me, as he was my gateway into the German theater world. (I added Vienna to an overseas trip specifically because he was playing there. Certainly worth it - the man still has incredible stage presence, despite what has befallen his voice - and doubly so because there began my love affair with Drew Sarich's vocal instrument.)
Some of the others have already been mentioned, and for the last few, I hesitate to name them. Because they still are great, and I do still enjoy them, just not nearly as much as I once did.
Nathan Lane has been getting on my nerves for a while now. I feel as if he is Nathan Lane playing Nathan Lane playing a role. I don't think I've ever said that mans name that many times either.
I've got to agree on Colm Wilkinson! I enjoyed him when I was younger but now, his over singing and weird enunciation just seems pretentious. I feel pretty much the same about Mandy Patinkin. He seems like a parody of himself these days and also has a strange, fake sounding way of pronouncing and over enuncination.
I also am not on the Sutton train )I find her *okay* but rather bland and certainly overrated.
And, to me, Kristen Chenoweth seems somewhat like Patinkin in that she has become a parody of herself as well and sorely lacks in both acting skill and range. I thought she was okay I'm Wicked but I haven't liked her work much since.
I was in awe of Sarah Brightman because I was in awe of the Phantom OLC recording. But now, with her singing through a Zoolander face and odd choices for song material, not so much.
I think in today's media culture performers personalities are much more known. I think celebs should try to cultivate some level of mystique. For example, I HATE Saturday Intermission Pics on Twitter. I don't want to know what people do between acts. Makes most actors look like attention starved morons-especially Max Von Essen laying out naked. WTF? Get a life.
I'm really over Cheno and Menzel-over their shrill voices and Cheno's careening into camp. She's better than that.
Mandy Patinkin-just yuck, yuck, yuck.
Karen Olivo-have attempted 6 times to see her. She was never there. I think that speaks volumes to her. She's dead to me.
The TOS gang. Lovely, but completely self absorbed by their own percieved wit. Their last show was not well recieved but they begged for money to record it because they believe their message is so important. That show will not have a life after their little run. A cast recording is self serving. They need to move on.
"I think in today's media culture performers personalities are much more known. I think celebs should try to cultivate some level of mystique. For example, I HATE Saturday Intermission Pics on Twitter. I don't want to know what people do between acts. Makes most actors look like attention starved morons-especially Max Von Essen laying out naked. WTF? Get a life."
OMG, thank you for saying that. This is why I don't follow performers I don't know personally, to me it completely ruins the illusion. I don't want to know that you have bad gas from your Chipotle while I'm watching you belt for your life. Thanks though!
Mr. Broderick. And I feel guilty about it, because I thought he was a wonder in his youth, up through his Leo, which was for my money the more compelling of the two lead performances in PRODUCERS. But I find his work in his current show not so nice, and I don't get it. It's subjective, this unkind appraisal but: to my eyes, at 50 he's still holding on (far too) tightly to the boyish shtick, and I find it impossible to watch without seeing all the huffing and puffing and push.
AC126748 I must be have imagined Mark Rylance winning a Tony for Jerusalem , it must have been a dream. I will today start taking my medication for something that clearly did not happen as I must be going insane and imagining things that did not happen.
Going with Kelly2 BettyBoy re. Max Von Essen. Another nude shot of him in yesterday's SIPs. Dude sure has a starving for attention/confidence problem. He seems like a douche. BUT I have never met him and he may very well be a great guy.
Bea Arthur Nude Sells For Nearly $2 Million At Auction
Drama Desk Award Winners - MATILDA, VANYA AND SONIA, PIPPIN, VIRGINIA WOOLF & More!
Gyllenhaal, Pine in Talks to Join INTO THE WOODS Movie?
John Bantay Talks to Richard Jay-Alexander About Musical Mondays Farewell
BWW TV Exclusive: Prince, Lewis & More Remember Kevin Gray
BWW Interviews: ABC's Newest BACHELORETTE Desiree Hartsock
Seth MacFarlane Will Not Host 2014 OSCARS
Rooney Mara is the Face for New Calvin Klein Scent
BWW Reviews: LEGENDS At 30 Is Still Lots of Fun
iWatch Update: Apple Looking Into 1.5 OLED Screens?
BWW Blog: Leah Edwards - Practice. Perform. Repeat
BWW Reviews: FIAF Presents THE ULYSSES SYNDROME Celebrating World Nomads Tunisia
2013-2014 Season Highlights at Carnegie Hall
joined:5/28/11
Posted: 12/5/12 at 11:34am