Wednesday, January 5, 2011
MAYBE THIS TIME IT'S GOING TO BE HER TURN: Allegedly, Barbra Streisand wants to produce, direct, and star as Mama in a new film of Gypsy and has secured the consent of the legendarily prickly book writer, Arthur Laurents, who I think is still upset over the Sam Mendes/Bernadette Peters production a few years ago (which was really bleak in tone, though I found it appropriate to the show). Given that the show's had two Broadway revivals in the past 10 years and already been filmed twice, I'm not convinced we need this, though I'm sure Lea Michele is already ready to submit her audition tape to play Louise.
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Spacewoman and I have a running disagreement. She contends that Lea Michele has the greatest voice in the world. I contend that while LM has excellent range and pitch, her voice is terrible because there is nothing whatsoever interesting or distinctive about it. To me, she sings like the world's greatest singing robot. I feel like you should learn something about someone (even if that something is imaginary, like Neko Case's mild head cold or Ida Maria's instability or Jeff Tweedy's faulty alarm clock) when you hear them sing. This is not a criticism founded in my dislike of musical theater, because whatever that thing is that Lea Michele's voice is missing, I feel like other musical theater people (e.g. Idina Menzel especially, but also Kristin Chenoweth) have it.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the stuff she's been given on Glee lends itself to that accusation, because it's SO overproduced and the character is kind of "world's greatest singing robot." But take her big opening song from Spring Awakening, and I think you hear something there that may not be present in the Glee stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy problem with Lea at this point is that everyone I know who has worked with her or met her in any capacity (professional or otherwise) says she is the worst person ever. It's completely affecting the way I view her talent (I do think she's very talented and agree with Matt that her SA stuff shows more range than her Glee songs).
ReplyDelete1. If this happens, I will have to see it. I have seen every production of "Gypsy" to hit Broadway since La Merman. But if Lea M. is in it I will do it under protest. I cannot bear to see her squeeze and scrunch her eyes shut every time she sings, nor can I abide the way she will only ape the performances of Streisand and others, not contributing any original content or nuance.
ReplyDeleteOK as far as it goes, but I think Spacewoman knows her principally from Glee, so our disagreement is based on essentially the same sample.
ReplyDeleteSomething about the idea rankles - it seems like an exercise in nostalgia twice removed and likely to turn out as more of a celebration of Streisand's (and Michelle's) ego than anything else.
ReplyDeleteThe one way I might get on board is if Sondheim was asked to and agreed to tailor the show to Streisand as specifically as he tailored it to Merman. But even so, making a movie of a 50-year-old show about the showbiz world of 20 years before that- who do they expect to go see it? Even if Lea Michelle's in it, by the time it comes out in 2-3 years does anyone think there will be any Gleeks left? And the marketing campaign for Little Fockers should tell Babs just how much box office cachet she has.
making a movie of a 50-year-old show about the showbiz world of 20 years before that- who do they expect to go see it?
ReplyDelete90-year-olds?
Actually, listening to that excerpt from Spring Awakening didn't really make me think that her voice was all that interesting.
ReplyDelete