Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
#0Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/4/06 at 12:52pmnow I know there are people out there who have seen this WONDERFULLY talented man perform, so in true BWW tradition - The Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
"Others I've seen, it's too much, or too mean and they die when they've had enough"
BE&KG<3
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
kateerin
Swing Joined: 2/8/05
#2re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/4/06 at 12:59pmUnderstudy in Sweeney Todd. Been on a bunch!
"If your wanting a beginner, I shan't do..."
#3re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/4/06 at 1:00pmNo he's not an understudy, he's a Standby times 3. Talk about working hard! And he's not only a standby, he's the BEST Standby.
"Others I've seen, it's too much, or too mean and they die when they've had enough"
BE&KG<3
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
30/90 Playout
Stand-by Joined: 10/7/05
#6re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/4/06 at 5:47pm
Having been called a Sweeney Todd "groupie" by more that three members of the cast, I was lucky enough to catch Ben Eakeley go on for Anthony once during my 3 times seeing Sweeney last month (don't even ask how many times I've seen it in total). He was in for a week when Ben Magnuson sprained his ankle onstage. Before the show I spoke with DLC and she said that he would be going on that he had a different interpretation of Anthony. I thought he was alright. Not amazing, not horrible. The only SEVERE drawback is that he could not play the cello. It was played by Elisa Winter (Johanna u/s) stageright. I think that he should have learned the cello for the part to show dedication, as Judy Kaye has/is learning the tuba (an UNESSENTIAL) part of the show for her upcoming three weeks stint (1 in June, 2 in August). He was a good understudy though. THe only part about it was some of his diction. The way he said "Johanna" got a little annoying after a while (Yoohhhhaana). I was able to meet him after the show and he was very down to earth. We talked for 5ish minutes and he was THE ONLY actor I have ever met at a stagedoor to say the work f*ck (I think he used it 5 or 6 times).
I'll get my pic up with him later.
#7re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:42pm
He is learning how to play the cello. It's not exactly something you can pick up and learn over night... especially when it comes to memorizing Sondheim's music...
I absolutely cannot wait to see him perform as Tobias (That is, if Manoel ever calls out -- which will be never)
"Others I've seen, it's too much, or too mean and they die when they've had enough"
BE&KG<3
Junior
Stand-by Joined: 4/12/06
#8re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/7/06 at 10:31amI LOVE THIS MAN!!!!! I saw him as Anthony when I saw the show and he Simply blew me away! I have several friends who saw the show before me and all of them said that the only bad thing about the show was the guy who usually plays Anthony. (haven't seen him myself, so I can't comment personally, just repeating what I was told) but he was SO NICE at the stage door. He talked to my friend Sam and I for a few minutes, then went around and signed everyone else's stuff the CAME BACK and talked to us for another 10 minutes!!! I had auditioned for college that day and he asked me a ton of quetions about it. He told us he tried to learn the cello before his audition and even memorized a piece and played it at the audition but they asked him not to play in the show... who cares if he doesn't play. He was amazing and is now my favorite actor on Broadway. I want to have his babies!! You know... if I had a Uterus...
#9re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/28/06 at 1:53pmI was at the theatre a little while ago today and saw the sub board saying Ben was in for Alexander Gemignani. I don't if it was up from last night or if it's for today. Either way, has anyone seen him go on as the Beadle?
RentBoy86
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
#10re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/28/06 at 2:52pmPost your picture. I want to see him. So what did he play?
#11re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/28/06 at 3:01pm
I saw him play Anthony in Sweeney in February, and he was great! My family and I were talking to him at the stage door, and it turns out that his family is from my town. My dad used to work with his dad. 
"A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing." - Thomas Jefferson
wickedrentq
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/6/04
#12re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 6/28/06 at 3:57pm
I'd love to see him go on as any character in Sweeney at one point. I've met him through a friend and he's extremely nice.
30/90, there's a big difference between the instruments, especially within the context of the show. Judy really only had to learn to blow 3 notes out of the tuba. The cello plays the entire show, an extremely complicated Sondheim score. I've played clarinet for over 10 years and I can never imagine being able to start playing and immediately play Broadway music. It's really, really hard.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
#13re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 11:22amhey guys, ben's scheduled to perform as anthony the week of July 15th (i don't know exact dates) but I will certainly be there at some point. Yay Ben!
"Others I've seen, it's too much, or too mean and they die when they've had enough"
BE&KG<3
30/90 Playout
Stand-by Joined: 10/7/05
#14re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 12:20pmSaw him on as Beadle last week. Alex is 15x better.
#15re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 12:33pm
30/90 Playout -- You think he should've learned the cello? Do you know how long it takes to learn an instrument? Patti and Judy don't know how to play the tuba. They can play what they need to play, and that's completely different than having the knowledge to play an instrument.
You can't compare the fact that Patti and Judy learned the tuba specifically for Sweeney Todd to the fact that Ben Eakeley doesn't play cello, and hasn't learned cello for the show. The tuba part requires the actresses to burst out a few notes. It's mostly for show than it is for musical depth, and the part is, frankly, not very complicated. If you're such a Sweeney groupie and you've seen the show so many times, you should (a) be aware of the complexity of the cello part in the show and (b) not be drawing that kind of ridiculous, impractical comparison about the two musical parts. Saying that Ben should have learned cello to show his dedication to the work because Patti and Judy learned tuba, given the above, is absurd. Lauren and Ben M. have been playing cello for years, and just tossing a cello into Ben Eakeley's hands, expecting him to be able to learn the part, like Patti and Judy learned theirs is a bit unrealistic; this isn't to knock Ben, it's just, point-blank, not realistic to expect someone to be able to play as though they've had years of experience. It's not the kind of thing, unlike the tuba part, where you can *only* be taught what you have to know, when what you have to know is like five notes in simplistic rhythm. It doesn't work that way. Their parts require way, way more. You don't just learn it in a month. It's not like playing a kazoo.
#16re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 12:42pm
The only SEVERE drawback is that he could not play the cello. It was played by Elisa Winter (Johanna u/s) stageright. I think that he should have learned the cello for the part to show dedication, as Judy Kaye has/is learning the tuba (an UNESSENTIAL) part of the show for her upcoming three weeks stint (1 in June, 2 in August).
As Emcee said so eloquently, that comparison is ridiculous bordering on plain stupid. If John Doyle approved of Ben Eakeley in the role - minus the cello - then who are you to say he should play it? The orchestrations in this revival are downplayed so that the lyrics and storytelling aspect can shine through - so that they CAN have an understudy who doesn't play the instrument and it still works. As long as Eakeley can act and sing and put a new spin on the roles he plays, I think he's doing fine. And give the guy a bit of credit, he is covering three very different roles.
I recognize the addiction to being alive.
#17re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 12:48pm
I should add that I agree it's a bit of a drawback. However, if people go and see him and they haven't seen the show before (and are therefore unaware of the fact that both Johanna and Anthony are "supposed" to play the cello), I don't think they'd think anything of it; they wouldn't view it as a drawback, I don't think.
I still stand by my previous post.
Caseywouldwaltz
Swing Joined: 7/2/06
#18re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 12:53pm
If John Doyle approved of Ben Eakeley in the role - minus the cello - then who are you to say he should play it?
I think they said it because this is a open message forum and that's their opinion. Maybe relax a bit and stop taking eveything so personally?
#19re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 1:03pm
Yes, I agree. But the idea of the open message forum goes both ways.
I think Doyle is pretty genius in his decisions, so the fact that he hand picked understudies who do not play the roles required instruments just means that there was something else there. Maybe instead of focusing on the fact that Eakeley doesn't play the cello, people should focus on what he *does* do up there on stage.
I recognize the addiction to being alive.
#20re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 1:05pmRiiiiight, the "this is a public forum so bugger off!" argument. "So who are you to say...." is more a figure of speech than anything, so maybe you should stop taking things so literally.
#21re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 1:10pm30/90 Playout - I've played the cello for three years and I'm still nowhere good enough to play Sweeney, especially with no score in sight. There's a big difference in the two instruments - the tuba part in Sweeney isn't half as important to the score and underscoring as the cello.
#22re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 1:13pm
As someone who doesn't play an instrument, the analogy I see (and it may be wrong) is that the tuba part is more or less hitting the notes, while Lauren and Ben M. are truly playing an instrument.
I recognize the addiction to being alive.
Updated On: 7/4/06 at 01:13 PM
#23re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 1:34pmYep. There's just more work that goes into playing the cello - especially the time it takes to cultivate a good vibrato. The tuba is all about mouth shape and embouchure - and once you've got that down, it's more or less blow and push a couple buttons. The only object I can see to picking up the tuba is someone's lack of arm strength, but I guess that's why Judy has a little strap-thing for the tuba during the, what, two songs she plays in?
30/90 Playout
Stand-by Joined: 10/7/05
#24re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 1:50pm
In my opinion, Benjamin Eakeley brings nothing more to the table. Like I said above during instrumentation he just sat there staring forward looking almost bored just casually glancing around the theatre. When Anthony and Johanna have their dramatic playoffs he just sat there. It completely ruined Doyle's vision and craft. The tension established between Anthony and Johanna, and the two of them playing off each other with their instruments is supposed to be symbolic. Without that, the entire dynamic of Doyle's subplot is destroyed.
I can't see why Doyle would cast someone who was so lacking. The thing about this show is the INSTUMENTATION, and the fact that the actors are PLAYING THEIR OWN. What if all the understudies were like Eakeley, you would lose half of his (Doyle's) genius. If he was cast on something else, I don't know what it would be.
Updated On: 7/13/06 at 01:50 PM
#25re: Benjamin Eakeley Love Thread!
Posted: 7/4/06 at 2:20pm
You're looking at two separate issues. The first, and more valid in my opinion, is that his performance brings nothing new to the table. You're being critical of his acting, and therein of his portrayl of Anthony. That's valid, if you thought he looked bored, or too casual. That could be said of any actor who turns in a less-than-commendable performance, instruments aside. The second is about the instrumentation. Do you just say he "looked bored" because during the scenes with Johanna he didn't play cello, and there was less action than you're used to seeing, or did he truly look bored? Were you just disappointed in what you saw because you had seen it previously in another, more effective way? I didn't see him, so I don't know for sure, but hopefully you can understand what I'm saying -- he could have been bored and just casually glancing around the theater, or you could just think that in being overly critical. And, if that were the case, a better performance, even without the cello, might warrant less criticism. However, I do get the impression that you think he looked bored because since he didn't play the cello like you were used to, he had less to do.
For the record, Doyle did *not* do the instrumentation in his head beforehand. The instrumentation and orchestration were figured out based on what he had, and he *happened* to end up with this pair of cello players for Anthony and Johanna. It worked so well in London that it was purposefully kept in the States. Yes, it's symbolic, but he didn't predetermine it to be that way. So, to say that *not* having the cello ruins Doyle's original vision, or his entire vision or whatever, is simply incorrect. His vision did not at all consist of specifics, but rather a way to work with what he had. You have to remember that this production began as a very sparse financial "make do" situation. Because of the degree of specificity to which it's tailored to *this* cast, you've got to be willing to have some flexibility. That's just the way it is.
I love it when people criticize actors, or dislike their performances, but still post stage door photos with them and make display of the fact that they met someone. But that's a separate issue.
