I don't know, I don't think the make-up makes her look old at all. Maybe it will play different from a distance, but from her neck up she looks young and...fresh? Grizabella's supposed to be old and run down.
"Was uns befreit, das muss stärker sein als wir es sind." -Tanz der Vampire
Some can maintain a certain 'look' by trying to hold themselves together but inside they are 'old and worn' from life experiences-perhaps this is how they are going. I'm sure that Nicole also wanted something of herself to still be seen. I'm sure her voice will reveal all those Memories from her past.
Well she looks beautiful, but Grizabella is supposed to be "like a flower thats lost the freshness of its bloom", so they missed the mark on that, but I imagine they want to make Nicole as recognizable as possible.
Not ugly -- you should be able to realize that she was once beautiful -- but faded, like a flower that's lost the freshness of its bloom. (Did I really just write that?)
That's a very good question. It's not like Cats has ever needed a name to sell tickets before and now there's a star salery cutting into profits. No doubt her name will sell tickets but I wonder if it's enough to justify what they must be paying her.
I swear Webber's got a hard-on for her... Scherzinger's been his new pet protege (a la Brightman) since it was rumored she might play Magdalene in the arena tour of JCS.
I still don't understand casting young women in this role. You'd think with the dearth of roles for women over 40, particularly in musical theater, an effort would be made to find a 50 year-old to play this aging character. I always return to the original casting: Judy Dench. She was the production's conception of the part, and she was in her 40's. Yes, the song has become something else, a big, full-throated roof raiser. It would take artistic guts to cast an older woman. To let the role break our hearts instead of our ear drums. It's just more Idol-y trade-offs, money notes instead of character. And in a show that absolutely begs for more character work, not less.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
I find it funny that we are judging her by her age....
and yet when you look at the past people who played her
Laurie Beechman Taylor Dayne Liz Calloway Lea Salonga
All of then are still only in their 40s (and Laurie passed when she was 44)
Nicole is 36... and in cats years that is about 200 years old.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
I think it has little to do with her age and everything to do with the fact she looks ridiculous; as others have said, she is supposed to be a formerly glamorous cat, not some sexy Halloween-costumey kitty. Ugh, she looks every bit the non-actress she is.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Is it not a good possibility that these are simply publicity photos and not a final product. Of course they want her recognizable in them, maybe there will be more costume/styling in the actual production. Also it is possible that there is a re-visioning process happening with the character to make her more relevant to a newer audience. I personally always thought that the Grizabella costume looked odd and didn't mesh well with the visual of the show, however it is what we know so therefore what we are expecting.
Im a fan of cats, and I have always thought the UK production had the best looking cat wigs (not including the original cast) I just think it looks odd that everyone is wearing nice cat wigs and she looks like she just has on one of those bandos with cat ears, and that curl at the front? it just does not work with the other makeup/wigs
But I agree its all to make her more recognisable. Remember back when Michael Crawford was in Woman in White and people would leave the theatre complaining that they didnt see Crawford just because they didnt recognise him? there are some silly people out there that would not recognise her therefore feel cheated that "she did not perform" when she did.
Thankfully its just a short run, Wish I could see it tho
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre