I don't understand how you can view the thread of conversation on twitter. Anyone willing to help me understand what is going on here?
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Go Betty! I'm glad Nigel responded. He's always been a supporter of the arts, especially on SYTYCD. He really needs to talk to Randy as those comments have gone on for years now.
It's hard to read back and forth conversations on twitter.
Here's her original message:
"OK, I just have to say this: I am sick & tired of Randy Jackson bashing what they think is Bway singing! It's soo ludicrous! I have yet to see or hear anyone sound remotely like they are a theatre singer on Idol!!
And, further, theatrical singing encompasses every kind of sound, voice & style. He doesn't know what he's talkin' about!! And by these constant disses he is tellin' Amer. kids that Bway is some kind of inferior art form. Next to jazz, Broadway is the only indigenous Amer. art form & with respect, "Dog", your opinion is whack & uninformed! I mean, I respect Randy Jackson & everyone certainly has their own likes & dislikes, but THIS constant diss of "Bway" sounding, to his ear, singers is just so ignorant & stupid that I literally cannot comprehend the producers allowing such mendacity in his remarks! Beyond idiotic !!!
And when Steven Tyler remarked, "They learn that", I thought I was gonna scream!! All human voices have vibrato in one form or another! This constant STUPID reference is beneath contempt & I gotta say, too, that all big "rock/pop" shows these days are frickin' THEATRE! SOOO, Nigel Lithgow & company, in a world that includes an increase in the popularity of musical in general in theatre, film & television America Idol needs to WAKE UP to the truth, voices are voices, singing is singing in all forms, styles & genres. These categories have nothing to do with anything.
The Record business in general is in big trouble & why for frickin' sake would you the creators of "Idol" risk losing & demeaning any well intended audience. You respond to a singer because you hear their soul or you do not! ENOUGH!! I'VE HAD IT!! O, while I'm at it. The use of melisma comes outa African American church & made most popular by Mariah Carey & comp. but mindless use of melisma does NOT a great singer make if it is random & without a true emotional intiation! I've really had it, people! Someone tell Lithgow!
Thanks for the "Amens", Tweeties & Dopeys. Spread the word, please. Do not let these poor kids be so propaganized by a pop bass player with some pop recording success be the arbiter of what constitutes a supposed "good" singer! ENOUGH!! Aaaand...."world peace". ; ) Oh, & one more thing: Broadway is a place, not a style. At one time, in early days of classic Bway, Rodgers, Hamerstein, Hart, Lerner & Loew Gershwin, Tin Pan Alley & company one could say there was a style, a consistency in construct. But not any more.
All kinds of composers and singers and styles on Broadway. And that's been true since the 60's. I would venture to say that the "Dog" & powers that be don't get much. Write them, people, & tell them how absolute off frickin' base this is! x."
The following are Nigel's replies. I'm kind of surprised (in a good way) that he acknowledged her and we'll see if he actually says anything to Randy as he promised.
@BettyBuckley thank you I will certainly speak with Randy. I had the pleasure of seeing your outstanding performances in "Cats" and "Pippin"
I guess in the UK we we would call it a "show" voice. I agree GaGa, Freddie Mercury great show voices. You, Chenoweth, Katherine McPhee.
@BettyBuckley I totally understand your point. The problem goes beyond Randy. ' Broadway' has been adopted as a style of singing and dancing In reply to Betty Buckley
@BettyBuckley I don't believe I have ever dissed Broadway either in IDOL or SYTYCD. As far as I am concerned it is a Mecca for talent.
Scratch and claw for every day you're worth!
Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming
You'll live forever here on earth.
Randy Jackson is a fraud. He knows nothing. He lucked into this show. Why is it they have gotten rid of everyone else but kept this ugly and untalented cow is beyond me.
You know how some people just think Patti LuPone can do no wrong, no matter how much she's acting a fool or whatever? That's how it is for me and Betty Buckley. FLAME HIM, Betty!
Updated On: 2/2/12 at 10:44 PM
I hate to admit that I watch Idol (ah, thank god my friends don't know), but it really is so silly for Randy to make such sweeping generalizations.
It seems like the style of Broadway singing has opened up SO much over the years. You can see rock singing (American Idiot, Rent, etc), pop singing (Spring Awakening, Next to Normal etc), blues, jazz and more traditional legit singing. There really is no one style anymore, which is great.
“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”
``oscar wilde``
I admire her for taking this on, but I do find it oddly discomfiting that Betty Buckley watches American Idol.
It's possible she doesn't. I never do, but I still heard about what Randy had said before Buckley was responding to it. It's certainly possible to just hear about it around the internet.