Imelda Staunton as Madame Rose

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 4:12pm

Could there be better news? Could there be a better reason to book a ticket to London and bask in what's sure to be an extraordinary performance. I still can't get her Mrs. Lovett out of my head. It remains one of the great performances I've been lucky to witness. Keep your fingers and other body parts crossed that this comes to be!




Sing out, Dolores! Smile, Vera! Updated On: 8/8/12 at 04:12 PM

[theeatah]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 4:23pm

If it's a National Theatre production, I wonder if the various estates will object to it being broadcast in cinemas as part of the NT: Live series (assuming the producers want to do so)...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 4:47pm

I think this would be wonderful casting if she is able to sing the score.

I wish her husband Jim Carter could play Herbie. But he may be a bit too old for the role.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 4:50pm

I thought she was coming over here with SWEENEY?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 4:55pm

I think this would be wonderful casting if she is able to sing the score.

That's kind of how I feel. I guess her Sweeney was better if you saw her life (and maybe that's how she'll be for Gypsy, too). She just sounds screamy on the Sweeney recording to me.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 4:59pm

Screamy Todd?

[ChiChi]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:00pm

Who are we kidding? As much as I loved the recording I could not stand her on the Into the Woods cast recording.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:02pm

I mean, I've never made any secret that I'm a fan of of the Sweeney movie and Helena Bonham Carter in it, but I think she sang the score better than Staunton does.

[MusicalBoy]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:04pm

Staunton's performance doesn't sound better live, you just realise why it doesn't and shouldn't.

Updated On: 8/8/12 at 05:04 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:07pm

Right, that's what I meant. That it's probably a better overall performance than her ... adequate vocals on the recording might lead you to believe.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:14pm

The thing is, she's an incredibly gifted actress on stage and screen.

I have a feeling Imelda's performance will be along the lines of Tyne Daly, where the singing is fine but entirely secondary to acting the role.

Tyne remains my favorite "Rose." An incredible, indelible live performance. To this day, I have seen very few reach that level.

I think Imelda could do it. I wish her the best of luck with this exciting project!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:22pm

"Tyne remains my favorite "Rose." An incredible, indelible live performance. To this day, I have seen very few reach that level."

To each his/her own. Yes her acting was excellent. Too bad she couldn't act like she could sing.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:24pm

I can't really put into words just how extraordinary she was live. I've said this before (forgive the broken record of it all), but it's second only to Natasha Richardson's Sally as the single greatest performance I've ever seen. And I don't just mean in a musical. I mean in anything.

I remember listening to a brief snippet of the recording online before I saw it and I was all, 'Oooof.' Then I saw the performance and it was...astonishing, I guess is the best word for it. I was actually surprised by how effective her vocals were. Not beautiful. Not lyrical. But effective.

If that recording kept you from seeing it (if you happened to be in London), then you missed a truly great performance.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:34pm

I think Robbie and I are on the same page here. (Not always, but here.)

I have to say, as far as musical performers go (and I say this as a trained singer with a pretty damn decent voice), I have always been most impacted by the performers and performances who manage to blend the two (singing/acting) into one performance of a CHARACTER. Not an actress who sings or a singer who acts. But a character, living, breathing, and existing on stage in a believable (within the confines of musical theatre) story.

More often than not, as soon as a performer hits a "perfect note," as much as I appreciate it and can even be overwhelmed by it, it almost always takes me out of the moment, the character, the story, and the show.

It only seems to work if the singing voice perfectly fits the character. And that is so rare that a true, flawless SINGER is the right voice for a person on stage, even in a musical.

Rose shouldn't have talent. ("Not what I call REAL talent.") She wasn't good enough and didn't make it. If she opens her mouth and sings better than anybody else on stage, she's already lost me. The story and the character aren't quite believable.

EDIT:

Think about some of the legendary roles and performers on Broadway ...

Zero Mostel, Fiddler
Carol Channing, Dolly
Yul Brynner, Kind and I
Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady

Were any of them "wonderful singers?"

No. But they were perfect for the roles and history was made.

Someone like Streisand in Funny Girl? It's believable (even if it's not historically accurate) that Fanny could and would have an "incredible" voice ... however you define that. It works.

Updated On: 8/8/12 at 05:34 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:55pm

She wasn't good enough and didn't make it. If she opens her mouth and sings better than anybody else on stage, she's already lost me.

To be fair, though, is there any indication that Rose tried to make it? Even in the script, she says she was "born too soon and started too late."

I do tend to think that the acting is more important than the singing, at least when someone isn't playing a character that's supposed to be a great singer. I guess I always thought of Rose as a role, though, that benefited from an actress with a better voice, Tyne Daly notwithstanding.

But Gypsy, like many musicals, strikes me as the type that when the characters are singing, they don't know they are singing, which is why a well-sung Rose doesn't take me out of the show any more than a well-sung Louise. Natalie Wood notwithstanding, almost every Louise I've seen clearly has a lovely singing voice early on, but I guess I've always thought that singing the characters do in the show exits on a different plane than they singing they do when they're on the Vaudeville stage, within the show itself.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 5:58pm

"I thought she was coming over here with SWEENEY?"

A lot of people seemed to be hoping for that, but from what the article states it does not seem that she's in any hurry to come do a run on Broadway that would take her away from her home for an extended period.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 6:03pm

Phyllis, it's true that (in most situations) when a character is singing in a musical, they don't know they are singing.

This may be my own "issue," but if a Rose or a Siamese King or a Higgins opens their mouths and blows me away with dulcet tones on the songs ... I'm pulled out of the story.

I'm suddenly watching a nightclub act with "blah-blah" as the headliner.

I would love to see an Eliza Doolittle, who starts out as a lousy braying singer and morphs into a lovely one. Most of them "over-sing" the first part (yes, even Julie and Marni), so by the time we get to the "lady," we've already been introduced to her. (Critics had the same issues with them being too "ladylike" early on back in the day. I attribute that to their beautiful sopranos showing their presence before they should.)

[hermajesty]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 6:10pm

It's the kings new clothes. The National always win because it is political, they rely on government funds and charity, IMO
There was talk of the production going to the National.

Updated On: 8/9/12 at 06:10 PM

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 6:23pm

Add me to the Staunton is top two of the most remarkable, memorable, and tour de force performances I have ever seen. She is literally perfect in Sweeney Todd.

I'd fly over and waste my entire savings to see her in Gypsy. No question. She will be both a warm "I'm a mother first" Rose as well as a bone-chilling scary survivor Rose. All while nailing the comedic notes as well as the heart-breaking ones.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 6:27pm

"ALWAYS they win the Olivier's whether the production/actors are good or not."

A blatant lie.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 6:29pm

I don't think so Clapyourhands. look at the history; yes the National is a high standard but so are many others. Imelda's singing voice is sh*te IMO

Updated On: 8/9/12 at 06:29 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 6:30pm

I should add that my taste for "singing characters" in musicals isn't for everyone, nor do I expect it to be.

It's just something I noticed as I got older, in fact. I was drawn more to the performers that were "believable" in the roles, not necessarily or usually the ones who sang it the best.

I saw Tyne Daly when I was 26, if that tells you anything.

EDIT: And Phyllis---Rose also admits to Louise at the end that even after proclaiming in a fit of anger during Rose's Turn that "boys, I've got it," ... "If I coulda been, I woulda been." That, to me, is the ultimate confession that she didn't have what it takes after all.

Updated On: 8/8/12 at 06:30 PM

[Bob30]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 6:57pm

Hermajesty - have you seen Imelda live? Her voice is astonishing!I find it a perfect singing voice, recordings do not do her justice at all.

[hermajesty]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 7:01pm

Yes I've seen the production and was blown away by it; well worthy of any award her acting is the best but her voice not, I've heard better.
Please, do you really think this is singing? I think it's shouting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bExQa9nxY84

Updated On: 8/9/12 at 07:01 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 7:03pm

Along the same lines, for me, Gertrude Lawrence will always be the perfect Anna in The King and I.

She was FAR from a "fabulous singer." In fact, my dad, who saw the show on its opening night, said she sang sharp most of the time. Still, he fell completely in love with her in that show, and so did so many others who were there. She sounded like a fearless and charming British schoolteacher who was sent overseas to tutor children. That's how she sang. Not like an "Anna" who should have clearly considered the Met or a career as a professional chanteuse.

She was simply and believably Anna, "getting to know" her pupils.