Vanessa Hudgens is Gigi (Officially)

[RW3]

ABC News

[Musical Master]

Oh boy. The pitchforks and torches are going to be raised today!

[Famebroadway2]

[Smaxie]

She was great in the reading over the summer.

[RW3]

Smaxie, you went to the workshop? How was it?

[tazber]

I don't have any feelings on her either way.

I hate Gigi though.

[JoseLee_]

She's going to be amazing. Hope this show will be a success!

[Mr Roxy]

Trying to see why it is being done again as it flopped years ago.

[jpbran]

""My mom's name is Gina, her nickname's been Gigi. We have a dog named Gigi. Gigi is very prevalent in our lives," she says, laughing."
Well, there you go.

[Musical Master]

I really hope I'm proven wrong. After all, Corbin Bleu was in IN THE HEIGHTS and he was really good in that. Maybe Hudgens is hiding something from us that we never knew before when it comes to her singing.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Let this be a great surprise like Keke...

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Let this be a great surprise like Keke...

[Sutton Ross]

Has anyone ever seen her perform live? If so, how was she?

[Owen22]

Oddly, the press release leaves out her biggest musical theatre stage role, Mimi in "Rent" at the Hollywood Bowl opposite Aaron Tveit. I liked her very much, she had a natural ability that I thought, with work, she might be a contender sometime soon. Maybe that time has come...

[DottieD'Luscia]

I'll probably see this when it's at the Kennedy Center, but I don't particularly care for the show.

[Mr. Nowack]

If they've officially cast her she must not be that bad. Maybe her previous work just never let on the extent of her talents.

[ACL2006]

[Mister Matt]

Oddly, the press release leaves out her biggest musical theatre stage role, Mimi in "Rent" at the Hollywood Bowl opposite Aaron Tveit.

No, it doesn't. Paragraph 8.

I thought she was quite good in Thirteen (the film, not the musical). Haven't seen or heard her sing in the last 9 years since High School Musical, so I can't really judge her qualifications on that. I can only guess people want to hate her because she was in High School Musical, but I consider it pretty irrelevant to this casting.

Add me to the anti-Gigi clan. I've seen the film several times hoping it will suddenly click with me, but it never has. Not sure how it won Best Picture over Auntie Mame. I also much preferred South Pacific and Damn Yankees, neither of which were nominated for Best Picture.

[blaxx]

I'd be more concerned about producers and investors putting in millions in a show like Gigi than who plays the title role.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

If they've officially cast her she must not be that bad. Maybe her previous work just never let on the extent of her talents.

But, then why did they hire Carly Rae Jepsen in Cinderella or Wendy Williams in Chicago?

Vanessa has a pretty voice, but idk if it's strong enough for a classic show like this.

[Ranger Tom]

I'm sorry. Just can't go there. This has been a slippery slope. I'm waiting for them to announce Mylie Cyrus and Taylor Swift in the Wicked movie. Of course, by the time they get that done, those two will be too old. Sorry, just feeling very cynical today.

[Sutton Ross]

Wow, a lot of people seem to hate Gigi. I don't know anything about it. What are people's issues with the show?

[Smaxie]

This blog post elucidates some of the usual objections to Gigi, and provides a compelling defense.

http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/2014/02/gigi-1958-defense.html

[Mr. Nowack]

^^^^^^
It's kind of a boring story, and not exactly in line with modern progressive thinking. There are some gorgeous songs though, and the original film was very sumptuous, so much so that that pretty much became the sole purpose of the movie (to give the Freed-unit style musicals a grand going out picture). I still say the best parts are the settings/costumes and the arrangements by Andre Previn.

The stage score also has some wonderful additions that I love but I don't think anyone else cares for.

[Owen22]

Wow, either we are looking at different releases but I see nothing about Rent in paragraph 8 I would say I was wrong as I can't believe they'd leave that out, but I honestly don't see that in what I'm looking at...

We're talking about the Bway World release,right?