Joanna Riding sings Losing My Mind. Stunning!

[morosco]

Posted: 3/6/20 at 11:06pm

Losing My Mind

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 10:38am

I came across this yesterday, and my jaw hit the floor.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 10:50am

How has she never been on broadway?

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:26am

Holy shiz!!

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 12:26pm

Loved it!! Now I want to see her in the full production! Finally a diva who can SANG! I felt like the tempo was so damn slow.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 1:00pm

I wish Dominic Cooke had just let her emote without giving her so much business........

Still, a gorgeous performance. Wish she had originated it instead of Imelda.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 3:50pm

At the one minute mark she appears to be briefly distracted by her wedding band and all that it represents.

I just can't stop watching it!

[PutonyourWarPaint]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 6:12pm

Her money notes in the "I Wish I May" clips on *that site* -WOW.    Would love to see her as Elizabeth Arden in War Paint. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 7:30pm

I loved her as Sally. LOVED her.

[Balcony Bill]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:29pm

A tad overdone to me, and she seems to be struggling with the low notes. My first time hearing this was in the concert version of Follies at Lincoln Centre, with Barbara Cook, and her much simpler yet devastating version will always by my favourite--a reminder of what a great singer can accomplish just standing still.

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 4:21am

I was actually enjoying her performance up until this moment. I actually thought her coquettishness made more sense to the character than Imelda's. She also looks like she could have once been a Follies girl. But, though vocally not as astounding, Imelda's version was WAY more powerful. For some reason Joanna played the song very angry. Imelda was following the lyrics, she was losing her mind during the song. It was devastating. It just proved who the superior actress was. (And not only was she angry--Riding completely overdid it!) The only good thing about Joanna Riding's Sally was that it allowed Janie Dee to dominate the way she always had, but now was out from under Imelda's shadow.

[binau]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 5:11am

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 5:34pm

Nope, did nothing. Too busy, too many 'now I do this now I do that moments' --lipstick/perfume/hand cream, sip, pill and sip  then the big finish with the wig off?? I thought, Oh she's actually a man--La Cage.

Liked the tone on some of her notes though,

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 5:37pm

I too was perplexed by the wig thing - what is that supposed to do, aside from remind us of La Cage?

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 2:57am

SweetLips22 said: "Nope, did nothing. Too busy, too many 'now I do this now I do that moments' --lipstick/perfume/hand cream, sip, pill and sip then the big finish with the wig off?? I thought, Oh she's actually a man--La Cage.

Liked the tone on some of her notes though,"

Again this was business created for or by Imelda Staunton to complement her interpretation of the song. 

 

[devonian.t]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 3:06am

She was a huge improvement on Imelda but that staging was too fussy.

Broadway has missed out on one of Britain's best leading ladies- she really has been incredible across her career.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 9:57am

Joanna Riding has given some of the greatest female musical theatre performances of the past couple of decades - and they've all been in the UK. She is way overdue to make a Broadway appearance.   Think what you will of the staging, but the vocal and acting skills on display in this clip are nothing short of remarkable.

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 10:14am

I think she does a great job, but this really makes me appreciate the last Broadway revival. Sometimes 'park and bark' really is the right choice.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/9/20 at 10:35am

The beat where she takes the pills is one too many pieces of business and is a little distracting because it kind of turns into a drag show performance at that moment.

I say keep all the business except for the pills and it would be a sublime performance.

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 3/10/20 at 1:47pm

Thumbs up!

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 2:35pm

Man, I really did not enjoy that. Riding seems like a lovely actress, but that was completely overdone. 

Here's Victoria Clark on the number:

"Hands down, the best note he ever gave me was that "Losing My Mind" is not a book song, it's a torch song. You, the actor, can't sing the song as Sally. You've got to forget that you're Sally and just deliver a torch song and let the audience draw the conclusions. He'd come up to me after every show and go, "Nope." I finally got it right to his candor during the very last performance. He gave me a big hug and said, "Yeah, that was it.""

https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/patti-lupone-vanessa-williams-sondheim-feature_90797.html

The director's interpretation of the number in this London production completely contradicts the whole point of Sally's Folly. She's not supposed to be singing it as Sally. I'm shocked Sondheim allowed this, and also shocked that he seemed to love this revival. 

I remember when so many complained on here that Bernadette merely "cried too much" during the number, but at least she was still singing it as a torch song, not as Sally. 

[binau]

Posted: 3/24/20 at 3:14pm

The whole production was highly underwhelming. Some interesting staging pre-Loveland but it was so literal and the singing performances were awful*. I can't think of a single performance that improved upon the most recent Broadway revival in any of the leads or supporting characters. How I wish the 2011 revival was filmed . 

 

* I did not attend again with Joanna Riding, perhaps regrettably. 

Updated On: 3/24/20 at 03:14 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 5/9/20 at 12:08am

Imelda Staunton's performance of Losing My Mind.

[raddersons]

Posted: 5/9/20 at 12:40am

Y'all will never be satisfied with Follies, will you?

Loved this. 

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 5/9/20 at 1:17am

I really liked this performance...but I think for this revival, Imelda's performance is the better of the two. It's also on YouTube.

I was lucky enough to see Dorothy Collins do it pre-Broadway at the Colonial Theater in Boston. I love her performance because it was stamped in time before the song took on a life of its own.

I was twelve when I saw Dorothy Collins do it in Boston.

Updated On: 5/9/20 at 01:17 AM