Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
macbeth
Broadway Star Joined: 5/7/03
#1Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/3/20 at 11:35am
Here's my 3 favorite performances, what are yours?
#2Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/3/20 at 11:56amThe most glorious voice in the history of the American musical theatre.
#3Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/3/20 at 12:07pmThe four track Sunset Blvd EP and both the London and Carnegie Hall concert albums are a gift! I’ve seen her many times and that voice literally can take you places-Happy Birthday Betty Lynn!!!
#4Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/3/20 at 12:29pm
castlestreet said: "The four track Sunset Blvd EP and both the London and Carnegie Hall concert albums are a gift! I’ve seen her many times and that voice literally can take you places-Happy Birthday Betty Lynn!!!"
A video of her first "As If We Never Said Goodbye" on Broadway is on YouTube - when she belts out "I've come home at last" the audience goes wild. What a voice, what an actress. The best vocalist who has ever graced the Great White (Bright?) Way.
#5Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/3/20 at 1:30pm
My fav:
1. Eve was weak - that final belted “FATHER DON’T FORSAKE HER, FATHER TAKE HER, CLEANSE AND PURIFY HER WITH THE FiRE, and POWER, and GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER AND EVER AMENNNN” is horrifyingly chilling.
2. Her Sunset boulevard tracks (with one look & as if we never said goodbye). By far the best on record.
3. Her performance in Dear World especially “I don’t want to know” and “And I was beautiful”. I wish it had gone to the west end or Broadway.
Betty Buckley’s voice has the vulnerability of Bernadette Peters but the belt of the greatest belters. It may at its peak have been the best ever.
"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
#6Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/3/20 at 1:34pm
In 1969, I was a young sailor stationed onboard a U.S. Navy ship in Scotland. On one of my frequent visits to London, I saw "Promises, Promises" starring Betty, who was unknown to me. When she sang this song, I knew she was going to be a STAR. I have had the pleasure of seeing her perform many times since, and have met her once. Nothing in my theatre-going life has ever equaled the impact her beautiful voice had on me that evening.
Happy Birthday, Betty Buckley !!
Non sibi sed patriae
fosterfan2
Broadway Star Joined: 8/7/11
#7Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/3/20 at 6:33pm
Thanks so much for sharing this. This is the BEST performance of Knowing When to Leave that I've ever heard. I have the recording from the 2010 revival and I can hear where Kristin Chenoweth tried to copy some of Betty's notes. She did well,but Betty's version is the best. And it's a hard song to sing.
#9Happy Birthday Betty Buckley!
Posted: 7/6/20 at 8:47am
Not seeing her in Sunset Boulevard is one of my greatest regrets. I'd love to have that EP of her performing selections from the show.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
