Oh thank you thank you! I thought I was the only one who thought SJP was miscast as Winifred. I have been arguing with my best friend about this for years! :) In my mind Carol Burnett is the only true Winifred, although I thought Ullman did a good job, Carol to me, will always be the best.
SJP was completely miscast -- too pretty and refined and lady-like for the role, so the jokes about her appearance all fell flat. She also doesn't have much of a voice anymore.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
I always thought Lea DeLaria would be a fun choice for the role, not that she would ever be cast in a major Broadway production of it.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
While obviously not the BEST choice for the role, I thought she was great. But, I was also like 12 when I saw her - so that could just be attributed to my age
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."-Charlie Manson
I never watched this production, but I sure love Sarah Jessica Parker's acting in the recording. The reviews were not harsh on her though, they all said that she really had star power but like Margo already said, most reviews pointed out her lady-like attitude and elegance which obviously is wrong for Winnifred. How was Jane Krakowski though?
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
I like her on the recording. There's only one Burnett, but SJP's take on the role is cute. SJP - Happily Ever After
"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter
It was a community theatre performance in a Broadway production. Very workmanlike--you could see all of the wheels turning.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
In more than 50 years of theatergoing I have never done this before. But our friends were going with us to THE KING AND I, and Donna Murphy was out that night, so we got our money back and repaired to a coffee shop to decide what to do.
Our friend said: let's second act a show! Never had the nerve or desire to do this before, but what the hell. So we went over to the Broadhurst, with our rolled up programs from TKAI, waited for the intermission to be over, and wandered in with the rest of the audience. Went straight up to the mezzanine, where there were no more than 25 people (balcony was empty) and saw the second act.
Sadly, the show (which several of us had done in amateur productions and knew well) was totally listless, as was the audience response. SJP was sweet, but had a very small voice, and crooned her way through "Happily Ever After" with little resonance. It was all sort of tired and sad, and we were all kind of depressed. No TKAI, and a tired half of OUAM. Oh, well...
"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter
Part of the problem was Vienne Cox was at her height (still the greatest Amy in "Company" I've ever seen) and was so perfect for the role (indeed previous to the SJP announcement there was lots o'talk that she HAD to play Fred sometime soon) and though I'm not sure critics said this a good portion of the theatre community lamented that a movie/TV star was doing a role that was so ideal for "one of our own".
Owen22, there's no way Veanne Cox could ever sing Winnifred. She's talked publicly about how the amount of singing she had to do in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE terrified her beyond measure, and that was barely more than spoken words set to music in a supporting role.
Also, considering how far back her roots in theater go, I would hardly classify Sarah Jessica Parker as an outsider that would inspire animosity from the theatrical community. If anything, she's a Broadway star who made it "big," not the other way around.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter
I find the CD quite enjoyable, it seems there was a lot of drama between the cast and crew in that production.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-