Christine Ebersole dissapointed me.- Page 3

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 10:38am

Absolutely. There are plenty of people working their asses off on Broadway right now - the trick is, you don't SEE it. That's the sign of a true talent. It's not supposed to look hard.

"Both times I saw Grey Gardens, Wilson was the best thing on that stage." I agree, and she was followed very closely by Erin Davie.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 10:52am

I'm a big fan of Christine - the reason I saw GREY GARDENS at Playrights was solely because she was in it. She's one of those people I try to catch in everything because I always find them worth watching.

I'm of the "Yes, she's worth the hype" school. I think Christine was wonderful, with the exception of the July 4th matinee, where (as I have posted elsewhere) I agree completely with Jordan's take. She was 'off' that afternoon.

But it's inevitable that there will be people who see any much lauded performance or show and think "Nah - that/she/he wasn't so great!"

I do agree that the underrated Erin Davie has always been excellent. She's only gotten stronger as the show progressed.

Updated On: 7/7/07 at 10:52 AM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 10:58am

The first time I saw GREY GARDENS was the third preview Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. I had never seen the documentary. I had no clue what the show would be about. Not one critic had uttered a word. Ebersole was breathtaking. The show itself needed a lot of fixing, but Ebersole's performance was like nothing I had ever seen.

The second time I saw GREY GARDENS was the second to last press preview before Opening Night on Broadway. It was known that Ebersole had a cold at the time, but she still blew me away. The show itself had vastly improved as well.

Fast forward to June 12th, the first performance following the Tony Awards. Ebersole's performance had dwindled significantly from what I had seen eight months earlier. She seemed exhausted. Her performance had lost most of its precision. And that is what had helped define her distinct characterizations the first two times I saw it.

She doesn't have now what she had the first two times the show was reviewed. All we have in writing (and all that the Tony voters had in writing) was the reviews from press previews Off-Broadway and on Broadway, and they were GLOWING. After reading those reviews, many people go into the show with a self-fulfilling prophecy that what was written in those reviews is what they will be seeing on that stage. The people here who are expressing disappointment -- unlike the others who go on and on about the reviews and the awards, repeating what the critics said as though they were their own words -- did not let the critics tell them what to think. They thought for themselves.

Don't discount people for owning their opinions. For deciding for themselves what they saw on that stage. I discount people who let others tell them what their opinions should be.

Updated On: 7/7/07 at 10:58 AM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 11:15am

Princeton78: Who was she on Will and Grace??

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 11:17am

She played one of Karen's diva enemies from the past. The clips are on YouTube.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 11:25am

Oh, I remember that now! Crazy, I never recognized her. This is like when I found out Douglas Sills was on there once.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 11:28am

I agree with LostLeander and Rath, you shouldn't be able to see the person working so hard or being so careful with a performance.
I think all the hype and the whole "legendary" performance title has worked against the show and against Ebersole. I feel she should've taken a long vacation or left the show but she keeps going on without being able to give a fully committed performance, and that is ultimately what people should care about.
The show is strong enough to survive without its current leading lady but unfortunately the media, the critics, and audiences themselves have made it impossible.
As I said earlier, Mary-Louise Wilson and Erin Davie (most underrated performer of the season) were the ones who truly impressed me.

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 11:48am

I've seen the show four times over 7 months, and while I wasn't too impressed by my first viewing in December, I was blown away by my second in March. I hadn't wanted to see it again, and I am glad I did. I saw it again the week following and was blown away again. The last viewing was good, but a little less going on onstage- the audience was electrifying. I have never been disappointed by the show or Ms. Ebersole's performance, per se, but I do see where other people could have been, and am glad to have seen two flawless performances by her.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 11:55am

That's the point though...you should have seen THREE flawless, committed performances. She has "every award known to man, every accolade in Christendom, audience adoration and critical hosannas.....," and more importantly, her show has $110 or $25 of your hard earned money. You deserve no less than 100% from her. If she can't do it, then let a better actress do it or close the show. Audra McDonald once talked about the pressure of winning a Tony award being the audience sitting there every night after the award and feeling the pressure to prove why she deserved that award. Two weeks before the Tonys there was a blur of media around a London mounting of the show with Christine and a tour which some hypothesized might star Christine also. Two weeks after the Tonys, what do we have? Christine phoning in performances until July 29th when the show (I'm sure thankfully for her) closes. If I were a Tony voter, I'd feel duped along the lines of those who bought the whole Avenue Q campaign an all it's promises from a few years ago.

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 11:57am

I am a huge fan of both Christine and the show. When I saw it a couple of months ago I did notice that Christine's energy level was lower than it was in clips I had seen of earlier performances. I still enjoyed the show. It was still a phenomenal performance. But because I had seen what it had been, I was slightly disappointed.

That's not to say that we should just discount what she's done. Or say that she did not give one of the great performances in BWay history. Judy Garland gave a history making performance at Carnegie hall. No one denies that. Listen to the recording if you doubt it. But her performance weakend as the run went on. That doesn't change what she did. The hotter a star burns, the faster it's glow diminishes...until the next time.

Maybe she should have done a no matinee run. But with everyone shouting that she was the show, that was probably not feasable.

If someone saw Christine's performance two years after she began performing it, let's not let that impression of it take over and eclipse what many know it really was.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:00pm

I will repeat that I saw it first in the fall, and the second time on December 1st. I don't think she was tired or over it at that point.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:04pm

I don't think we're arguing that she didn't give a great performance (well, I'm not anyways). But if she is too tired to give the same kind of performance she was giving three or six months ago, then she should have considered doing a no-matinée run like Victoria Clark did in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, taking a LONG vacation, or leaving the show altogether. I know she feels responsible since she is the reason the show made the transfer and whatnot, but I think people have a right to complain if they feel dissatisfied.
Meanwhile I keep hearing that Wilson's performance has only gotten stronger...though her role is definitely not nearly as demanding.

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:04pm

i can't just ignore what i saw, artscallion. I'm sure she was brilliant at some point and still is at certain performances. But broadway is all about consistancy and stamina - it's 8 shows a week, and you mean nothing if you can't handle it. If she really can't handle 8 shows a week, then fine - but let someone who can take over.

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:09pm

I do see what you're saying, Princeton78, and both you and I know that these people are still human and can't be perfect all the time. Still, your point is completely valid. Luckily, I enjoy the show enough not to mind if Christine has an off-night; there's so much else to observe and to enjoy. In terms of theatre, and not so much in terms of the rest of life, I prefer to be thankful for the good that I have seen, rather than harping over the imperfections- regardless of the magnitude of the hype or expectations placed behind them.

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:17pm

I agree. I don't think you shoud ignore what you saw. I'm just saying, let's acknowledge it and understand that she's been doing it a long time at full steam. Add in the dynamic of her pressure not to do just evenings, etc. I mean when she took a day off here, people pounced on the what it did to that week's gross.

Again, I don't think we shouldn't talk about it, or better ways the run/vacations/replacements could have been handled. I just sense that all the people who didn't like the show or her performance to begin with are smelling blood and coming in saying it was overrated all along. I'm just saying I don't think this should be what her performance is remembered for in the history books.

[sally1112]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:17pm

What can I say..I'm a Christine fan. I have an entire trip planned around seeing this show on the 2oth, and Patti in Gypsy the next day.

I will be happy no matter what. I would rather watch Christine phone it in, than see an understudy.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:20pm

"I just sense that all the people who didn't like the show or her performance to begin with are smelling blood and coming in saying it was overrated all along."

artscallion, actually, we've not felt safe saying it before now. Around here, the story has been that if you say the tiniest word that's not positive about the performance, you're jumped on from all sides.

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:39pm

Know that I didn't mean you, or even this thread in particular, with the smelling blood comment, Rath. In fact, I can relate to what you're saying. I've never expressed my disappointment in her performance before today either. One reason being what you say about RFSR (rabid fan smackdown response)- The other reason being that I had such a build up of anticipation to seeing it, I kind of didn't want to admit that it hadn't been everything that I had been looking forward to.

Of course you also get the RFSR with Spring Awakening fans. I also relate because I've always felt SA was bubblegum music with a weak book. But I knew better than to say it. There! I've said it!...Ow! who threw that brick?!

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:51pm

is it quite possible that the two "best" musicals of the year were not quite what everyone had made them out to be??? I think so.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:56pm

just sense that all the people who didn't like the show or her performance to begin with are smelling blood and coming in saying it was overrated all along.

Though many people who did not care for the show or Ebersole has had valid points, you know that this is the case. Princeton's been waiting to pounce ever since the the Tony envelope said "Christine Ebersole" and not "Audra McDonald".

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 1:15pm

At least she doesn't jump around like a monkey on uppers like Laura Bell Bundy does at the Palace every night.

Can you explain to me how insulting Laura on a thread about Christine Ebersole's peformance losing power?

[Princeton78]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 1:17pm

Ooooh! Do I have a stalker? FABULOUS!
Quick! Vietgrl...what am I wearing right now? Where are you?

Updated On: 7/7/07 at 01:17 PM

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 1:24pm

I can't help it, you're just too sexy for your own good. Besides, you know Benanti was right, I have no life. I have to devote my time to something or someone.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 3:40pm

I personally loved her performance. I thought it had layers and layers of detail and I saw her when she was sick. (her driver told me she was) I'm just sorry you didn't enjoy her performance. I can only imagine what a disappointing feeling that is.

Personally, I'll stay in the adoration camp.

EDIT for spelling

Updated On: 7/7/07 at 03:40 PM

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 4:40pm

I saw her in it last Friday - she was amazing.
Whats even greater though is the chemistry between her and Ms. Wilson.
I hope PBS captures these great performances. They need to be preserved.