Shoshana on Martha Stewart- Page 4

[meagan9848]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 8:16pm

Jillian, darling...that's the worst excuse in the book.

I'm not a performer on Broadway, so it shouldn't matter if I'm an excellent singer. People don't shell out $110 a pop to listen to me.

[BobbyRobbyBobbyBaby]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 9:44pm

I was there front row and I have to say that I was a little disappointed that she (someone) picked that number. Not the best one to get people to the show. She was also a bit standoffish during the breaks. Perhaps she wasn't feeling well at all.

[bunchamuncha]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 9:48pm

"standoffish during the breaks"

are you joking? It's a tv taping, she's not Ellen, Rosie or even Martha, she doesn't have to mix/mingle with the crowd. And she was sick.

For a tv show taping I thought she sounded good.

[ElphabaRose]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 9:51pm

Shoshana was supposed to do Defying Gravity. They changed it after she got sick. There are more parts of No Good Deed that she could talk through and I believe she said that its easier (at least for her) to sing than Defying Gravity.

[BobbyRobbyBobbyBaby]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 9:58pm

Does it sound like I'm joking???

Thanks Elphabarose, that makes more sense now.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:26pm

I just watched it again on tape with friends, fans of the show. No throat ailment or fatigue factor could explain or justify the overkill in this ill-considered performance. She was simply ghastly, indicating, bobbing, using gestures and grimaces that would be out of place in the cavernous Gershwin. On 2nd viewing, I wonder if she has Elphaba-fatigue. Friends, actors all, suggest: If she stays, she needs to start over, from scratch, trusting someone to help her find her way back to a role she must've played successfully at one time, or she would not have been cast. A year's worth of performances have not taught her anything approximating restraint. An actor friend: "she needs to trust the material, and not feel compelled to comment on it, or do riffs that are about her as a singer, not the character she's playing." Amen.

[MrBundles]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:41pm

I just thought I'd add in some screen caps. I have not altered these in any way.



and yes, that is her tongue.

Updated On: 10/31/05 at 10:41 PM

[Aigoo]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:42pm

While..she sang. It just bothered me. That's what I meant by overexaggerated. Her jaw seemed very tense. She was just moving it around when..she didn't need to. It was just very distracting.

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:54pm

wow, those pictures are pretty unfortunate

[MrBundles]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 10:55pm

i know! arent they amazing! ::dances::

[deck925]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:18pm

Being the first time i've ever heard her besides the clips on here i thought he performance was ok. I think she has talent but the thing that kinda bothered me and i know many others have said this (this is the first time i understood it). Her riffs, they sounded weird and out of place at times. I dunno the riffs didn't do it for me.

[Chip1012]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:18pm

have any of the fangirls (or boys) converted this to a computer file?

(I am part of the Shoshana police (and proud of it). )

[JulianHookbucks]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:28pm

SO the only version of it that I can find is a Real Player file... anyone have it in a non-player specific file? Or another player kind of filke... like Windows Media? Becuase my computer won't download the stupid upgrade it needs to play certain Real Player things...

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:32pm

I caught this on the rerun at 6 this evening. I don't think that it's nearly as awful as some people have made it out to be, but it wasn't a very impressive performance either. This was the first time I've heard her perform No Good Deed (which I thought was sort of a refreshing song choice, actually). For being sick, she sounded decent on the vocals (although I agree with what others have said about her riffs being a bit out of place), but based on this and a few other things I've heard, I don't think that I'd love her overall interpretaton of Elphaba. Her movements and expressions seem overly spastic, even for this character (which is saying a lot).

In her defense, though, I almost never like in-studio performances on talk shows. Usually they're plagued by bad sound and lighting, and a lot of songs don't play well on such a small stage.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 10/31/05 at 11:49pm

Anyone wishing to beat me up over this post, do so in a PM. Do not waste everyone else's time telling me that you think I'm an idiot.

I think everyone who is cast was obviously cast for some reason or another, but of all the post-Idina Elphabas, Shoshana is the only one I have not felt like throwing my shoe at. Too many times it has felt like a soap-opera actress milking a particularly redundant monologue. Shoshana at least, like it or not, felt like she was shooting from the hip.
The only other (post-Idina) actress I've truly liked was Saycon Sengbloh, until she took this really big breath in the middle of a word. How distracting!
But, yes, I have to say that Sho was (despite how surprising this may sound to some) the least melodramatic. She hit her mark (okay, except for that one night), sang her song, used an inflection that she felt right, and didn't waste too much time finding an arbitrarily "unique" interpretation.

Sometimes I felt like these Elphabas were trying to go for daytime Emmys!

Updated On: 10/31/05 at 11:49 PM

[embracepeace]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 12:23am

Couldn't have put it better myself :)

[meagan9848]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 12:30am

She's been the only post-Idina Elphaba.

[zepka102]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 12:31am

finally saw it... i thought she was great!

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 10:25am

Soshana's acting was great on Martha. She does indeed "shoot from the hip." Feisty, angry, sad and emotional. She put a lot of "colors" into her performance, and a lot of unbridled energy. She was a little out of her element walking around that cheesy, spooky set. I could see her take a few bold strides forward then remember that she's not on the stage of the Gershwin. She was on a tiny TV stage and had to rein it in for the cameras. Television is a whole different "beast," and she was testing it out, right in front of the audience.

She was not in good voice however. I have heard her sing this song passionately before, and her singing was rich and full then. She had a strong, well-controlled vibrato and added lots of colors that were missing here. On "Martha," she did not have this. She hit all the notes just fine, but her voice was reedy and thin, with barely any vibrato noticeable, which I chalk up to her illness. She was compensating right and left. If any of you are judging the quality of her singing solely from this Halloween special, then you really haven't heard her sing it yet. You should know that. Also if any of you have ever tried to "sing over" injured vocal chords, you might recognize some of the "cheats" she used here.

Yeah, she probably told them she was well enough to do this one number... but honestly, they should have been smart and sent the (healthy) understudy to tear it apart. No one in "TV land" is going to know the difference or care. I'm sure they can't even remember the name of the "green girl" that sang yesterday on "Martha."

I'll bet Shoshana pushed hard for it herself (understandably). She certainly wasn't embarrassing, and judging from the crowd's HUGE favorable response, certainly no harm was done. "Wicked" is an institution of a show now, and I'm sure future box office sales were racked up after this was aired.

So, in essence, this was a success. But I've heard Miss Bean sing this song MUCH better than she did on this TV show yesterday.

[birdlives]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 10:28am

"Friends, actors all, suggest: If she stays, she needs to start over, from scratch, trusting someone to help her find her way back to a role she must've played successfully at one time, or she would not have been cast. A year's worth of performances have not taught her anything approximating restraint. An actor friend: "she needs to trust the material, and not feel compelled to comment on it, or do riffs that are about her as a singer, not the character she's playing." Amen. "

I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but I have to ask. Have these actor friends of yours all been cast as the lead in a major Broadway show for a full year at some point in their careers? Have they performed on national television shows, like MARTHA or the Soul Train thing that was just on? Are they working with hitmaking producers on separate music careers?

I'm not a Shoshana apologist, but if I heard any of my actor friends telling me what Shoshana should be doing right now, I'd be laughing in their faces and asking if there isn't some audition they should be going to, rather than sitting around the house, watching television. You gotta love actors. We can tell you everything that's wrong with every other actor, or tell you in detail what the creators of a show SHOULD have done differently to make it succeed, and still not find our way to the top. Go figure.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 1:15pm

Does someone please want to send me a computer copy of the song???
PLEASE???
Thank you!!!

[Popular]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 1:24pm

I haven't seen this yet - someone I know TIVO'd it and I may check it out later.

MrBundles - you must feel really proud of yourself. It must've taken a lot of time and energy to find the 2 least flattering screen caps to post. Congratulations, you're an ass.

[John Murdock]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 1:32pm

All of you people on here never cease to amaze me, you are the most bitter bunch of theatre ites that i have ever met. Being involved in this industry can you stop being so ****ing critical and be happy that our artform is even being allowed to be on such shows, due to the success of wicked. If you perform 8x a week every week there may be times when you arent your best. Can you imagine if she reads what you ****ers write, which she probably does, how does that effect her performance? KNowing that she has no support, which of course she does but you cant see that here.

As a working theatre artist i urge you to shut the **** up.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 1:52pm

Popular---You'll enjoy this, I'm sure! I hope you see it.

She does a great job. Just not all it could have been, if she were going at full-steam vocally. Most people out there wouldn't know that... and wouldn't care, even if you told them. For the masses in TV land, it was an exciting peek at this hit show.

Updated On: 11/1/05 at 01:52 PM

[MrBundles]

Posted: 11/1/05 at 3:28pm

haha popular.

I actually enjoyed her performance, and I wasn't looking for unflattering pictures. I just thought it was funny how when I paused it, that's what I got. Thanks for being so nice