are there any performers who y'all think are simply playing themselves in their roles
to me I think that's the case with Platt , he just seems like he's a naturally awkward person , his role in DEH & PP born just seem like he's portraying himself
Ben Platt is nothing like Evan Hansen in real life. Just because both the actor and the character may have anxiety doesn't mean that Platt is essentially playing himself. Rachel Bay Jones and Jennifer Laura Thompson are both mothers; that doesn't mean that they're playing themselves either just because their characters are also mothers.
"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
AC126748 said: "Ben Platt is nothing like Evan Hansen in real life. Just because both the actor and the character may have anxiety doesn't mean that Platt is essentially playing himself. Rachel Bay Jones and Jennifer Laura Thompson are both mothers; that doesn't mean that they're playing themselves either just because their characters are also mothers.
" PERSONALITIES is what I said . Y'all are just missing the basis of what I'm saying lol I quit
I think most actors find things they have in common with characters as a way to connect and help make the character more real. Sharing characteristics is not quite the same thing as playing oneself.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
raddersons said: "Nathan Lane is the perfect example of this. You cast Nathan Lane, you know exactly what you're getting.
"
Most stars have a certain persona that is visible in many roles they play. That's what makes them stars: their audience knows to some extent what they will get before they spend the money for a ticket. But it's still a public persona, NOT their "real selves".
I've worked with Joey (the name used by those who knew him) "Nathan" Lane. He was actually kind of shy, but compensated by being hilarious. When he was "on" in private, did he resemble what you see on stage? To some extent, yes. But he's hardly playing himself in either case. He's playing what makes people laugh.
And while I'm on the subject, I just saw the live-filmed version of Lane's Roy Cohn in the National Theatre's ANGELS IN AMERICA. Lane is excellent, even if you've seen Ron Leibman or Al Pacino in the same role. None of these men were playing themselves.
Not a Broadway example, but I think the most obvious one I can think of is Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man. He's literally an exaggerated version of himself in those films.
GavestonPS said: "Most stars have a certain persona that is visible in many roles they play. That's what makes them stars: their audience knows to some extent what they will get before they spend the money for a ticket. But it's still a public persona, NOT their "real selves"."
While I agree with the sentiment, by those standards, wouldn't the only people playing themselves be standup comedians, where they don't have a character to play at all BUT themselves? Do I think Nathan Lane acts that way 24/7? No. But do I think stage Nathan Lane is a "heightened" version of himself? Yes.
I also say this having never met Nathan Lane in my life, so what do I really know?
Here's another point of view - http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/07/25/nathan lane mark rylance and why great stage actors are best onstage.html? mc cid=37ac62bf1f&mc eid=33d 801170a
BlackElleWoods said: "AC126748 said: "Ben Platt is nothing like Evan Hansen in real life. Just because both the actor and the character may have anxiety doesn't mean that Platt is essentially playing himself. Rachel Bay Jones and Jennifer Laura Thompson are both mothers; that doesn't mean that they're playing themselves either just because their characters are also mothers.
" PERSONALITIES is what I said . Y'all are just missing the basis of what I'm saying lol I quit
"
Ok...Ben Platt's personality is nothing like Evan Hansen's personality. Better?
"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
I briefly met Mitch Jarvis earlier this year, after seeing him as Feste in Twelfth Night. From Keith Stone to Lonny Barnett to Feste, you basically know what to expect from Jarvis... and then I met him and he wasn't that guy at all. It was surprising.
flahooley2 said: "Here's another point of view - http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/07/25/nathan lane mark rylance and why great stage actors are best onstage.html? mc cid=37ac62bf1f&mc eid=33d 801170a
BlackElleWoods said: "are there any performers who y'all think are simply playing themselves in their roles
to me I think that's the case with Platt , he just seems like he's a naturally awkward person , his role in DEH & PP born just seem like he's portraying himself
"
Kind of ****ty of you to call him an awkward person, when he has been nothing but pleasant and articulate in the public eye.
asimplegal2 said: "BlackElleWoods said: "are there any performers who y'all think are simply playing themselves in their roles
to me I think that's the case with Platt , he just seems like he's a naturally awkward person , his role in DEH & PP born just seem like he's portraying himself
"
Kind of ****ty of you to call him an awkward person, when he has been nothing but pleasant and articulate in the public eye.
In the original production of Arsenic and Old Lace, Johnathon Brewster was played by Boris Karloff and the script made a joke of people mistaking the character as being the actual the actual Boris Karloff--an unusual in-joke for a show written in 1941.