Effie White -- Does She Have To Be "Heavy?"- Page 5

[dreamboy2004]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 12:24am

I had once that Linda Lenial Brown looks like Diana Ross and she realy does plus I've heard her on the dreamgirls website that no longer exsit and I think she is a much better singer than Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Posted: 6/17/05 at 12:26am

I would say that nothing could be as exciting as watching Margo speaking in tongues, but I think it would get misinterpreted.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 1:43am

I had once that Linda Lenial Brown looks like Diana Ross and she realy does plus I've heard her on the dreamgirls website that no longer exsit and I think she is a much better singer than Sheryl Lee Ralph.

yes she looked more "Ross-like" but IMO Sheryl Lee Ralph sang rings around Linda LEILANI Brown. Brown's voice was not only at a higher register but had this nasally quality to it that quickly grated on my nerves. it was very unpleasant to listen to for me whereas Sheryl's voice had a sexy, coquettish, silky quality to it. JMO.
Updated On: 6/17/05 at 01:43 AM

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 5:42am

damn, you know I was listening to Linda's and Sheryl's voices again just to compare the two because I felt I came off a bit harsh in my assessment of Linda's voice but I still have to disagree. Sheryl has the better voice and interpretation of the two.

[Kavana]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 7:31am

Margo seriously you should talk what you know.
The site has never offered bootlegs the obc cast member of DG that ran the site was a friend and he plans to put it back up, he is only updating it thank you.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 12:43pm

If we're talking about the same site (http://www.graiai.com/dreamgirls/ ), it offered several audio clips of live performances of the show, including the Tony clip and bootleg clips of Jennifer in Atlanta. I played them myself. Unless, they had written permission from John Breglio (attorney and executor of the Bennett estate), those clips were illegal.

[Kavana]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 1:02pm

The only clips put up were from The Tony Awards nothing else

You are talking about the Yahoo Group and they were not even in full and dont act like you were not up in the Imperial Theatre making bootlegs yourself.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 1:09pm

I didn't, but if I had I wouldn't have put them up on an internet site open to the public.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 1:16pm

Kavana, they put up more than just audio clips from the Tony Awards. They had performances from GMA, Rosie O' Donnell, an unnamed Los Angeles based program among other performances.

And before you start accusing me of making bootlegs up in the Imperial Theatre, I was only 12 when I first saw the show. LOL.

Updated On: 6/17/05 at 01:16 PM

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 2:16pm

arenita walker played Paradice in the brooklyn workshop!!

[Thetruth]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 3:02pm

Marquise, I actually liked Linda's voice. I can see how it can be annoying to some, but I think she had a little more power than Sheryl. Sheryl is the defenitive Deena, but Linda had that Diana resemblence that worked well for her...and those TEEF she had!


As far as the website goes...I hope it does come back. I have to agree with Kavana about the audio clips on the site. I don't recall them having anything that would be illegal to post. Now, the yahoo group on the other hand...

[beyonceisdeena]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 5:22pm

Does anyone actually have the Tony Awards Performance Ive never heard it before but from what I was told it was amazing!!!

[Kavana]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 5:50pm

hehe
Updated On: 6/17/05 at 05:50 PM

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 5:52pm

i already have those

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/17/05 at 6:06pm

Yeah, I have those too. That's not the Tony telecast, but a boot of the OBC opening night. It's still great, though.

Updated On: 6/17/05 at 06:06 PM

[ellenoshalom]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 8:27pm

...the black church is where the young singers are for sure...I really think they should consider: Kiki Sheard. She is known to tear the house down with her vocals. And she is ...a healthy young lady.
Please check out her link below.
KiKi Sheard

[Thetruth]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 8:41pm

But can she act?

[ellenoshalom]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 8:58pm

^^^but can Fantasia act? And yes, KiKi can act her humble begins started just as Fantasia's.

[Thetruth]

Posted: 10/30/05 at 11:02pm

Well, Fantasia has done a little acting. American Dreams, guess starred on All of Us. Plus, according to the rumors her actual audition was great. I'm from Detroit and know a lot about Kiki. She went to the Detroit auditions and got a callback. That's the last I heard about her and the role of Effie. I think she might be too big and too young to play Effie.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:30am

Oh my EFFING GOD. JULIA???????? This is AMAZING NEWS!

She was one of the best Effies EVER in DREAMGIRLS (some critics felt she rivaled Holliday) and incidentally (full confession) is an old and dear friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a couple of years. I already had tickets to see this production anyway. I may have to make a second trip.

She's an incredible actress and has a powerhouse voice with a four octave range -- she's gonna do phenomenal things with that score. I cannot wait.

[kevs]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:27pm

MargoChanning, I've just read through this whole thread, and I have loved reading your posts.
You mentioned that Jennifer missed many of her performances. Was this due to the strain that she was putting on her voice? I read an interview with her a couple of years ago, and she stated that singing AITYING never strained her voice. I find this hard to believe, especially considering that when she now performs the song, it is always in a lower key. (If you view all of her perfomances on YouTube, all of the AITYING performances-with the exception of the Tonys-are set in a lower key.) Don't get me wrong, I love to hear her sing that song-but all of that "growling" has to take it's toll.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:45pm

I have no idea what she's saying now about her time in Dreamgirls, but the fact is that she regularly blew out her voice and as a result missed literally dozens of performances both in New York and subsequently during the LA run (which ended up losing money because of her many absences). Her attendance record was awful and there were weeks when she couldn't do more than 2 or 3 performances of her scheduled 8, especially towards the end of the run. When I saw her at a Saturday matinee shortly before she left the Broadway production, her voice sounded patchy and almost painfully raw -- it was nevertheless an incredible performance -- and from what I heard she had missed the Friday night performance the night before and went onto miss the Saturday night performance that evening.

To be fair, every Effie who ever did the role missed performances -- it's simply too demanding to sing Effie in the manner that Holliday did 8 times a week, month after month. By the end of the Broadway run, Bennett had installed 4 separate understudies for the role because it wasn't unusual at any given time for the main Effie to be out and for one or two of the understudies to also blow out their voices trying to handle the role in replacement (I actually saw a third understudy -- a young Kecia Lewis who was 19 at the time, fresh out of HS for the Performing Arts -- one of the times I went back to see the show late in the run; everyone else was out on vocal rest).

Ideally, Effie should be treated the same way Evita is (as well as Marie Christine and the lead roles in the The Apple Tree) with a separate actress doing the role at matinees to give the main Effie a bit of relief.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 7:51pm

Oh, I wanna see Caroline in DC!

But that ain't happenin'!

What about Holliday as Caroline?
That would be funny.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:23pm

Not funny at all. I'd love to hear what her voice would do with that score. And she's improved as an actress over the years, so she might be even be credible in that department. If it ever happens, I'll be hopping on a plane to see her wherever she's doing it.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/20/06 at 8:29pm

Sorry, I was just picturing Effie doing Lot's Wife.

I'm gonna SLAM thst iron down on my heart
oo-whoa-oo-whoa-oo
I'm gonna SLAM that iron on my throat
uh-huh
Gonna slam that iron down on my sex
ee-ow-ee-ow-woo


But I would still hop a jet to see her.