I saw Ms. Steisand in Funny Girl on a Saturday matinee in July of 64, just a few months after it opened. She was wonderful, she gave a totally committed performance. (by the way, so was Sydney Chaplin, who, I felt, partnered her beautifully). When I saw Sherie Rene Scott in DRS, right before it closed, she was completely into it.
Just saw We Will Rock You at the Ahamanson in Los Angeles, and Jacqueline Arnold who played the Killer Queen gave an extremly uninspired and phoned in performance. While the rest of the cast were extremely energetic and singing their lungs out, she seemed to be holding back her voice and seemed kinda bored. i was in the 4th row so I can only imagine how she read to people in the back row.
Also saw Nikki James in BOM last year in April and seemed bored out her mind.
I've been a big fan of Haven Burton for years, but when I saw her on the national tour of Shrek the Musical I was greatly disappointed. The whole performance she looked as if she'd rather be watching paint dry than be up on the stage. Both vocally and acting wise she was very very boring and the ensemble out shined her 100%. It was only during the encore that she seemed energetic.
I saw Haven in Shrek and could not disagree more. I thought she was wonderful and very into the show. Not to mention the role of Fiona, at least in my opinion, is very involved. Maybe she was having an off night when you saw her?
When I saw THE LION KING in 2011, the ensemble looked extremely bored at the part when Scar tries to kill Simba when he returned. The only person who gave a crap was Nala (of course). The lionesses' faces were literally like -__- when Simba was dangling off. And the finale sounded TERRIBLE, which was a major disappoinment. I only heard the guy who was Zazu, who was in character and he's supposed to sound pitchy, so you can imagine what I heard. Idk if it was the sound people (most likely) or the ensemble, not giving a crap.
Haven Burton phoned it in during Legally Blonde as Margot. Dead eyes the entire time and especially miserable during the curtain call.
Chorus boy Manuel Herrera has looked bored on every Broadway stage I've ever seen him on. Wicked, Legally Blonde (even in the MTV broadcast he looks like he doesn't want to be there)
Anderson Cooper in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Sherie Rene Scott and Matthew Broderick specialize in a tamped down, dry performing style. So it's easy to perceive that as phoning it in. It may just be a style that doesn't work for some audiences.
I saw Raul Esparza sleepwalk his way through Act One of "Cabaret." He did seem to wake up for Act Two, but he really damaged the overall production. The rest of the cast, which then starred Molly Ringwald, was excellent.
"Not Broadway, but last year when I saw "Avenue Q" the actors playing Gary Coleman and Brian just felt so damn lethargic. No energy, no life. The rest of the cast were striking in comparison."
That was my experience too. The Gary Coleman was also really hard to understand. She didn't enunciate well nor did she sing loudly enough for us to hear the lyrics. Had I not already known the lyrics, I would have been as lost as my friends were who never saw it. I could only imagine what she would have sounded like in a huge space.
Matthew Broderick was atrocious in Nice Work If You Can Get It. Kelli O'Hara and Michael McGrath made the show enjoyable, but I still didn't find it nearly has appealing as most people on this board did. Really wish I would have seen it with Will Chase.
When I finally gave it and saw Mamma Mia three years ago, I couldn't help but notice how bored the ensemble looked. They were really just going through the motions.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
Terry Mann always seems to get bored a few months into a run and goes off the rails. The difference between seeing him shortly after PIPPIN opened and about six months later was so distinct. And it seems to happen any time he's in a show for a sustained period of time.
When I saw GYPSY late in the run, Laura Benanti just about yawned in the audience's collective face.
"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 If/Then, Idina phones in her performance twice that I remember. When the show opens, she is on the phone, and then in the park, she has the soldier give her her number and she puts it in her phone. She may have phoned in a lot more scenes, but those are the only ones I remember...