Wondering if anyone saw Debbie Gibson in these shows. I just found a Playbill and was suprised to see her playing Sally. How did I miss this??!! I would love to see her in Wicked!!
I saw her in Cabaret and she was great. I really enjoyed her performance. Not pushed or gimmicky. And when she signed my Playbill, she said I "rocked." Mmmmm 80's throwback.
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Debbie (Deborah now) has ALWAYS loved theatre. Her recording career in the 80's kept her busy. She is starting a theatre camp this summer out in LA I think??? I cannot remember where I read that - maybe Playbill.com. Also, she is doing some performing. She will be in Atlantic City in May. I may go with my best friend - we just loved Debbie in our pre-teen/teen years.
I would love to see her return to Broadway, as well!
I saw her in Les Miz. Since I am a child of the 80's I thought that was pretty cool. Actually, she was quite good if I remember correctly. I think it is clear that she truly loves musical theater and she has my respect, unlike a lot of the so called stunt casting that goes on.
She also played Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, Fanny Brice on tour in Funny Girl, and Louise opposite Betty Buckley's Rose in Gypsy at Papermill.
There are videos of her in all of those shows on youtube. I think she's fantastic.
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She was marvelous in CABARET. I would love to see her originate a role on Broadway.
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Deborah has Camp Electric Youth, a summer theater camp in Hollywood. It sounds awesome! She is teaching as are numerous celebrities like Marissa Jaret Winokur, Eden Espinosa (looove her!!!), Wayne Brady and others.
I was in the Dream Chorus with her as the Narrator back in the summer of '99 when the Joseph tour came around. She was so nice to all of us. I caught her at Miscast a couple years back; would love to see her in a show though.
I too saw her in the tour of Joesph, and she was amazing. My partner and I went in to it somewhat making fun of the fact that she was in it, but we came out very impressed.
I love Deborah, but she was a little lackluster as Sally. Bad accent, uninspiring acting, and though her singing was good (which is why most people liked her Sally apparently), her overall performance was disappointing.
I feel like in recent years Broadway has kind of had a bad effect on her singing. It almost sounds forced. She scoops her phrases, goes a little over-the-top with the vibrato, and just straight-forward belts everything. Go on THAT site and listen to her version of "I'm Not that Girl".
I think it just depends on what show she's in. She was great in Les Miserables and Gypsy. Not so much in Cabaret.
I don't WANT to live in what they call "a certain way." In the first place I'd be no good at it and besides that I don't want to be identified with any one class of people. I want to live every whichway, among all kinds---and know them---and understand them---and love them---THAT's what I want! - Philip Barry (Holiday)
I saw her in LES MIS back in 1992. She had gone to my school so we had a whole class trip to see the show and then have a Q&A afterwards. I don't really remember details about her performance but I had loved the show.
I saw her as Sally in CABARET at North Carolina Theatre's productions back in 200(6?). Her slight lisp distracted a couple times but I took it as part of the character (it only distracted because I was warned that her lisp is awful).
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
Deborah on Wicked: Question: Is there any role that you've seen that you'd like to try? Gibson: For awhile I wanted to do Wicked, and I was up for Wicked. I auditioned here and they flew me out. Basically the feedback came back that I was too worldly! And I thought, "That's odd" because I'm such an eternally youthfully spirited person. I have seen the world, but sometimes I think that's where perception gets in the way. If people know that you have actually traveled the world, that might enter their mind, whereas if they didn't know anything else about me, it might not have. With that said, my voice truly does not live up there. [Laughs.] So I kind of took it as a blessing and I thought, "I would have had to live like a nun [to play Elphaba]." When I did Funny Girl on the road, I would sleep with one of those facial steamers blowing on me all night. I had to go to such great lengths to do it. You can do that for a time, but then you can also go kind of insane. I do think there are people better suited for that role. http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/114410.html
And I've seen Deborah in most everything she's done on a US stage (grrr for the Funny Girl tour being canceled before hitting my city) and she's always been full of life and extremely capable in each role.