Eurgh, Not Good At All

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/28/09 at 3:01pm

I'm using this space to rant very briefly about the thoroughly bafflingly bad lady who plays Anita on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra version of West Side Story (the one with Barbara Bonney and Michael Ball as Maria and Tony, both of whom I liked).

Their Anita has the single lousiest professionally trained voice I've ever come across. She sounds like someone's grandfather trying to sing opera... and she has literally no belt voice at all (or lower head voice), so every note that's not in her chest voice is a breathy garble of vibrato and wheezing.

You can listen to thirty-second-samples of her hideousness on the Amazon page, though they don't necessarily give the best example of what makes her so awful for the part-- I recommend listening to the clip for "Tonight": http://www.amazon.com/West-Side-Story-Leonard-Bernstein/dp/B00009RAG4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1240945061&sr=8-2

NOTE: I understand she's probably very good at opera, but for Anita in West Side Story? No thank you.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 4/28/09 at 3:13pm

Similarly on Bernstein's symphonic recording back in the '80s, with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras, the very fine mezzo Tatiana Troyanos sounded kind of ridiculous as Anita.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/28/09 at 3:25pm

Oh god, I HATE that recording with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/28/09 at 3:50pm

The dvd of the recording of the TeKanawa/Carreras was a riot.

While the girls were recording "America" she was told to clip the word pipe for dramatic effect.
She was adorable, and her "Smoooooke on your PIP!" is too funny.

I cant stand Carreras on that recording.