The Official Adam Pascal Love thread- Page 903

[Chloe]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 2:14pm

Unfortunately, I didn't see him on Victor's lap, or some of his expressions, for that matter. The accent didn't bother me at all. No one's accent except Susan Egan's seemed particularly authentic, nor did I feel they needed to be in this context. ::has now started writing very concise posts, owing to paragraph problems::

[i love adam p]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 2:16pm

like em, i remember very little from his performance from the early years of aida. all i remember is my mom was obsessed with him so she made me and my family see it. his voice was really all that i remember about aida. we frequently listened to the cd and from the performance i just remember that this guy in it was amazing. i, still, didnt really know who he was until this summmer when, in the newspaper, there was an add that said adam pascal was back in aida. my mom literally flipped out and made me see it with her in early july. it was AMAZING. i can remember how he delivered every line and how great he was with aida and how believable their love was. i made my mom take me back after we came home from our trip to italy and it was better than the first time. everything was perfect, the music was amazing. i convinced my mom to stage door and ofcourse... no show. i hadnt seen him in rent or cabaret even though i am very interested to see the bootlegs.. but i remember that he wasnt the best actor out there, he delivered his lines well and everything but his singing is what makes him famous.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 2:22pm

Nia, I like Adam because he has the most amazing voice. His voice absolutely blows me away, so does his own music.

I never said that I didn't care for his performance in Aida, I only said that his acting was not very good. His energy, stage presence was incredible.

And yes, I didn't care for his performance in Cabaret... doesn't make me less of a fan. Still went too many times.

ETA: Chloe, I believe that accents need to be good when they are used. Adam's was just ... I don't even know what it was.. maybe Spanish? If accents don't need to be authentic why use them at all???

QM

Updated On: 3/12/05 at 02:22 PM

[Chloe]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 2:49pm

Hi Nia! Well, QM and Elle have said pretty much the same thing, in different ways. One thing I like about BWW and this thread in particular is people's willingness to be honest and clearsighted as fans. I think that's important. All that taken into consideration, it'll be interesting to see how Adam does in the Rent film. A director who's really good with actors can probably get an excellent performance from him. As I've said before, his ability to convey emotion with his singing means that the emotion is there to be tapped, it's just a matter of him learning to tap it in a different mode. The question for me is whether Chris Columbus can do this. I have no doubts about his devotion to Rent, but wonder about him as an actors' director. I don't think I've seen enough of his work to really judge. Just saw QM's accent question. This is an area I've had to deal with in my work. What has happened more than once with the more bizarre sounding accents, like Boston or Northern Ireland, is that audiences find them distracting and criticize the actor for having a "bad accent," when what they were doing was very authentic. It's not as cut-and-dried as it might seem. What seems to work best in some cases is a "modified" version of an accent that suggests what it is without being very strong. That's what a lot of the Cabaret cast seemed to be doing. Unfortunately I'm not enough of an expert on German accents to be able to judge Adam's, except that it didn't disturb me or seem like it was coming from the wrong part of Europe, and that would be the most important thing for the primarily American audience for the show.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 2:53pm

I sadly only saw Adam live in Aida from the balcony. It was near the end of his first run, and I think I remember that he seemed kinda tired...but I was still just soo happy to finally see "the original Roger live." I still remember loving the singing that night, and still love it now. I wish I could have seen his emcee, Secada was the only one I saw. I actually liked him, but then again, his was the only one I saw. Ooh and Em, about the Tonys, yup I'm getting more excited too. It's funny, two years ago the only shows I saw that were nominated for anything was Take Me Out and Into The Woods revival. Last year, it was Wicked, Avenue Q, and Fiddler. This year I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing all of the nominated musicals, which means I will have seen most of the acting nominees, so I'm really looking forward to it--it should be lots of fun! (Though not sure if anything can top Idina "upsetting" everyone to win the Tony last year-I screamed and teared up-don't kill me for being that excited but between her amazing performance and the fact that she missed so little performances I was soo happy for her).

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 3:00pm

Chloe, good points made by you. One of the few reasons Adam was 'trashed' on various boards for his performance was his accent, so it must have bothered a few people. You can trust me when I say I know a bad German accent when I hear one. Fact is that it wasn't even a bad German accent, it was just not a German accent. Germans don't see 'chappy' instead of 'happy'. I can't wait to see him in Rent. I have faith in him and have everything crossed for him as the 'big screen' has no mercy. QM

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 3:09pm

The first time I saw Adam live was as the Emcee. My mom thought he played the part WAY too over-affectedly. I didn't know any better. I thought he acted the part very well (of course, he was the only Emcee I had seen, except for Joel Grey in the movie). And that accent... it wasn't German. It was like someone took a German accent and threw a bunch of other accents in there with it. But it worked. Adam's acting skills were a lot better in Cabaret than in Aida (I'm judging that from bootlegs that I've seen). And Adam's stage presence was amazing. I watched him the whole time.

[Chloe]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 3:10pm

Yeah, I noticed the glottal 'h' sounds. If anything, that would be Yiddish, I imagine. Which reminds me of a story Jimmy Cagney told about studying German in school with a lot of Jewish kids, and being told he spoke with a Yiddish accent when he went to Germany to shoot there. Anyway, I'll take your word on the accent, since I really don't know. :-P

Where are you from originally, if you feel like mentioning it?

ETA: That question was directed to QM - didn't see Diva's post. Updated On: 3/12/05 at 03:10 PM

[bwayballerina]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 3:24pm

Hi! Having never seen Adam in anything except the broadway.com videos and clips of Rent from the PBS special, I have pretty much nothing to judge his acting by. The first time I heard him was in the Glory clip from PBS, so I guess it was his voice that made me a fan. I'm looking forward to the Rent movie, since I'll finally get to see him act. Though I might possibly find a, erm... time machine to help me out a little before then.

[Chloe]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 3:39pm

Yeah, Diva, Adam's stage presence is pretty amazing. Hi, ballerina - good luck with your time machines! I wouldn't mind having a few more of those myself. Have to get off and do some chores - see you all later.

[insomniak]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:00pm

Don't know a thing about accents, but I will say that I think an actor can get away with a bad one if playing Emcee because of the character's ambiguity. He doesn't have a specific sexuality, name, relationship with any character ect. It bothers me less than it would with other characters. Makes sense, QM. I do like his Emcee, but I have nothing to compare against. If I'd seen several others I might feel the same way. I really don't think he's terrible though. Even in Aida, I wasn't cringing through the entire thing. He's passable, just not really good. If Adam couldn't sing like he does I wouldn't be a fan, that's for sure. It's his redeeming quality.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:37pm

eeeek! I missed a lot. I'll try to catch up in a little bit... Anyway: Unfortunately, I didn't see him on Victor's lap yum? There was some definite petting. Someone said something about presence - that's one thing I didn't mention when I typed that long crazy thing. He has so much, and even if he's not the best actor, he absolutely commands attention. And oh, the accent. haha...

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:41pm

No, no, no, Nia, please don't think that I consider Adam's acting to be 'cringe worthy' (is that a word?). I think 'clumsy' is the better word. If anyone who has seen Aida in the last stages and has seen the face he's giving Amneris when she finished telling him off for not joining her in the bedroom (open mouth, gasping for air) or the famous 'hands' during 'I'll never take you sailing' knows what I mean. His acting is not 'real', it's very forced and therefore comes across as very comical when it shouldn't. I was thinking about why I didn't like his Emcee earlier. Fair enough, I have seen wonderful actors such as Alan, NPH and Raul in that role and Adam's portrayal was very stiff and forced in comparison. The big problem I really had with him as The Emcee was that he had no comic timing at all. He missed most of the laughs as he was rushing though the lines. I could give dozens of examples but I don't want to bore anyone too much. Also, he was extremely uncomfortable with the audience. As you all know, The Emcee pulls an audience member up onto the stage at the beginning of the second act and that's where I thought Adam's attempts were lamost painful. He never looked at the person he was dancing with, he was staring at the audience while talking to his 'dance partner', he looked extremely uncomfortable. It could get into more details and give specific examples that I witnessed but as I said, I don't want to bore you guys too much. QM

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:43pm

I hate this. Why don't I have any paragraphs showing? I did use them! QM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:45pm

awwwwwww. He did seem less comfortable the first time I saw him, but he was tons better on closing day. I can compare him to Jon live (ARGH) and Raul not, but that's all. Obviously he's not the top-notch actor, but I'm sticking to having been proud of him - a few years ago, he never would've been able to do it at all.

[insomniak]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:46pm

I get what you're saying and I agree with it, I just wonder sometimes what our attraction is to this man. Hm.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:46pm

Well, I saw him a lot in Cabaret and towards the end of the run too... QM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:47pm

nia, he's not devoid of talent. It's the voice, more than anything else.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 5:48pm

The voice. Period. QM

[Chloe]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 6:46pm

Emcee, if you're still around I want to ask you about something. Another set onlooker said that the whole OBC was smoking (as in cigarettes). Is that true? Oh, and QM, I didn't pick up on the discomfort with the audience members at all, but again, I wasn't there.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 6:53pm

Chloe, the bootleg is extremely poorly filmed during the specific scene I was refering to, so I guess there was no way to pick that up. QM

[Chloe]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 7:12pm

"I just wonder sometimes what our attraction is to this man."

The voice plays a big part, but I'm sure we all have slightly different reasons. I've only seen Adam live at the end of Aida, but I find QM's assessment a little harsh. Not that she's wrong, because there is no right and wrong when it comes to these kinds of opinions, but he struck me as being better than she described.

Oh, and have you taken a look at him lately?

ETA: There are some interesting, if blurry, pictures up on the CB movie forum, under Pictures from the Set. Updated On: 3/12/05 at 07:12 PM

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 7:41pm

Chloe, I've been seeing Adam regularly since 1998 (and have supported him since then)... I find it very difficult to discuss his performance with you who has seen him once in Aida and thinks I'm too harsh when I try to explain his 'flaws', especially when you're admiting that you never fell for him when you saw him in Aida either (only after having listened to the OBCR).

You're judging his performance by seeing him on bootlegs (and the few memories you might have from Aida)...
I'm probably one of the biggest fans on here and you have no idea what I have done to see him perform.
I'm very critical when it comes to my favorite performers and unlike others I take off my rose-tinted glasses when watching them.

QM

Updated On: 3/12/05 at 07:41 PM

[Chloe]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 7:59pm

Actually, you might be confusing me with someone else here, QM, as I first saw him in Aida last August and September, and got interested in him because of that, not just from listening to the CD. At any rate, as I said before, we're only discussing opinions here, and each of us is likely to have a somewhat different one. I certainly didn't mean to cast any aspersions on your fandom! And I agree that it's possible to be a big fan and still find things to criticize in a performer.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 3/12/05 at 8:12pm

I must have misunderstood your post from February then when I asked you if you had only just discovered Adam and you replied: 'Yes, when I finally saw Aida last August. I wasn't instantly so taken with him - the poison worked into me gradually after I got the Aida CD, then the Rent one, and then his solo albums.' I knew I wasn't going mad.

My earlier post wasn't so much about trying to defend my fandom but trying to explain how much I appreciate him as a singer but can still accept his flaws.

QM

Updated On: 3/12/05 at 08:12 PM