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Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones — Page 2

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#26

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:18am

Just like how Karen Olivo couldn't dance and had no clue how to perform her act 2 scenes.
You can try as hard as you'd like, but you can't take away their awards, lol. And now Catherine has three of them for this performance.
#27

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:21am

Catherine Zeta-Jones's win tonight was just as surprising as Glenn Close's win for SUNSET BOULEVARD when her ONLY other competition was Rebecca Luker for the revival of SHOW BOAT.
#28

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:21am

At the performance I saw of ALNM, I thought she oversang the song, but was otherwise ok. At the City Center Sondheim celebration, I felt that she oversang both of her numbers and was pretty bad. Tonight's performance was the worst by far. And she does reek of ego and self importance. It leaves such a bad taste in my mouth.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

Updated On: 6/14/10 at 01:21 AM

#29

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:22am

The fact is, tonight, she had to sing it in context without the context. Of course, if she can do it out of context, I bet she will not perform it like what we saw.

Updated On: 6/14/10 at 01:22 AM

#31

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:24am

I haven't seen CZJ in A Little Night Music, nor have I listened to the cast recording. That being said, I was really skeptical when she started performing the number and I didn't really like it at first. It seemed to drag on a bit and I wasn't sure if I liked her vocally. However, by the end of the number I was really enjoying it and I thought that she acted the hell out of it. It was my first time seeing her perform it, and to me it seemed fantastic.
#32

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:25am

And she does reek of ego and self importance.

You know, I've gotten that impression before too. But I've heard the total opposite having spoken to people who work directly with her at the Kerr. Apparently she is an absolutely lovely and down to earth person backstage. I can't speak first hand, but I know she is really loved over there and is going to be missed.
#33

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:28am

What songs did she sing at the City Center?

"You Must Meet My Wife," during which she waved her hands around and "Send in the Clowns," which was a less dreadful version of tonight's performance.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

Updated On: 6/14/10 at 01:28 AM

#34

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:30am

"I thought that she acted the hell out of it."

I like the touch when she exhaled hard at the end. That one touch impressed me of her being an actress. She was in character. The only thing I cannot get through is her head.
#35

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:31am

I'm getting to this thread late and didn't even read the second page but let me tell you that her hoarseness tonight contributed mightily to this performace being sub-par. As someone who witnessed her theatre performance from the 2nd row center two weeks ago tomorrow, she was perfection on stage both in her singing and acting. We sat there tonight wondering what the h*** was going on with her performance and put it up to her being ill as she said in her speech. I, too, would have preferred The Glamorous Life or A Weekend In The Country to feature others in the cast but since she and Lansbury don't share a duet and they were the only ones nominated, I understand the producer's choice. I had my doubts going into the show, but she knocked all doubts away in my opinion.
#36

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:36am

And she does reek of ego and self importance.

Not that this should mean anything to anyone but my closest childhood friend randomly won the Miss Universe pageant a couple years ago and she said Catherine Zeta-Jones was one of the very few people she met in the industry that she said seemed genuine and was nice to her from the get-go, she actually introduced herself to my friend as "Catherine" which I thought was really cute/funny.
I haven't gotten a chance to see her performance tonight. Sorry, PJ, I respect your opinion but I thought her performance at the Walter Kerr was beautiful and I cannot keep myself from listening to her "Send in the Clowns" on the recording. I also think she gave one of the most astonishing musical performances in a movie musical, so I really respect her as an actress and I couldn't be happier she won tonight!
Ljay, I know you were with me on the Zeta-Jones' camp, I bet you are as happy as I am that Montego can't-act Glover didn't win Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#37

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:36am

"her hoarseness tonight contributed mightily to this performace being sub-par"

Maybe but the apparent hoarseness of her voice did not really detract that much for me. Johns and Dench have hoarse voices. And I don't think Bernadette "See me on a Monday" Peters is going to be free from hoarse.

It was her violent head movements and (very very much less so) some of the phrasing/pauses that I thought was the problem.

But I think she performed it much better when I saw her, and she was really, really friendly at the NIGHT MUSIC signing. And I LOVE her on the cast recording. (i.e. I am a fan.)

Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.

Updated On: 6/14/10 at 01:36 AM

#38

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:41am

"It was her violent head movements and (very very much less so) some of the phrasing/pauses that I thought was the problem."

Agree. Well, I think the only positive reason I can give is that she wants to do the uneasiness of her situation in that scene, and since it's a big venue, she needs to exaggerate her motion. But when we see her in close-up, that just become violent. That's the only thing I can think of...

Well, no one can top Judi Dench, but I do think she's one of those people who really act the song out. And the pauses are not that a matter to me. If you listen to Hannah Waddingham's version, she was even more choppy than CZJ (but hell, Hannah did a brilliant in delivery!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTx_c91UjRs

Updated On: 6/14/10 at 01:41 AM

#39

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 1:44am

There are, in my opinion, essentially two versions of "Send in the Clowns". There's the original version from the show, in context of the show, which is really only ever seen when productions of the show pop up. And then there's the pop-standard version of the song, which really exists seperately from the show. In the show, the song is far more about the emotion and the acting, wheras the pop version is more about the singing. I feel like since the Tony performance was aimed at the wide audience familiar with the pop version, CZJ tried to cross the acting version she does every night in the show with the sing-songier pop version for the wide audience who is only familiar with the pop version, and it sort of crashed-and-burned. That's the only way I could justify it to those I talked to that said she didn't "sing it enough", when I told them that she, in fact, really sang it too much.
"Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos."-Stephen Sondheim
#40

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 2:19am

That certainly how she performed the song when my show. Apparently her neck twitches from left to right several times a second when she's nervous. Poor thing.

And I thought she was genuinely happy about winning.

I'm also just grateful it didn't go to Glover and we're saved a year of muscle threads about Glover's win.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
#42

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 2:28am

"That certainly how she performed the song when my show"

When did you see it? (I wonder if there is some kind of timeline).
Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.
#43

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 2:32am

I've seen her 3 times, and she blew me away each time. Tonight, she was clearly sick and/or intimidated by the size of Radio City. It's also hard to do that song in context out of context when your scene partner isn't there with you. I'm seeing her one last time on Thursday, and I'm sure she will be stunning again once she's back in the intimate Kerr.
#44

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 2:32am

I've seen her four times between November and April. She has always moved her head quite a bit during the song, but she was never as jerky as she was tonight. And I've never seen her overact the number like that. I really think not having Hanson there threw her off. The producers messed up.
#47

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 2:51am

"I think she sang the hell out of it."

I agree 100%. She literally sang as if she was exorcising a demon from her body. And let us remember, clowns are funny.
#49

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 8:04am

"And she does reek of ego and self importance."

Is this the stock criticism people on this board have for anyone who is a movie star, or just a bigger theater star than they personally deem fit? Come on, I don't think Zeta-Jones is a genius, but ego is something I'm just not getting from her.
#50

Acting Lessons from Miss Catherine Zeta Jones

Posted: 6/14/10 at 8:05am

Late to the party here.

I saw Jayne Patterson go on, who was exquisite in the role. I've heard nothing but praise from folks who saw her live. Knowing she has been ill, I gave her the benefit of the doubt with her singing. We all know she has a fabulous singing voice and there are many recordings out there to back up that claim. I'm a huge CZJ fan, and I wish I could have seen her Desiree.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert

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