Actors that phoned in their performance — Page 5

#101

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 4:21pm

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.

#102

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 4:26pm

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.

#103

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 5:00pm

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.

#104

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 5:04pm

Corey Cott in Newsies, he seemed bored out of his mind.

#105

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 5:10pm

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?

#106

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 5:20pm

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.

Updated On: 7/28/14 at 05:20 PM

#107

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 5:36pm

^ I think any performance in the Lion King nowadays is being sleep walked...

#108

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 6:05pm

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)

#109

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 6:13pm

Matthew Broderick in Nice Work If You Can Get It.

#110

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 6:37pm

Nice Work if You Can Get It was also an extremely boring show in general.

#111

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 6:38pm

Matt Bogart for the past 3 years of Jersey Boys.

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"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt

#112

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 7:03pm

Anderson Cooper in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

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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.

#113

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 7:27pm

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.

#114

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 7:30pm

Amra Faye Wright most nights
Will Swenson in Les Mis(bad night?)

#115

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 7:33pm

Emily Skinner in Billy Elliot. I saw her performance a few times. She consistently phoned it in with what sounded like a Russian accent.

#116

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 7:44pm

I'll echo Amra Faye in "Chicago" and Matt Caplan in "Rent"

#117

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 7:48pm

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.

#118

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 8:03pm

Madeleine Kahn in the last preview of ON THE 20TH CENTURY. Alas and alack, because I hear she was brilliant on other occasions.

#119

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 8:07pm

Emily Skinner in B.E. was Amazing!
Terrance Mann in Pimpernel walked through the role

#120

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 8:12pm

"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.

#121

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/28/14 at 10:15pm

"Anderson Cooper in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"

i loled. actually i l(ed)ol.

#122

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/29/14 at 11:52am

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.

#123

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/29/14 at 12:07pm

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.

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A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.

#124

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/29/14 at 12:08pm

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.

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"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

#125

re: Actors that phoned in their performance

Posted: 7/29/14 at 1:39pm

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...