I think this is the meanest most venomous thread I have ever seen since I have been here, but that is beside the point, and everyone is entitled to their opinions. So I am in no way going to pass judgement.
However, I have to say that I find Marissa to be very talented, and a great actress, and I too am glad that she is out there doing what she loves, and obviously doing well for herself. For a person who is not talented, she sure as hell has appeared on various tv shows, movies, and performed in a lot of musicals prior to Hairspray. That's not easy for talented young actors and actresses, let alone a supposedly "non-talented" one. Her singing voice is fine to me, and I have no problems with it.
As for Marissa vs. Bernadette thing.....I have said this to others, and I will say it again. During Tony's time, Bernadette was still having vocal problems and problems with her role in general. Marissa had already been doing Hairspray for a year, and had been giving consistant, great performances. To be fair, to give Bernadette a Tony based on just a few performances, that at the time, she just lucked out and happened to do well would be unfair to all the other actresses nominated in the category. I had seen Bernadette during this time twice, and her performance was not as strong as it is now, that's for sure. Do I think that now if they were contending that Bernadette should have won? Well, I would have been a lot more conflicted on my opinion now, than I was then, that's for sure. But I did think that Marissa's performance was Tony worthy. I would like to see some posters on this thread go and do what she did 8 times a week.
With all this said, in all honesty, I found the movie to be bad as well. It's not her fault that she wrote it, she just acted in it, and I didn't find her performance to be that terrible. I would love to see her do Princess Winnifred in Mattress, and see what she does with that. I think it will be a totally different story when she gets a role like this that will allow her to use her talents more effectively.
Like it or not, all performers, who are smart - in the beginning of their careers stick to certain types of roles that they know they excel in to sell themselves until they can make a name for themselves, and feel comfortable and settled enough to stray from that. Marissa, although I like her, is not a household name yet....it doesn't mean that she won't be someday. But until then, she needs to stick to projects that will get people to take a look at her, and remember her. So I don't blame her for doing this type of role. It just somehow backfired and didn't work out for her, unfortunately.
Just my 2 cents.
Cheers,
The Balladeer
"Someone tell the story...Someone sing the song...."
Updated On: 10/21/03 at 11:26 AM
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