Ben Brantley on Rosie in FIDDLER: ouch.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 4:02am

He wasn't too kind to Fierstein either:

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/theater/reviews/14fidd.html

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 4:09am

Not since Mercedes McCambridge dubbed the part of the demon in "The Exorcist" has there been such a vocally baroque performance.

Oh dear.

[andyf]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 4:12am

"A warning to those of delicate hearing: the show is now so overmiked that when Mr. Fierstein exercises his nasal tones, your eardrums go into shock. When Ms. O'Donnell tries to match him in stridency in the duet "Do You Love Me?," you may find yourself longing for a more aurally soothing environment, like the runway of a busy airport."

There's the Ben Brantley we know and love! Where the hell has this guy been for so long?

Glad to have him back, though.

I also enjoyed "Her accent trots the globe, through countries real and imagined." There really is a very distinct brogue in her first scene...it's wonderful.

Updated On: 10/14/05 at 04:12 AM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 4:26am

OK, now DOUBLE ouch: The TB review reads like it was written by John Simon:

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/Fiddler3.html

[Forester]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 4:34am

Ouch

[lamentingenvelope]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 6:30am

I love him. And I hate him. I love to hate him. His reviews are always passionate praise or passionate hate and usually make for very entertaining reading either way.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 7:38am

She actually posts the review and a brief response to it in her blog.
RBlog

[MackieManiac]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 8:00am

WOW! Rosie has become even more lame.. if that is possible.

I can do brain surgery and give it my 100%... outcome would not be so great.. because I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL I AM DOING. It is wonderful when one can admit that.

She needs to stick to what she's good at.. self promoting.. and getting bored with her project of the moment and quitting ... Stand Up... Grease! ... Talk Show... Magazine.. what's next? Shipping the kids back to the kid store?
Updated On: 10/14/05 at 08:00 AM

[magic8ball]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 9:28am

a. I laughed out loud after reading only the first four words of this thread.

b. Those reviews are HILARIOUS.

c. Rosie's blog is the most ridiculous tripe I've ever read. It's as if she regresses into an infantile state before posting in it.

[Magdalene]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 9:46am

Ooh, ouch! Entertaining, however...

[Ustadance]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 9:55am

Whether or not Miss Brantley is correct in her assessment - why is it ok that Rosario Dawson can't sing in "Two Gents" ("she can't sing, but who cares?" - BB) ,he gives a RAVE to Melanie Griffith in "Chicago"who can neither sing, dance or move - but slams Rosie and Harvey up one side and down the other. So arbitrary as to lose any vestige of credibility...when will the Times hire a real critic instead of a sexually frustrated, and downright fugly closet queen? Updated On: 10/14/05 at 09:55 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 10:02am

While I sometimes respect Brantley. He is a little odd. His raving for Griffith?

But wow, these reviews are TERRIBLE for Harvey and Rosie.

The new Charity revival didn't get nearly as trashed as Fiddler, not even close to the trashing Fiddler got/gets.

And Rosie's blog is hilarious.

mr b cam 2nite
yo it waz mah buezt performince yet
i dont crare wht he say
yeah uh im good in dis role


that's my example of her blog.

[lildogs]

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

If Miss Brantley wasn't such a bitchy queen, she wouldn't be nearly as much fun to read. If nothing else, Ben writes well and is quite learned in my estimate, though off his rocker in a few instances, like the aforementioned Griffith and Dawson--I always thought Fran and Barry must've bought that Melanie review...or he was just trying to read too much into the performance, reasoning that if Roxie says she can't make it into vaudeville, she REALLY meant it. People like reading bad reviews, much the same as people who like gossip and slow down for car wrecks.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 10:40am

Her response pisses me off. If that's "all I can do" and your "100%", then clearly you know you don't belong up there. I'm not even going to list all the Broadway performers who would more than do justice to this role, because I would just get angrier with every name I typed.

Updated On: 10/14/05 at 10:40 AM

[DancerGirl16]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:09am

I just finished reading the article before I got online. "Ouch" basically sums it up, but honestly...Rosie in Seussical is one thing, but it is insulting to the original book, the authors messages, the musical and the audience to watch Fiddler with Rosie. Everything to her, even when she doesn't intend to, comes out as a joke...she delivers EVERYTHING as a joke...I would never spend 100 dollars to see it but I think that that article (having seen her perform in the past) is completely accurate.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:28am

Dead on as usual Rath...it's a shame and I think it ultimately undermines the artistic value of this or any show...but it's a business and producers are ultimately looking for bucks, not beauty...

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:40am

I'm not talking about the producers (who are also at fault, I agree), I'm talking about HER. She KNOWS she can't deliver, but she took the job anyway.

I much prefer the Claire Danes's and Kathleen Turners of the world who have the integrity to respond to those offers with, "a musical? Thanks, but I can't sing."

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:43am

Maybe she thinks she can...and it's not like SHE needs the money...and Claire and Kathleen have reputations as real actresses and wouldn't want to face NYC critics in a vehicle that would only embarass them. Rosie has nothing to lose in that dept.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:43am

She expressed a lot of doubt when approached to do the role. One only wishes she would have followed her gut instinct and stayed away. I think she's gotten so much praise and esteem from her efforts to boldly lead the gay parent movement that she's lost her ability to tell the difference between bravery and foolhardiness.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:48am

And she has turned alot of people onto theatre in general, which is a wonderful thing, so I don't want to criticize someone with good intentions.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:49am

Read the blog, lildogs. She says those things I have quoted. Her defense is that she's doing her best, that's all she has. Obviously, she knows she isn't qualified.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:55am

Oh, I know...I'm not defending her for taking on too much, but when the audience supports her as they seem to, it may be more difficult for her to see her performance objectively. Too bad they're cheering her for who she is and not what she does...there's no accounting for public taste...

And she'd be a fool to think she has the chops of a Randy Graff and certainly not of an Andrea Martin...

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 11:57am

Okay, I love Rosie, but what's with her typing?

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 12:03pm

Rosie's blog scares me. I read a few entries, but had to stop as I felt all of my will to continue to enjoy poetry in any form was gone. Is it poetry? Is it a journal? No one knows!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/14/05 at 12:05pm

I think she has her kids write it.