Bernadette Peters As Dot in Sunday..

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/9/06 at 11:57pm

I was listening to the commentary on the SUNDAY Dvd. And Sondheim said Bernie sings a low F sharp, that no other Dots have been able to hit. But which song is that note in? Is it in the opening?

I know I'm not the biggest Peters fan, but I think she is brilliant as Dot/Marie. I don't think another actress could make the transistion from Dot to Marie any better than Peters.

Also does Jenna Russell sing the note on the new recording? I'd imagine she does. She has a wonderful low register, and a lovely belt.



Updated On: 6/10/06 at 11:57 PM

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 12:11am

It's most likely the "Artists are bizarre, fixed, cold, that's you, George, you're biz-AAAAAARE..." in the opening number. And yes, Jenna Russell sings it.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 12:13am

Oh ok. I figured that was it. But when I tried matching it on the piano, it didn't sound like an F Sharp. lol That is probally it though.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 12:14am

Bernie loves going down to those notes.
Listen to her on
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A DAME"

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 1:43am

It is an F sharp. I'm sure Sondheim didn't have the score right in front of him. Audra sang the F sharp too.



Heh on closer inspection it's neither and F or F Sharp. It's an E. Audra still sings it. Updated On: 6/10/06 at 01:43 AM

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 6:49am

Jenna sings the 'BiZZAARRE' on the recording and onstage. And I find that bit quite funny! hehe!

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 12:02pm

Well, the critics did note that Audra had pitch problems with Dot's lower notes.

... and I have heard Audra as Dot, and she just makes that note. I can't say I'm crazy about her voice in this role. I enjoy more of the raw belt Peters and Russell have.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 12:15pm

Audra keeps gravitating toward these "women of the streets" roles (not meaning hookers, but of the lower classes)... and every time she opens her mouth... out pops Julliard. Time and again. It's such a schooled, trained voice, and she can't seem to shake it or affect it enough to be convincing to me. As much as I'm impressed with her abilities.

And it goes against these characters.

I'm glad she finds these women interesting, and she's a hell of a talent and a very good actress...

...but I don't want to see "Mrs. Howell" play a milk maid either.

I remember reading criticisms of Julie Andrews performance in the OBC of My Fair Lady saying the same thing (which probably cost her the Tony)... she was great as the "lady," but as much as she tried, she wasn't very convincing as the "poor flower girl." Most people accepted it because they chose to.

Bernadette was brilliant in the role of Dot. She has such a unique voice and presence on stage. She has this unusual personality that frequently comes across as a little girl playing dress-up, inside a grown-up's body. And for Dot, that worked beautifully in her favor. I still think it's her best work ever, in any medium.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 12:18pm

Wow, Best12bars.
I completely agree 100% with everything you stated.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 12:46pm

I think it's simply a choice on her part. Not that she can't, but that she's unwilling to. I refer you to her Down With Love. And actually I can only think of a couple of roles where she plays the types of roles you describe. Only one has actually been in a full production. Dot, MAYBE Sarah (which I enjoyed), and MAYBE Deena, who isn't really a meaty, throaty belty part anyway. I dunno to me it really is a once in a while thing.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 1:03pm

Very few people can switch BELIEVABLY between the classes. It's true with film actors and non-musical actors as well... but it's particularly hard for musical performers.

One of my favorites on film, who was brilliant on both sides of the "pocket book," was Agnes Moorehead. She could play scullery maid or "old money" and was equally and thoroughly convincing.

Streep can do it too.

But there really aren't many out there. Most folks try, but they do not succeed (at least to me). They favor one or the other, and can't really shake it.

Add in the singing... and good luck.

Sorry for the tangent here, but I felt like explaining more. My point is that Audra is not alone, and it's a VERY difficult thing to pull off.

Updated On: 6/10/06 at 01:03 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 1:13pm

I've heard that one of the very few actors who was equally convincing at playing both classes in the role of Eliza Doolittle (in Pygmalion) was Gertrude Lawrence. Many have said that she was completely convincing as a guttersnipe and her transformation to an elegant refined lady was apparently remarkable.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 1:22pm

Is there a legal recording of Audra in Sunday?

coughpmmeifitsillegalcough

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 1:23pm

best12bars, i cant agree with you more about Ms. Moorehead she was a fine actress and i always believed her. I also thought Bette Davis did an excellent job in Now, Voyager and Of Human Bondage playing both ends of class.

[kjklo]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 1:50pm

And then there was Katharine Hepburn in Spitfire.

[dcl7777]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 1:58pm

In the 1936 film,Wendy Hiller play a great Eliza Doolittle too.Miss Davis's change from a dirty poor old woman to a lady in 1961 remake Pocketful of Miracles is a really shock.

[Dame Fanadette]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 2:01pm

Who did she lose the Tony to that year?

[LostLeander]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 2:06pm

I think since it's a musical it doesn't necessarily matter what they sound like when they sing. Can poor people not have naturally gorgeous voices? I think if the way it's written calls for gritty singing, then fine. Audra will never do Effie, or Jenny, I dont know.. Eponine. We like to see those roles with gritty, harsh singing. She's too much a technician to do that, though she does say she oversings in passionate times.

I haven't heard Audra's Dot, but I'm sure it's QUITE different from Bernadettes, and I'm willing to guess that it works in a completely different way that Bernadette's worked.

I would love to see Audra get (another) crazy diva role.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 2:20pm

Dame - if you're talking about Bernadette.

She lost to Chita Rivera in The Rink. The Rink wasn't a great show. But Chita must've been spectacular.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 3:13pm

Especially since Chita not only won over Bernedette, but also over Liza Minelli. I have to say it might have been a pay-back Tony. She's been nominated so many times and at the point it was her first win. Not that she wasn't spectacular.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 3:18pm

You have to remember that Sunday in the Park opened to predominately negative reviews, except for Frank Rich in the New York Times, who defended it frequently and passionately (which made the theatre industry hate it even more at the time). As such, Bernadette probably didn't stand much of a chance at the Tony that year, although she was sublime, and I agree with best12bars above that it was some of her best work. (She tends to win for her lesser performances, and lose when she's great).

Chita was stalwart and strong in The Rink, with some mediocre, even insulting and ugly material, and she forced her songs into showstoppers. As she had also been through a career low, with recent flops like Merlin and Bring Back Birdie, I think her Tony for The Rink was as much a career appreciation award as an award for her work in The Rink. As often happens, certain factors come into play, and the Tonys became more a popularity contest than an award for the best work of the year.

But between those two performances, I'd have voted for Bernadette that year.

Updated On: 6/10/06 at 03:18 PM

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 3:26pm

I got the new "Sunday in the Park with George" CD this week. I really like it. A lot of people were complaining about the Cockney accent of Dot but it didn't bother me. Bernadette spoke with an accent too.

[otis33]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 4:14pm

I wasn't in NYC when the original "Sunday..." ran. I did, however, get to see the 10th Anniversary benefit concert with most of the original cast. An amazing night. (It also happened on my birthday, which made it even better.) Bernadette was pretty spectacular.

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 6:31pm

Well Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams also

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/10/06 at 9:02pm

God, this is such a "tangent" thread, but okay... why not? I'll keep going out on the limbs with you...

NYC4Life---Katharine Hepburn breaks my heart in Alice Adams. As an actress she could never play "poor" even remotely convincingly, but Alice is so desperately trying to rise above her surroundings and come off as "lovely" and "gentile," that it really works well to have Hepburn in the part. She's so sadly FAKE in it. I think it's one of her best performances from that era (also known as her "lean years" before Philadelphia Story). Because the character puts on airs, and has tried her entire life to be something that she isn't, Hepburn's screen persona was justified and fit the out-of-touch, awkward Alice perfectly.

Although, when it comes down to it... Hattie McDaniel steals the whole movie away from her in that one dinner scene.