Best "Send in the Clowns" EVER! — Page 2
#27
Posted: 8/3/09 at 2:19am
Glynis Johns' version is stunning. She set the standard.
Dame Judi Dench is a close second.
Barbara Cook's version is very good.
Judy Collins rushes a bit, but is still good.
Hearing Patti LuPone sing "Send in the Clowns" would be torture. The must be something in the Geneva Convention about this.
Dame Judi Dench is a close second.
Barbara Cook's version is very good.
Judy Collins rushes a bit, but is still good.
Hearing Patti LuPone sing "Send in the Clowns" would be torture. The must be something in the Geneva Convention about this.
#28
Posted: 8/3/09 at 3:33pm
I enjoy the Angela Landsbury version, from the 3-CD set, Sondheim Collection.
#29
Posted: 8/3/09 at 3:43pm
I'm partial to Krusty the Clown's version.
#30
Posted: 8/3/09 at 6:16pm
The best version I've heard was sung by Julie Andrews on the Tony Awards about 20 years ago. Very musical, understated and beautifully placed, with no showy vocalizing. I also think the Glynis Johns original is a heartbreaker.
#31
Posted: 8/3/09 at 7:03pm
humbugfoto, I'm guessing the reason they made it faster is so wouldn't sound so heartbreaking and sad. The Bradys don't do sadness.
...everyone was doing the mambo and drinking golden cadillacs...
#32
Posted: 8/3/09 at 7:16pm
Since Ms. Johns was sick when she recorded the "Night Music" album, and by her own admission had to sing it in a semi-breathy light voice, she was never happy with what was on the OBC Album. If you didn't see her sing it live, with all the anger, hurt, and little-death sensibility, you've not really gathered what she did with it. There IS a "best of..." DVD with her singing it and Len Cariou being part of it, and it really captures what the song is about. Beautiful to see and hear. The scariest version is MEL TORME's UPTEMPO version with actual CIRCUS music in the scoring, and a line "Here come the goonies, those goons. Send in the loonies, send those loons..." at the end. I'm surprised he didn't add "Hey, how's your steak?"
Updated On: 8/3/09 at 07:16 PM
#33
Posted: 12/1/18 at 8:36am
I’m partial to Ruthie Henshall’s take here: https://youtu.be/jyscZQmRc6w A little dramatic, but her voice...nails it.
#34
Posted: 12/1/18 at 8:59am
mattonstage said: "This is a favorite of mine, Dame Judi on a talkshow giving a stunning performance:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rEhOnd8S-8"
100%. Aside from Marin Mazzie's Losing My Mind, God rest her, this is my favorite performance of a Sondheim song. I think the little sigh she gives at the beginning just makes it.
I know you.
I know you.
I know you.
#35
Posted: 12/1/18 at 9:37am
So many great versions of this song. I saw Dorothy Tutin in the 1989 Chichester/West End revival, Dame Judi at the National (three times!), Hannah Waddingham (too young!) at the Menier, Bernadette Peters on Broadway (not really right for it, but still broke my heart) ....but the best Désirée (and the finest ‘Clowns&rsquo
I ever saw was Josefina Gabrielle (she was Laurey in the National Theatre Oklahoma! on film opposite Hugh Jackman, then on Broadway opposite Patrick Wilson; currently a stunning Velma Kelly in West End Chicago) in an exquisite actor-musician version at the Watermill Theatre, a gorgeous regional theatre in the countryside about 50km outside London.
She is the only one I’ve seen who completely got the characters’ fascinating mix of glamour, ruthlessness, flakiness, charisma and sweetness. She was deeply moving but also entirely credible as a woman who two men would fight over. It was a flawless, dazzling performance.
#36
Posted: 12/1/18 at 10:04am
i was lucky enough to have seen both GLYNIS JOHNS and JEAN SIMMONS sing this classic during the original, and road show tour of ALNM...this song was sung by both as if they owned it...a great actress sings this song best, as with most great Sondheim songs, it needs to be acted while singing...and that's why Barbra also sings it so well...
#37
Posted: 12/1/18 at 10:21am
By far, Jean SImmons is the best version. Glynis Johns is a close second.
I was lucky enough to see Bernadette Peters in the revival, and loved her version of this, too.
#38
Posted: 12/1/18 at 10:26am
In my opinion, "Flo's" version might be the worst version of the song I've ever heard.
Melissa Errico just recorded a wonderful version in her album that dropped last week, "Sondheim Sublime".
CZJ at opening night party for A Little Night Music, Dec 13, 2009.
#39
Posted: 12/1/18 at 10:43am
This discussion begins and ends with Glynis Johns, whose rendition will always be definitive.
Judi Dench is a close second.
Bernadette gave a very, very broad performance as Desiree, but she always reigned it in for Clowns and delivered a shockingly understated yet terrifically poignant rendition of that number. It was by far my favorite part of her performance.
Judi Dench is a close second.
Bernadette gave a very, very broad performance as Desiree, but she always reigned it in for Clowns and delivered a shockingly understated yet terrifically poignant rendition of that number. It was by far my favorite part of her performance.
#40
Posted: 12/1/18 at 10:52am
RaisedOnMusicals said: "In my opinion, "Flo's" version might be the worst version of the song I've ever heard.."
I agree. Henderson's version is the worst for me, too.
Olivia Newton-John's 2004 recording on 'Indigo: Women of Song' comes in at a very close second,
#41
Posted: 12/1/18 at 11:40am
Tom Jones acquits himself well with the song- maybe he gets the lyric in a way Sinatra didn’t, as a former sex-god hipster now out of his era.
#42
Posted: 12/1/18 at 1:06pm
Glynis Johns' rendition remains the gold standard (she is still alive, now in her mid 90s), and Jean Simmons nearly matched her in the London and national tour productions. But Judi Dench brought a whole new set of emotions in the last London revival, and blew me away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04E8Y8nDfRQ
#43
Posted: 12/1/18 at 1:29pm
Judi Dench has the best rendition. In fact, I think it might be the greatest musical theatre performance ever.
#44
Posted: 12/1/18 at 3:49pm
Saw Glynis Johns sing it live three times; every single time, you could not heart a peep from the audience, and it was a quiet song. She was great. I actually loved her performance on the album...her voice may have been affected by a cold, but I couldn't tell...it didn't seem any different from her normal voice. I think a lot of people have performed it beautifully, but she was to me the benchmark. Two others came very close. Judy Dench was as always a great actress performing a great song (which does not require a great voice, only great acting), and the results were amazing. Tied for #2 for me was Bernadette Peters, who I saw sing it live twice when she was in the show. I thought she was excellent throughout the show, unlike many others, but she rose to an entirely different level and gave a heartbreaking performance; I can only think of two BP renditions that were close: Move On and Time Heals Everything.
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