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#26

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/14/06 at 5:14pm

julie andrews - she's a legend.
barbra streisand - she attained this superstar status as multi media star.
lea salonga - pure, clear voice that can be angelic and powerful at the same time.
#27

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/14/06 at 5:15pm

Al Jolson -- maybe not the best actor, but definitely one of the greatest entertainers ever on the Broadway stage
"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering." --Harold Hill from The Music Man
#28

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/14/06 at 6:53pm

i dont know about best, but some incredinble performers of the past and present are Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, and Sutton Foster.
#29

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/14/06 at 7:04pm

I've got to say Lithgow may not be the best of all time, but he's up there. Not just for musicals... the guy can rip your guts out with dramas! M Butterfly and Requiem for a Heavyweight were amazing!
#30

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/14/06 at 8:44pm

For musicals: Ethel Merman, especially for GYPSY where she really acted well in addition to her dynamite singing. Incidentally, she not only stayed with the Broadway production for its entire run of 702 performances (a lot for its day--1959 to 1961) but she went on tour for 6 months; what star of today would hold on for that long?

For musicals and drama: Richard Burton, for CAMELOT and numerous dramas; Robert Preston for THE MUSIC MAN, BEN FRANKLIN IN PARIS, & MACK AND MABEL, as well as dramas.

For Dramas: John Gielgud and George C. Scott

The one trait that these 5 people had was their incredible stage presence. When they were on stage they owned it, no matter who else was on stage with them.

I feel privileged to have seen them all.
"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"
#31

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/14/06 at 8:54pm

Thanks Gypsy9. I was hoping someone would say John Gielgud, especially for his work in Albee and Pinter.
#33

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 1:29pm

Ok i don't want to be narrow mindedly nationalistic but it's fun to add an unexpected name, the swedish nightingale, Jenny Lind!

From Wikipedia:

"In 1850, Lind sailed to the United States and under the management of P.T. Barnum, went on a concert tour of a number of cities. Her first American performance was given in New York City on October 24, 1850. The tour was a great success, and it was then that she became known in the press as the "Swedish Nightingale". In Washington, DC during the 1850 tour she was the first performer in the newly renovated National Theater. The "New National Hall" was enlarged to seat 3,400 people for her arrival. The entire police force was called out to keep order in the crowd clamoring for tickets. Congress was adjourned and the Supreme Court Justices attended. While in the States, she married a young pianist, Otto Goldschmidt, at 20 Louisburg Square, Beacon Hill, Boston. They returned to Europe together in 1852. Her tour of America created much excitement throughout the country. She is considered the best performer to ever grace a Broadway stage ".

(Ok that last line was my addition but the funny thing is that i could add it to the wikipedia article if i wanted.)

The national hall appareantly houses Broadway shows today.





Updated On: 10/15/06 at 01:29 PM

#35

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 1:33pm

It saddens me that no one has mentioned Carol Channing.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson
#36

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 1:40pm

As much as I LOVE La Channing, I would never call her "the best performer to ever grace Broadway." Dollypop probably would though.
#37

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 1:51pm

LIKE omIGOD!!! IdEENa Menzell!!!! She izzzz a GODDDDesssss!!!


Actually, Norbert Leo Butz, Kristin Chenoweth, Heather Headly, Julie Andrews, Donna McKechine, John Rait, and Ashley Brown.
#40

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 2:06pm

Musical performers:
Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Noel Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Fred Astaire and Gwen Verdon...

...for inspiring more composers, directors, writers and producers collectively to create brilliant new material (with their talents specifically in mind) than any other performers in history.

Non-musical performers:
Laurette Taylor, Helen Hayes, Katharine Cornell, Tallulah Bankhead, Noel Coward, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne...

...pretty much for the same reason.

EDIT: Did I mention Noel Coward twice?

Meant to.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

Updated On: 10/15/06 at 02:06 PM

#41

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 2:46pm

Musicals:
Gertrude Lawrence
Mary Martin
Angela Lansbury
Merman
Verdon
Bernadette Peters
Audra McDonald
Zero Mostel
John McMartin
Len Cariou

Non Musical:
Zoe Caldwell
Julie Harris
Maggie Smirh
Judi Dench
Jason Robards
Noel Coward
"One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music". - Stephen Sondheim
#42

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 2:48pm

Elaine Stritch, too.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson
#44

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 3:21pm

well, this is going to sound like a wicked fan-ish thing to say, but, shoshana bean. True possibly she's not the best performer now, but she's damn good. I know everyone either loves her to death, or wishes her death, but I'm a lover in that case. Her range of notesis amazing, and she has crazy stage presence. I just think that with time she'll become kind of a legend because of the "star quality" she has. And yes, I'm writing this with full knowledge that there will be all kinds of making fun of me.
Can, can I have it?
#46

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 3:24pm

o and another one, marlin brando as stanley kowalski... in some cases i thought he was to calm but I saw a mega old video of him in the show and he just had such a different take on it than others i've saw....... I actually saw a man named vincent lamberti play stanley "funny" and at first it seemed soooo inappropriate, but it actually totally worked because he found a way to show stanley's cruely and roughness at the same time
Can, can I have it?
#47

re: Best Performer to Ever Grace Broadway

Posted: 10/15/06 at 7:05pm

Julie Andrews
Angela Lansbury
Ethel Merman!!
Bill's thirty-two. He looks thirty-two. He looked it five years ago, he'll look it twenty years from now. I hate men. --Margo Channing

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