Carol Channing..A Singer?

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 7:19pm

Having an interesting debate. Someone I know thinks Carol has a wonderful, super singing voice.

Now..Having heard Dolly and The Vamp and Blondes, I think she has a pleasant voice but certianly not a legit quality. I think her roles were/are very limited. I don't think we would see Carol as Evita, Julie Jordan or Galinda.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 7:23pm

Well, she was Eliza Doolittle when she was like 60-something........

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 7:24pm

mlesh, I dont really like her voice.

Updated On: 2/7/05 at 07:24 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 7:29pm

Carol Channing's legend is based on her amazing larger-than-life personality, charisma, and all-around star quality, not on her actual singing/dancing/acting abilities. While she certainly can "sell" a song and make it memorable, even stop a show through tricks, timing and sheer force of vocal will, from a purely technical perspective, it's not a great instrument -- unique, deep and immistakeable, yes, but not great all by itself.

She's a pro's pro and is one of the handful of performers EVER, who knows how to hold an audience in the palm of her hand for every second she's on the stage, but I can't imagine just "listening" to a CD of her singing and being able to get a tenth of the magic she can create live on stage. She's not a "stand and deliver" kind of vocalist and there was a very narrow range of roles that she could play that would take advantage of very unique abilities (Eliza Doolittle?) -- but in the right role, she was in a class by herself.

A GREAT performer, but not necessarily a great singer (and in her case, it really doesn't matter).

Updated On: 2/7/05 at 07:29 PM

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 7:39pm

Margo, you two have the same last name!!!!!!!........But on Carol, It's too bad that she didn't do the Hello Dolly! movie.....that would have been one for the ages!!!!!!!! Updated On: 2/7/05 at 07:39 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 7:41pm

I must go on record, that no, Carol and I are not related (though we perhaps are distant cousins .....)

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:06pm

Yes, TGC did indeed play Eliza Doolittle in Shaw's PYGMALION. She also starred in THE MILLIONAIRESS. That was well before her triumph in HELLO, DOLLY!

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:22pm

hmmmmm, Margo..I never really thought of her that way...I personally always thought she was just awful, but now that you mention it...I see your point.
Learn something new every day, I guess.!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:29pm

Ahhhh..... OK.

Eliza in PYGMALION not My FAIR LADY.

Still BIZARRE (TGC as a cockney flower girl and then a refined British lady?), but not quite as BIZARRE as if she had done MY FAIR LADY (which I would have paid a lot of money to see and still would today -- they'd have had to drop the keys about TWO octaves for her to be able to sing the score ...... it would have been one of the strangest, funniest nights in the history of theatre).

[parker russel]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:47pm

Carol is one of the most magical performers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. I agree with Margo...you gotta see her to believe her. She can sell a song like nobody's business, she can make you laugh with the smallest movement, and can make you cry with her incredibly sincere performances. If you haven't had the chance check out the Broadway Lost Treasure DVD to see her do "Before The Parade Passes By". I've seen her do it live twice now and its probably one of my favorite musical moments. She's truely magical on stage.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 8:49pm

Do you think a personality like Channing could succeede on today's Broadway?

In a world driven by power belters, cheesy melodic voices and Hollywood name recognition, could a Carol have even found work today?

[Plum]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 9:21pm

I dunno, Tuttle. Harvey Fierstein seems to get along okay.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 9:49pm

Good point about Fierstein. But, one wonders if the composers and producers of today, would be able to find a suitable vehicle for her. Even Fierstein (now that he has shown that he can do Tevye) has a larger range of roles to play than Channing. I'm not sure what lead roles in the Broadway of 2005, Carol Channing would be able to play effectively.

[Plum]

Posted: 2/7/05 at 9:58pm

Maybe she'd get an Edna Turnblad written for her. It's an interesting thing to think about, though.

[kelzama]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 10:53am

Saw Channing in Hello Dolly a few years back. She couldn't sing, she couldn't dance (bad hip or something), mostly just stayed in one place, but she held the audience of 3000+ in the palm of her hand. They went crazy at the end of the show. At curtain call, Ms. Channing was self-effacing, gracious and lovely.

I've witnessed this magic only a handful of times, usually with seasoned performers trained on the boards of vaudeville.

Should you have the opportunity to see a bonafide Broadway Legend, don't miss it. I fear it may be a dying breed.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 2:22pm

She is indeed a legend. Much like Chita and Angela.

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 2:30pm

Ms. Channing is a magical stage performer who can carry a tune and has a fun distinctive voice. No one, especially not the divine Ms. Channing, ever claimed she was a "singer."

[robbiej]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 2:34pm

She may not be Joan Sutherland, but she is an alchemist, turning gravel into gold, witnessed in her OSCAR NOMINATED TURN in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

I wonder how many people actually forget she was nominated for an Oscar.

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 2:36pm

Margo, Carol would be a lovely fairy godmother in CINDERELLA and an interesting choice for the matriarch in the proposed musical version of THE ROYAL FAMILY.

She could also certainly handle the chores and singing of, is it Mme. Arndfeldt?? The Hermoine Gingold part from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.

She is a pretty obvious choice for the grandmother in PIPPIN.

I was hoping she was going to play Endore in the BEWITCHED film but that apparently did not happen. I believe Shirley MacLaine is playing Endora.

[Justice]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 2:38pm

"Do you think a personality like Channing could succeede on today's Broadway?"

Well, if they brought Dolly back once again, people would still pay to see it.

Rosie O'Donnell has one of the worst singing voices, and she has been on Broadway a couple a times.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 2:43pm

I highly recommend seeing Carol Channing in the above video. Her acting in it is stunning--I was blown away. And, these ladies show you how to perform a song.

[Allie]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 3:28pm

Is that the video they showed on PBS? I LOVED that. Those two women were hilarious.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 11:17pm

Indeed. Carol has something that the Idinas and Edens of this world will never have.

[mirandajrs]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 11:42pm

I've always loved listening to Carol's voice. I think it's cute. And her Dietrich impression in "Carol Channing & Pearl Bailey On Broadway" is not to be missed.

[Justice]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 11:47pm

I gained so much respect for Carol when she sang "Imitation is the Sincerist Form of Flattery" on Forbidden Broadway Volume 3.