No one really spoke about this performance on here or at least as far as what I saw goes. I thought it was good but I saw it before I saw the show itself and I thought Tonya's voice was just hoarse so I was a little drawn back by that until I realized that that was her character. Also: anyone have a clip of this performance??
I agree with cturtle. Her performance was awful, and it totally turned me off from checking out the recording. I'm sure she was as great as everyone said she was live, but I don't know.
"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."
I was a seat filler at the Tonys. I hadn't heard anything from Caroline or Change, so it was my first exposure to it. I was HORRIFIED! I can't bring myself to listen to the cast recording. I'm too scared. Pity.
It's eckspecially apropos
So if you really want to know
Do I love you?
Don't aks.
"The stage is where I live and come alive and act out all the things that go on in my life. It's not just what I do for a living, it's my shrink and my love affair. No one in my life has ever or ever will kiss me on the mouth like this lover called my relationship with my performance."
She was having some sort of vocal distress on the Tony Awards, and did not sound that way in the show. The role was a voice killer, and she had some rough patches the night I saw the show, but not anything like the problems she suffered in her Tony performance.
thank you, mac. i couldn't imagine she sounded like that every night. they should have pulled her performance from the tony's, though. it was truly bad.
Caroline, or Change is an awesome-kick ass-wanna sing with them-gracious-phenomenal-show stopping-show!! It has an unbelievable score, the cast recording is great (putting it lightly) it's just an unbelievable piece..yes Tonya was vocally strained that night..other than that..she is amazing on the cast recording...and i am seeing it on January 16th here in california!
Hey, live theatre and live television sometimes creates train wrecks. It couldn't be "pulled" because it was happening live and Tonya was singing live. (I think the Caroline producers were trying to do the equivalent of what Bernadette Peters pulled off with "Rose's Turn" the year before). The song, "Lot's Wife," is a difficult piece to appreciate out of context, because it occurs after about two hours of witnessing Caroline's increasing frustration and she just explodes with that number. It was just galvanic in the theatre.
makes me even more eager to see the show!!! yea, i agree magruder, you must see the show or listen to the score to appreciate the song..i strongly suggest going to buy it!! if you don't like Tonya..which is highly unlikely, there is Anika (amazing voice, i'd like to add her onto my favorite belter list) and Aisha de Haas (the moon) Ramona Keller and the rest of the radio, Chuck cooper, Chandra Wilson, and Capathia Jenkins are by far my favorite voices of the cast!!
Tonya is one of the finest stage talents to emerge in the past decade. (Well...two decades. She was in the original cast of Merrily We Roll Along). I've ofted said that if anyone ever had the gumption to do a black cast for Gypsy, she'd make a helluva Mama Rose. Heck, the role of Caroline in Caroline, or Change WAS the equivalent of singing Mama Rose.
Trust me... I loved Caroline, or Change, and I'm a Tonya fan. She was bad on the Tony Awards. And frankly, considering that she had to sing that number after performing the role all week, it's a wonder she had any voice left at all.
I have to say (and looks like I might be the only one) but after seeing Tonya at the Tony's I bought my ticket for Caroline immediately. I didn't have anything else to compare her to but I thought it was a wonderful performance.
QM
'He really wasn't good as Fieyro. Is it just me or does he sort of come across as a pimp? Just...the hand motions I've seen him do and the attitude..not that Taye is a pimp.' - SallyBrown on Taye Diggs as Fiyero
Her voice was hoarse when I saw the show as well. But her acting was phenomenal and it did not detract from the score. Those who judged the entire show by that one performance need to open their minds a bit. You missed out on one of the best and most important musicals in 20 years.
And yes, there was quite a bit of talk about it here last summer.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
She is a fantastic actress and singer (I haven't seen her dance so we'll leave it at that). The entire show is phenomenal and I think that Jeanine Tesori is the composer to watch.
BSoBW2: I punched Sondheim in the face after I saw Wicked and said, "Why couldn't you write like that!?"
Tessori and Kushner are working on a a new musical set at the turn of the century I believe
Anyway I thought it was utterly FANTASTIC the song and performance. that was the first I had heard of it too, and ya she was ahoarse but I was sitll blown away. I'm surprised so many, so strongly disliked it!
There was an article on Tonya when she opened the show (and had just been readded as a contract role on All My Children, the soap she stared on in the early 90s). Apparantly for a while she was so poor a couple of years back she had to live with her kids out of motels? Anyway it's unbelievable to think of osmeone so talented being out of work.
I just saw this about 2hrs ago, for the first time. Chills completely down my entire body. Tonya's vocal strain added to what I thought, was one of the most powerfully moving pieces of theatre I have ever seen. Im hurting alot that I cannot see this production...
And yes. Jeanine Tesori is a genius. From 'millie' to this? WOW!
I've seen Caroline twice in L.A. already, and will see it one more time on Tuesday the 14th. It's one of the greatest achievements in musical theater ever. But after the Tonys I thought it was something I wouldn't enjoy at all. Not only was Ms. Pinkins in poor vocal form that night, but the number out of context is a turn-off, and not representative of the extraordinary joy and variety of Jeannine Tesori's music. I believe that had they chosen a different number (say the opening with Caroline, the Washing Machine, the Radio (girl group), and the Dryer...the show would have had a longer life on Broadway. I doubt that many people bought tickets after hearing Lot's Wife screeched out like that. But then we in L.A. wouldn't have had the chance to see it so soon!!!
The sad thing is that Tonya Pinkins' performance (which I didn't think was all that bad) was not even the worst of the night. I can't imagine anyone buying tickets to shows after seeing the performances. The Wicked Number was probably the worst.
You are not a theatre fan if you have not heard Caroline, or Change. It is a brillant work of art (Kushner and Tesori...hello!) that is up there with Gypsy, Threepenny Opera, and closer to Sweeney Todd then any other musical on Broadway right now. Lot's Wife was the only number on the Tony's that I liked. I had my eyes glued to Pinkin's face the entire song, and even though I had no real idea what she was singing, I started to cry towards the end. On the recording, you grow to like her character's voice, and is perfect (Caroline shouts a lot, not to mention smokes a cigarette every day). To tell you the truth, I would by the CD for the Epilogue alone. The stunning four chords during Emmie's "I'm the daughter of a maid, in her uniform crisp and clean." will set the song on your repeat list instantly. So, to sum up again, you are NOT a theatre fan if you have not heard Caroline, or Change.
I agree that Tonya wasnt too great at the Tonys. When I saw the show, she was nothing short of brilliant. She hit every note perfectly and but such depth and emotion into that character. The score was one of the best things I have heard in years, and I think Jeanine Tesori is going to be huge.
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