Casting of Helen Sinclair- Page 2

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 12:04am

Jan Maxwell?

[Will42]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 9:34am

Megan Mullally, please!

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 10:44am

If Jan Maxwell were cast her bag would get very heavy very quickly!

[BwayTday]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 12:36pm

As much as I would love to see someone like Jan Maxwell take on the role, I'm guessing they will decide on someone in the same vein as Marin Mazzie voice wise.

RaisedonMusicals: I guess you're right. If someone like Marin workshopped it than someone like Audra could make sense.. She certainly has the right presence for it.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 1:16pm

Who played Eden in the reading?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 6:57pm

I sound like a broken record, but Murphy and Mazzie were my top choices (I can't believe Mazzie isn't going on with the production, that's a real shame), with Ebersole as a close third, knowing both are out, naturally Donna Murphy is whom I believe would be the best choice. I do love the idea of someone unexpected like Audra McDonald or Julie White. I also submit Karen Ziemba, who was delightful in CURTAINS but hasn't been around. Needless to say, the casting of this role is bound to be extremely exciting, there's so many places they could go.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 7:11pm

I have it on good authority Neil Patrick Harris will be playing Helen Sinclair.

[Owen22]

Posted: 7/6/13 at 7:28pm

Jane Krakowski.

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 3:33pm

Alice Ripley. That would be my choice!

[BwayTday]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 3:40pm

Jane Krakowski would be perfection! (If she wasn't an alto)

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 3:46pm

I have no idea what the role calls for vocally, but I think Jane has a decent upper range. But she is certainly not a soaring soprano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxCD0UwwpDw

[BwayTday]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 3:50pm

I forgot about Nine! You are right, her upper range is pretty good. I'm not sure she has a "healthy soprano" up to F but anything is possible.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 4:20pm

Jane trained really hard to sing "A Call from the Vatican," so the notes might not just naturally come to her the way, say Audra McDonald sings them so effortlessly, but I've no doubt she'd put all her effort into it and do wonderful things in the role. She'd be a natural fit, she's a perfect comedienne, has the Broadway pedigree and is a name. She didn't wait a second to return to Broadway after ALLY MCBEAL ended, though now she has a family so she might want to take it easy before getting back into an 8 shows/week routine. Still, they should beg her to be involved.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 6:20pm

I have no idea why they want Helen to have a range above Tallulah Bankhead.

Dianne Wiest almost was fired from the part, because she was "sucking" so badly. She met with Woody to try to save herself and the film from recasting, they tried that deep, phony voice, he said, "Yeah, do that" ... and she won an Oscar.

Well, maybe not that quick of a turnaround, but almost.

So let's make the big mistake they did when they shot the first scenes of the movie and make her a soprano!

Great idea!

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 6:21pm

Megan Mullally is a genius idea.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 7/7/13 at 8:12pm

About Eden. I've heard that the person who will be doing the lab in November may or may or may not be offered the role.

I have also heard that they may have cast the role of Cheech but are not announcing it yet.

Finally, I've heard that they (Woody and Stro) are being REALLY careful about casting Helen Sinclair. They want to get it right.

The names that have been talked about more than once here (excluding "movie stars" are (in no particular order): Ebersole, McDonald, Skinner, Mullally, Carmello, Nielson, SR Scott, V Clark, Krakowski, Luker, Maxwell and Ripley. On voice requirements alone, the only two I might exclude would be Krakowsi and Ripley (though I can see either one in the role.) I also think that Ebersole, as much as I love her, is probably a bit too old.

It will be interesting to see if they cast one of the above, or someone no one's thought of (yet.)

[SFFrontRow]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:11pm

When I first heard of this, I thought of Judy Kaye (and I know she may be a little old for the role). She has proven to have just the right bit of cluelessness (saw her in Souvenier and the original Phantom cast) to pull off Helen.

That having been said, of all the suggestions on this thread I think Megan Mullally would DEFINITELY be killer in this role. AND she is just the right age.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:25pm

"The names that have been talked about more than once here (excluding "movie stars" are (in no particular order): Ebersole, McDonald, Skinner, Mullally, Carmello, Nielson, SR Scott, V Clark, Krakowski, Luker, Maxwell and Ripley."

And, unless you are counting her as a "movie star," Plimpton.

Best12, at first I was equally surprised Helen is a soprano, but don't nec. think it's Wiest's first stages of finding her repeating themselves; just because the character eluded Wiest in her usual vocal range and was nailed by her with an atypical - for Dianne - deep smoky voice, doesn't means Helen, in the hands - and voice - of another actress, like Ebersole - couldn't be reborn as a soprano. In fact, it might be a big mistake to try almost certainly in vain to replicate Wiest's legendary vocalization as Helen rather than tonally recalibrating the role.

Krakowski could be wonderful.
Updated On: 7/8/13 at 03:25 PM

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:34pm

But don't you think that Woody already knows the songs that he's going to interpolate and thus knows the vocal range of the singer he needs in the role? I mean, the casting notice was very specific in that regard.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:48pm

Yeah, I think they should really not try to get an actress who can imitate Wiest's brilliant interpretation. I like that they are going in a different direction for the role. The more I think about Jane Krakowski in the part, the more right it sounds, but any of these ladies would be wonderful in their own right. Just cast the role already!

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 3:55pm

One of the things that's so great about how Wiest uses her voice in the film is that she doesn't do the "Bankhead" bit for the whole performance.

There is a scene on the park bench with John Cusack where she lets her hair down a bit. Her voice rises up and becomes more natural (for Wiest). Then she gives him the cigarette case and starts her "Don't speak!" shtick that had me laughing 'til I cried.

The point is that she explored the phoniness of that voice and let her "real voice" slip in for that scene. Very revealing for Helen.

It was brilliant, as was the rest of that performance.

I still think it's a mistake to have a soprano in that part, though. Hopefully, they'll play with the keys in rehearsal and figure out what works best for the character, not just the actress.

They need a Bea Arthur, Lucille Ball or Tallulah Bankhead as Helen ... or someone who can pretend to be like them. There was a "weight" to women who acted like that on stage.

Updated On: 7/8/13 at 03:55 PM

[BwayTday]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 4:03pm

I don't think making her have a soprano range is really all that bad for the character. The casting notice also says "strong low, solid mix." We really have no idea how they are interpreting her musically yet. She could just need that healthy soprano for one moment.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 4:05pm

Well, Wiest is a "soprano," at least in her speaking voice. She put on the low notes for the role.

Perhaps it's the same strategy here.

[SFFrontRow]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 4:09pm

And, if we want to go a little older...

Kathleen Turner, Tyne Daly, Linda Lavin.
They could play it as a mature actress, moving into twilight but still trying to stay current and hopelessly and cluelessly NOT.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/8/13 at 4:12pm

I think Jan Maxwell is the best choice by far.