Cheryl Clark: Chorus Line's (2nd) Greatest Cassie?- Page 5

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:00pm

I've changed my screen name numerous times because I could, I wanted to and I did. It's as simple as that. I think it's unfair that you would go out of your way or find it necessary to insult me and call me unhinged in a public forum when you don't know me at all. I'm not going to stoop down to your level and attack your character as you have done to me.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:01pm

K

(Except it was really crazy when you were primarily RetroBoy or Dark Angel and you'd bring in Marquise to chastise everyone) Updated On: 7/21/10 at 12:01 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:11pm

I'm sorry you feel the need to attack me Phyllis but as I said in my previous post I will not stoop down and do the same to you.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:13pm

I'm sorry you feel the need to call this an attack. Too bad you couldn't stack the skin of all your screen names together. It might be a little thicker.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:20pm

But you are attacking me Phyllis and it has nothing to do with me being sensitive. Which I am not.

Updated On: 7/21/10 at 12:20 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:27pm

You're reading it as an attack, but I say it's not. I think you post unhinged, but you say you're not. The onus can't be on me for both. If you say you're not unhinged, then I say I'm not attacking you.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:27pm

You're reading it as an attack, but I say it's not. I think you post unhinged, but you say you're not. The onus can't be on me for both. If you say you're not unhinged, then I say I'm not attacking you.

[theeatah]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:28pm

Slightly OT, but does anyone think Jessica Lee Goldyn would make a good Sweet Charity, if the London Production comes to Broadway after Toronto?

If they get a name for Oscar/Vittorio (I vote Hank Azaria), they could go with a non-name true triple threat as Charity...

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:49pm

Whatever makes you feel better about yourself and gets you through the day, Phyllis. I'm putting an end to this because it serves no purpose whatsoever. You want to think I'm unhinged? Go right ahead. Whatever floats your boat Phyllis. You're no one that matters to me that I will lose sleep anytime soon over what you think of me.

For further clarification please refer to my signature:

"You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll RISE." ~ Maya Angelou

Updated On: 7/21/10 at 12:49 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:53pm

And with that I am off to the beach. You can continue this discussion: with yourself.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:53pm

K. Again, if this is hatefulness your skins need to be thicker.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 12:59pm

Back on topic...

Which assessment did you disagree with, B12B?

[OLDZACH]

Posted: 4/10/11 at 9:27pm

ok
I was in several ACL companies with Donna Cheryl Karen Ziemba, Laurie Gamache, Pam Souza, Vicki Frederick etc etc

first off the choreography of was all Donna, I watched others do it for years, then i did a tour with Donna and the light went off
"Oh NOW i get it!" It was that different. the whole dance has a very specific purpose, she goes through many stages it is like a 12 step program, there are many levels and emotions and it is all too personal for another dancer to do the moves AND find the feeling exactly like Donna found it when she danced it originally.
So a dancer finds a few moments as they are "dancing" the rest, that is really the best they can hope for. I hate to say Donna "lived it" because it is so cliche but that is the fact. Watching Donna night after night there were very small changes because she wasn't dancing a movement on a specific bar she was telling her story within the time frame allowed. There is so much back story to the dance, which everyone was told, but Donna was the original translator.
For the record the slow section where it looks like she is playing with herself, that is where she was performing for Zach, she is opening herself up to be vulnerable.
This movement on anyone other than Donna tends to look forced, because that is the way they play it, but Donna knew her mindset at the time and her character was not performing as an exhibitionist she was in fact seducing. so that vulnerability was actually faux and she is actually in full knowledge of what she is doing and in total control. She is a strong woman with conflicts and that strength becomes more and more apparent at the same time she is becoming more desperate. She finds her strength and who she is during the dance.

Alright add to that every little chorus boy in the show would learn the choreography and some of the dance captains like t Michael Reed would lead a male chorus of Cassies through the dance below the stage during various tours, i have seen more than my share of males & females perform this dance.
Executing the steps?
Its a guys world, I have seen some powerful make cassies
I have also seen some women who were strong dancers execute the steps. Pam Souza comes to mind. Vicki Frederick was amazing too.

However when you put the whole performance together, who transitions best through the acting, the dancing the singing. Who comes closest to what Donna brought to the role.
Cheryl is a clear number 2 behind Donna. Cheryl understood who Cassie was, and what was going on and it read that way from the house. She was Cassie, a slightly different Cassie. Maybe not as "likeable" as Donna's Cassie, Cheryl's more of a prima Donna Cassie that fell from her perch. Donna's was more like a Peggy Sawyer Cassie that everyone was rooting for but instantly liked.
number 3 would have to be Karen Ziemba. She was more like Donna, very likeable down to Earth, a great dancer & singer and actress.
In the same company that i worked with Karen there was a girl who gave(sorry Kay Cole) the single best performance of "at the Ballet" by any Maggie i have seen. I won't tell you her name because she only did it once and from then on she refused "to go there again". It was in rehearsal,she was being directed and all of a sudden this girl just opened up herself and this whole other voice & emotion and person came out. People came out from backstage, everyone was standing & crying including the stage managers. It was the single most moving moment i have ever experienced in the theatre. People were quietly showing each other their goosebumps. Too bad no one has that on tape.
The Maggie was just so drawn from the personal experience she couldnt do it again and i worked with her for 3 years.

[OLDZACH]

Posted: 4/10/11 at 9:50pm

ans just for clarification of all the people "guessing" about what is in the head and what isnt. Music and the mirror was supposedly different let me explain
as a GENERAL rule when you are in blue light and above the white line you are in the dancers heads. All the montage, sections of at the ballet one etc etc
Before music & the mirror starts we go from scene with Zach to Cassie internalizing* singing, Then the dance startsm we get the light change where she plays with herself in front of the mirror and Zach, techincially it is supposed to be in her head but if it is she is recreating a scene that happened. then the lights come up, then there is the "Heatwave" section and finally she comes down stage on the line where she does the series of piroutes and supposedly that has some significance that she is trying to knock everyone off the line, so she is the star and then she runs to grab them and bring them all back,
conflicting emotions. I want to be a star i want to be one of them.this doesnt come out fully in the show in words until Zach pulls her out of the line in the ones.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/10/11 at 10:43pm

Wow. A report from the front line! Thank you, OldZach, for the fascinating insights.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/10/11 at 10:59pm

^ Agreed.

Just when I thought I knew it all, it turns out there's more to learn.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/10/11 at 11:11pm

thank you for this insight. thank you!

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 6:49am

PalJoey, you have the most uncanny resemblance to Gene Kelly. :) from RC in Austin, Texas

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/11/11 at 8:03am

I get that a lot.

Here's Michael Bennett's "Poor Little Person" from Henry Sweet Henry, featuring Alice Playten, preceded by a discussion.

http://youtu.be/i6YqWziXM2E

Updated On: 4/11/11 at 08:03 AM