Footage of NIGHT MUSIC/CZJ singing Send in the Clowns- Page 3

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:19pm

Angela has been saying "What happened to them?" for the entire run so far. Sondheim could have corrected her if he wanted to.

I do hate the WEEKEND cut though. Updated On: 12/10/09 at 09:19 PM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:24pm

Sondheim also approved the new prologue, and everything else, in the Roundabout FOLLIES. And his last "new" Broadway score was THE FROGS. Everyone makes mistakes and Steve is no exception. He gets his royalty check either way.

That being said, despite the myriad problems I have with what I have seen/heard/read about this production, the video enticed me enough to go see this and I hope when I do ADDAMS is in fantastic shape on Bway (with a vastly improved score) so I can see two great productions, though that hope dies a little more every day. Those are the 2 shows I have been looking forward to most this season, clearly, and it has been a litany of disappointment so far.

P

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:32pm

Oh, my Catherine <3

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:41pm

My god, that Scripps is such a pill.

[Patash]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:56pm

I guess if your most important thing is the exact lyric rather than brilliant acting and musical perfection while making it appear effortless, then yes Ms. Lansbury blew it. That's sort of like "Oh, Mr. Law you were perfect in Hamlet, you memorized all the lines perfectly."

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:59pm

I never said it was my "most important thing." I just asked a question. Maybe dial the hyperbole down a notch?

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:15pm

The Clips were so short and taken out of context that it's really hard to judge the show and everyone's performances on those clips alone.

[ElizabethAngela]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:41pm

"I guess if your most important thing is the exact lyric rather than brilliant acting and musical perfection while making it appear effortless, then yes Ms. Lansbury blew it."

I agree completely. What on earth difference does it make really? I think sometimes people can just get too carried away with fussiness and criticism. Miss Lansbury is an accomplished stage actress, and she has been acting for decades, and now she is of a certain age, which is only natural and inevitable. I don’t understand why anyone, really, would have any reason to criticize her for such things as "flubbing lines," etc., etc. It doesn't matter. Do you honestly think it does? I haven't said all of this with the intention of participating in this debate. I'm not the kind to start arguments or treat others' opinions with sarcasm. I do respect everyone's opinions, and I just felt like writing in my own on this. If I get criticized for this post, although I would rather I didn't, I'm the kind of person who just ignores. I'm not a "Broadway buff," per se, like a majority of the rest of you, I merely enjoy talking about Miss Lansbury, because I've always been a fan of hers, and the more I see and read of "Night Music," the more I would really love to make the trip to NY again to see it.

[bk]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:48pm

As soon as I heard what Miss Zeta-Jones did with the word "farce" I was done with her. Subsequent lines in the song did not give any hope that it would get better and it didn't. I'm with Pal Joey on this one, at least per the clips. Of course, the original of this show was perfectly cast in every way, and maybe I've just got that emblazoned in my cranium. Not one of these people comes within a country mile of the originals, and that includes Miss Lansbury, whom I adore and enjoyed watching in these clips. But Hermione Gingold was beyond brilliant in this role and her Liasons, at least through today, and at least for me, has never ever been touched. The staging seems like high school to me.

I'll probably still try to see it, but boy, those clips do not help me WANT to see it.
Updated On: 12/11/09 at 10:48 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:50pm

Mr. Sondheim approves just about everything these days, so I'd take that with a grain of salt.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:15pm

Well, if she's singing it wrong in every performance it's not much a flub as it is a habit, and I don't know what the sh*t is getting all you pansies wadded up about it.

For what it's worth, "what's happened to them?" and "what happened to them?" ask two different questions because they are different tenses, so get over it.

And I think it's disingenuous to write a huge paragraph like that and say you are not writing it to participate in the debate, even if it's not so much a debate as me wondering if that was a change or not. Lord.
Updated On: 12/10/09 at 11:15 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:19pm

It's certainly a habit now. She sang it like that at the first preview, on the audio floating around, and in these press clips. I don't think it's a huge deal. She does similar things with some of her lines. She is 84-years-old and not using an earpiece, although one was made for her. I give her credit.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:26pm

Right. And I never implied it was a huge deal. Thank you, ljay, for being able to be a fan of the revival and not become a douche if you think someone is criticizing it.

And I think it's kind of funny people are dismissing messing up Sondheim lyrics.

And I kind of hope Angie is out the day ElizabethAngela goes to see the show. But I don't mean to participate in the conversation with that.

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:40pm

I agree and give Angela a lot of credit. She is such a gem to our industry and is in her old age now and performing without an earpiece.

Yes, I noticed the lyric flub, but it didn't bother me. Angela knows what she is doing and I can't help but continue to respect and adore her.

And as far as how Sondheim feels...if I had someone like Angela Lansbury performing my material I would definitely be able to forgive her for flubbing a few lines here and there.

I haven't seen the show yet, but even with all the negative things floating around about it I am still going to go in with high hopes. It's my all time favorite show (along with West Side Story).

bk - I actually liked what CZJ did with the delivery of her lyrics. Why didn't you care for it? Just wondering...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:44pm

I think he probably changed it.

They basically mean the same thing, and the "s" was always one damn too many esses in a song with "s" in the title.

It always sounds like "Liaison swat sappen to them, liaison stoooooooday"--it's just too hard too sing.

I'd put money down that Sondheim told her it sings better without the "s." He'll be explaining it on a YouTube soon.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:47pm

It just seems like without the s it implies they no longer exist, while with the s it means that they have changed.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:54pm

"Whatever happened to classsssssss...?"

Always so many esses in songs of regret.

[bk]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 1:26am

mywonderwa: It's ACTING - her ACTING slip is showing and not just a little. There's nothing real happening, it's all studied. Miss Johns in the original was larger-than-life at times but always real, which is why her performance of the song is so classic.

And the little rump bump with Fredrika - yeah. And You Must Meet My Wife - the humor is gone because there's nothing subtle going on. It's a performance, at least in the clips, which is all I have to go on until I see it, that seems painted on.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 2:08am

Wow, this production really looks bad in these clips. From the tinny, reduced, "kazoo and fife" orchestrations, to Catherine Zeta-Jones's overacting and truly bizarre posturing, to Angela's "quaint" version of Liaisons. (Madame Armfeldt--quaint and adorable???? Yikes.)

The leads look like they're not acting on the same stage or in the same show together. No connection between them at all, let alone chemistry.

And the drained color makes them all look like ghosts in a haunted house.

Based on this video montage, there is absolutely nothing smiling on this summer night.

Updated On: 12/11/09 at 02:08 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 2:16am

Angela is NOT quaint and adorable in her scenes.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 2:21am

In this clip of Liaisons, she looks like a cuddly Madame Morrible.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 2:28am

I agree, she does in the clip. But she's not in her scenes. She is perfectly sardonic in her scenes with Desiree. Her act 2 is particularly powerful as she displays the degeneration of the character.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 2:34am

I don't doubt her power as an actress one bit. I wish they'd shown a scene then.

Her rendition of this song (strictly as seen in the clip) is way off the mark.

She's more like a grandma telling a quaint bedtime story, rather than an aging courtesan who disapproves of the art of love in current times.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 2:40am

They showed some clips of her scenes on her CBS Sunday Morning segment, but unfortunately the segment can't be viewed online yet. It did show that she does bring an edge to the character.

But I do agree, the Liaisons clip is quaint and cuddly. I don't remember it coming across that way in the theatre. I don't think the clips are the best portrayal of the production. Zeta-Jones is much better live in the theatre.
Updated On: 12/11/09 at 02:40 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 9:33am

Oh, Best12Bars, you better look out or the pissy pants brigade (which does not include ljay or PalJoey) are gonna come for you. How DARE you suggest that everything "Angie" does is not perfect. How. Dare. You.