Greatest Star Making Turns — Page 2

Jarethan said: "fashionguru_23 said: "Even though, I am not a fan of hers, I'd also sayBeanie Feldstein in Hello Dolly. I feel like she was nowhere, and then once the show opened she was everywhere."

C’mon...’greatest star making turns’...Beanie Feldstein as Minnie Fay. That is absurd."

Oh, Jarethan...when I was thinking about "star making turns", I was thinking about a Broadway role that made them come into a larger scope. Feldstein might be a tricky one. I forgot about Lady Bird. In my mind, once Hello Dolly opened, suddenly she was in many tv shows, or a movie and was on every talk show. Granted, she had a career before Dolly, but everyone has. I'm thinking of these as what started the snowball to turn into a snowman.

I think there are differences between someone’s big break into the industry, someone’s career having a gradual, upward trajectory, and a genuine star-making performance. I’m seeing all three be mentioned.

Jarethan said: "fashionguru_23 said: "Two that I would say are:Angela Lansbury in Mame andIdina Menzel in Wicked.

Both ladies had stable and successes in their careers previous to these shows, but it was in these shows were they werecatapulted into the spotlight, with thousands and millions now really knowing their name. This is especially true if we look just within the world of musical theatre."

Funny, those were the first two that came to mind for me. Angela Lansbury was famous before Mame, but was never astar, let alone a superstar. I agree with most of the otherposts, although I do not remotelythink that Ethan Slater and Liz Calloway are stars. I do not think Diggs (who I still feel gave the best performance by supporting actor in a musical in the past 55 years) or Odom Jr. quite live up to the subject wording. In some ways, Jennifer Holliday was a one-hit wonder, so I wonder if she qualifies more as a legendary performance than a real star.

Lansbury, at the time of Mame, was a three time Academy Award nominated actress, so she wasn’t exactly “unknown”. Mame, if anything, more or less cemented a career resurgence in musical theatre. (Much like Laurie Metcalf has had her own theatre renaissance over the the last 10 years or so)

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I’m speaking only from personal experience, but for me Stephanie Mills in The Wiz was the first to come to mind. I was a teen on a trip to NYC with my parents in the mid-70s. We decided to buy tickets at the TKTS booth at the last minute because we heard that it was pretty good. We never heard of the person playing Dorothy, but by the end of the show we were all blown away by her performance (my dad isn’t usually that impressed with this kind of thing). I’ll never forget seeing several rows of people in front of us jumping up and cheering at the end of “Home” (I didn’t know this kind of thing could happen in live theatre). It was pure joy, and we all still talk about it to this day.

quizking101 said: "Jarethan said: "fashionguru_23 said: "Two that I would say are:Angela Lansbury in Mame andIdina Menzel in Wicked.

Both ladies had stable and successes in their careers previous to these shows, but it was in these shows were they werecatapulted into the spotlight, with thousands and millions now really knowing their name. This is especially true if we look just within the world of musical theatre."

Funny, those were the first two that came to mind for me. Angela Lansbury was famous before Mame, but was never astar, let alone a superstar. I agree with most of the otherposts, although I do not remotelythink that Ethan Slater and Liz Calloway are stars. I do not think Diggs (who I still feel gave the best performance by supporting actor in a musical in the past 55 years) or Odom Jr. quite live up to the subject wording. In some ways, Jennifer Holliday was a one-hit wonder, so I wonder if she qualifies more as a legendary performance than a real star.

Lansbury, at the time of Mame, was a three time Academy Award nominated actress, so she wasn’t exactly “unknown”. Mame, if anything, more or less cemented a career resurgence in musical theatre. (Much like Laurie Metcalf has had her own theatre renaissance over the the last 10 years or so)

Based on re-reading the original post, you are probably correct; however, it is equally true that -- despite those 3 Oscar nominations -- she was essentially a featured actress forced to appear in a lot of stinkers in the 5 or so years prior to Mame.

Opening night of Mame set this person on a path to being a true all-round entertainment legend; had it not been for Mame, she probably would have continued to appear in movies for a long time, but never have risen beyond where she essentially was. So, maybe it does not qualify per the first sentence, but there have been very few stage performances in the 55 years that I have been attending the theatre who were catapulted to the levels of stardom that Lansbury was AND STAYED THERE.

Re some other posts, I can see the argument for Robert Lindsey being on the list, because it was a star making performance on this side of the pond; one could also argue that he never took advantage of his new stardom on this side of the pond, and that 9 out of 10 people still alive who saw Me and My Girl could not tell you his name; they COULD tell you Jennifer Holliday's name and her show was 6 - 7 years earlier (and I would argue never really leveraged that instant stardom the way that we all expected).

I also disagree with Dollypop re John Travolta. It is possible that he got a job as a result of Over Here, but he was really just another member of the very talented Over Here cast; his one song was enjoyable, but it did not IMO draw particular attention to him as a standout in the cast. (In terms of prior unknowns, I would say that Anne Reinking made a much bigger immediate impression in that show, but I would not consider that a start making turn either...maybe an 'attention getting' turn. Also, i do remember Sandy Duncan getting great reviews for Canterbury Tales, but I would argue that it was The Boyfriend that really got her attention (and I liked CT a lot more than I liked BF).

JSquared2 said: "Call_me_jorge said: "I would add Alex Sharp for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Jessie Mueller for Beautiful"

Neither of those people (and especially Alex Sharp) are Stars. Jessie is sort of a Broadway star -- but no one outside of these boards know who she is."

Alex Sharp is a recognizable film star nowadays and Jessie Muellers star is growing, albeit at a slow pace.

Also, on the topic of Beanie Feldstein. If it wasn’t her roles in the Neighbors or Hello, Dolly! it was definitely being the daughter of Hollywood elite that got her where she is. Her brother is also Jonah Hill. So, there’s that.

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Beanie is also bffs with Ben Platt which helped her enter Ryan Murphy’s Universe. She’s playing Monica Lewinsky in the highly anticipated 3rd Season of AMERICAN CRIME STORY: IMPEACHMENT, opposite Clive Owen’s Bill Clinton and a roster of an all-star cast.