Has the memory of a beloved performer in the past ruined a show for you ?

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:31am

To me, there was only one Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland. Others have tried to take her place to varying degrees but the memory of Judy hovers over Dorothy.

Neither Stephanie Mills, Liza Minelli in an awful animated Oz
nor Lea Michelle will ever replace the memory of Judy as Dorothy.

There was only one Mary Poppins for me and that was Julie Andrews. The memory of Julie hovers over Mary Poppins. When I went to see the musical, I thought "you can't fool me.. that's not Mary Poppins."

In the same manner, the King in King and I belonged to Yul Brynner.

Not having loved the movie Priscilla Queen of the Desert, I found it easy to accept Tony Sheldon, Nick Adams and Will Swenson in those roles and felt Priscilla was much more fun
and alive on stage than on the screen but I found myself missing missing Reese Witherspoon during Legally Blond the musical and Whoopi in Sister Act.

The Emcee in Cabaret always belonged to Joel Grey until Alan Cumming came along and reinvented him in a new way. The emcee
seemed fresh and new again with Alan Cummings.

Auntie Mame was only Rosiland Russel until Angela Lansbury came and reinvented her but most Mames pale in comparison to the two aforementioned dames. I saw Jane Morgan, Morgan Brittany and Lucy in the role.. They were not Mame.

Has the memory of a performer in the past ruined a show for you
in a current musical or revival?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 9:29am

I can't see the current revival of The House of Blue Leaves because I have such great memories of the 1986 production. Swoosie Kurtz, John Mahoney, Christine Baranski were perfection in those roles.

I also don't think I can ever see a production of Mamma Mia. I was a teenager when the ABBA songs were popular and I have memories attached to those songs. I'm not sure I want to see them in the context of a show.

[Weez]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 10:56am

I don't know about "ruined", and it's not musicals, but I find it very difficult to warm to Gertrude and Horatio in most productions of Hamlet since falling for Penny Downie and Peter De Jersey in the recent RSC production. I'm also forever seeking a brilliant new Othello, but since Chiwetel Ejiofor at the Donmar Warehouse, I don't think it's going to happen. And I have a horrible feeling that, in Derek Jacobi, I have already seen the finest King Lear I ever will see.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 12:47pm

One of the hardest was Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity.
I did not like Shirley MacClaine, Gretchen Wyler and Anne Reinking in the role as they seemed like poor copies of Gwen even though I enjoy those women in other roles.
Remarkably, I did like Debbie Alan in the role which seemed a fresh take.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 1:49pm

Ted Neeley has pretty much **** all over any Jesus in JCS I've ever seen. Even when they dragged him out of mothballs for the Farewell Tour and he was pretty much sleep-walking through it, he still sounded better than anyone I've ever seen in the role (until the last leg... that was where I think he really lost it, and I say this having seen one performance from each of the Farewell Tour's four legs).

Updated On: 4/29/11 at 01:49 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 11:17pm

After seeing Carol Channing 28 times in HELLO, DOLLY!, I had a very difficult time seeing Ginger Rogers in the role. I had to go back 6 more times before I could settle into enjoying her performance. From that point on I could see other women play Dolly without any problems.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 4/29/11 at 11:25pm

I can't stand Sutton Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie. In the movie, Julie Andrew was, well, Julie Andrews, and nobody could ever match up to her. I do love Sutton in many other shows (especially The Drowsy Chaperone), but I don't understand why she got so much praise for that role.

[Porter2]

Posted: 4/30/11 at 5:06pm

Patti LuPone and Anything Goes. Every production I see, I keep hoping Patti would come and belt out "studiooooos!" Another show that's always ruined for me is Company. The reason I disliked the 2006 revival was because Raul Esparaza wasn't as good as Dean Jones and Babara Walsch (sorry if I spelled it wrong) wasn't as good as Elaine Stritch. (That's not to say the revival didn't merit it's Tony and good reviews.)

[jv92]

Posted: 4/30/11 at 7:04pm

I have a difficult time hearing different ladies sing "Send in the Clowns" because Glynis Johns' performance is so engraved in my memory. I've loved people like Bernadette Peters, Barbara Cook and Angela Lansbury singing the song, but there will only be one lady who sings it best, and that's Johns.

I feel the same way about other people singing Sally's songs in Follies. Barbara Cook is my favorite singer, but Dorothy Collins will forever be Sally for me. The same thing goes for Lee Remick singing "Anyone Can Whistle" and "See What it Gets You", Mandy and Bernadette in Sunday in the Park..., and LuPone in Evita.

I guess it's because I grew up with those albums and overplayed them a bit.. Sometime though, I can take new interpretations well. I actually thought Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley were improvements over the original leads in Next to Normal.

[BwayLover]

Posted: 4/30/11 at 9:15pm

I have seen a few different productions of PASSION, most recently with Patti LuPone, and just could not shake Donna Murphy's Fosca out of my mind. It's my favorite musical but it's so stongly associated with Murphy that I find it hard to believe I could ever fully embrace another performer in the role. Sad, but true. Thank God for the dvd is all I can say!

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 4/30/11 at 9:25pm

My most recent example would be Cate Blanchett as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. She was so incredible that I have no need to ever see anyone else play that part again.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 4/30/11 at 10:19pm

To me, Bob Martin will always be "Man In Chair". No one will come close. I'm the same with Judy Garland/Wizard of Oz.

Also, if your name isn't Donna McKechnie, then you shouldn't be playing Cassie.

[fanof many]

Posted: 5/1/11 at 12:34am

I saw "Driving Miss Daisy" with Frances Sternhagen years ago. She was wonderful!! Later the tour came to my town with Julie Harris. She of course was wonderful too!! When the film came out with Jessica Tandy, I could not make myself see it and I have not seen to this day. Friends of mine thought I was nuts. Glad you asked this question as I've thought about how I have felt for years. I've loved Jessica Tandy in many movies, and I'll always be a big fan, but my special Miss Daisy's will always be Julie Harris and Frances Sternhagen.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 12:47am

Love me some Angela who was an amazing Mrs. Lovett.

When Dorothy Loudon took over ( a performer I adore) I rushed to see her thinking she'd be amazing. I was appalled at how she shticked it up. Awful.
Then the movie with Helena Bonham Carter. That was worse!

Don't even remember Beth Fowler in the role.
And I just couldn't get myself to see this show with Patti Lupone on tuba.

[Scottsacto]

Posted: 5/2/11 at 3:13am

I would have to say Jennifer Holliday in the original "DreamGirls"---When she sang "And I Am Telling You"==I had Goosebumps. Have seen other productions and the movie==just not the same.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/3/11 at 6:23pm

No one surpasses Zero Mostel in Fiddler.
Although Hershel Bernardi and Paul Lipson came close.
Topol in the movie.. ugh.
Alfred Molina...oy

[billyboyA]

Posted: 5/4/11 at 12:53am

Definitely Lupone in Anything Goes. I love the show and just can't get myself to go see this new production, because the Lupon/McGillin version was SO perfect... I was only a kid when I saw it, but I remember it blowing me away... and even as a kid, I remember the sass and sex appeal of Lupone. She had an edge, which made her infinitely fascinating as an evangelist...

I've heard the Sutton is charming in this production, but I'm just worried I'll be let down. I frankly would have rather seen Donna McKechnie play Reno, than Sutton...

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/4/11 at 8:00am

Judy as Dorothy (but you could add every single member of the MGM cast, since none of them can ever be beat in those roles, and anyone else suffers from comparison)

Donna McKechnie as Cassie (mostly because I can't stand listening to any other dancer try to SING it, but her dancing and acting can't be beat either)

Patti as Evita (everyone else pales in comparison, even if they're good in the role)

Yul Brynner as the King (in the movie and in the Farewell Tour -- even though he was sick and had little energy, he was still mesmerising, and it made the ending that much more compelling and realistic, because you could see he wasn't a well man from the beginning)

Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins (and Dick Van Dyke as Bert, for that matter)

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. (none of the musical actresses could compare)

Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (don't even try to play George Bailey on stage or in a remake)

Albert Finney in Scrooge (I've never seen any other actor before or since embody the role the way he did, and they all ruin it for me by comparison)

Andrea McArdle as Annie (no other Annie has come even close to that voice)

Updated On: 5/4/11 at 08:00 AM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/4/11 at 10:16am

My first thought was Donna McKechnie as Cassie. I've seen other Cassie's that I've enjoyed but most fail to sell it like Donna. (The one on the non-Equity tour was so bad I've forgotten almost everything about her performance...)

This will get a lot of heat, but Idina Menzel in Wicked is still my favorite Elphaba, and Jennifer Laura Thompson was the best of all the Glindas I've seen.

[donte7162004]

Posted: 5/4/11 at 8:39pm

Completely agree about The House of Blue Leaves. Saw it this past weekend, and it was a huge disappointment. The show I saw with Swoosie Kurtz, John Mahoney and Christine Baranski was incredible....this current one not so much. I honestly believe Ben Stiller, Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh are wonderful actors....but something went horribly wrong with this production...it just didn't work.
Updated On: 5/4/11 at 08:39 PM

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 12:08pm

goldenboy, I completely agree with regarding Dorothy Loudon. My friend at the time and I, both HUGE fans of Sweeney Todd (having already seen numerous times with Lansbury) and big fans of Dorothy Loudon -- whenever we saw her in show, but we were both horrified by what she did to Mrs. Lovett and the negative effect she made on the entire production. My friend was so disgusted that he bolted at intermission.

While Gwen Verdon was absolutely the definitive Charity, I loved Gretchen Wyler in the role (the first time I saw Sweet Charity was with Wyler) and never having been a fan of Ann Reinking, I was quite taken with her Charity as well.

Any actor I saw that followed Kevin Kline in both "Pirates of Penzance" and "On the 20th Century" couldn't come close to his brilliance in those two shows, for me.

[egghumor]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 12:12pm

and I thought NONE of the actresses that followed Bernadette Peters as the Witch in the original production of "Into the Wood" came close to her magic and potency -- and sexiness!
I think her Tony nomination omission for that show was the one that has shocked me most. Yes, Joanna Gleason very much deserved the Tony that season for her performance -- as the heart and soul of that musical -- but Peters really should have been nominated.

[JRybka]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 2:45pm

As much as I was blown away by Christine Noll in RAGTIME (revival)... Marin was and will always be Mother to me.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 2:57pm

Updated On: 5/5/11 at 02:57 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 3:19pm

I'm too young to have seen the original production of My Fair Lady, but Martine McCutcheon in London was surprisingly perfect and I really have no interest in seeing another Eliza.