Heather Headley and AIDA - an Appreciation- Page 2

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 3:36pm

I was very dissapointed when Heather was out the day I saw Aida (at least I saw Adam ). But her voice on the obcr of Aida and The Lion King is AHmazing! It's too bad she isn't going to be on Broadway any time soon.

[Pippin]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 3:45pm

I saw her four times in Aida- including her last performance. It was an amazing day for me. All four times, she was the most amazing thing on stage. I could not take my eyes off her. she is so present. After she left I had no desire to see anyone else in the role becuase no one can come close to Heather and I don't want to diminish her memory. However, my respect for her as a goddess was a little diminished in hearing her run out of steam in the second act of the Dreamgirls concert. But I still love her. Her performance remains the best I have ever seen on stage.

[Chloe]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 3:52pm

Wow, you're very lucky, Pippin. I read a story about her last performance, that she was overcome with emotion at the start of the Elaborate Lives Reprise and got encouragement from her mother in the audience to keep going. Is that true? Anything else you remember about her last?

[Pippin]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 4:29pm

yeah, it was definately an experience, chloe. right at the end of Elaborate lives reprise she sing "too many choices tear us apart, I don't want to live like that. I just....." and she froze and started to just weep. It was so amazing. the orchestra was holding out the chord. after about 20 seconds of her trying to continue, but not being able to, a woman in the audience, who I am guessing was her mother stood up, and shouting something like "you can do it, go on". then the rest of the audience started to shout things like "take your time," "we love you" and all that. the tension was amazing. finally, she finsished her sentence.... wanna be with you- barely. she was so overcome, Adam pascal actually started to get affected as well. I was balling. then they climbed into the tomb, and I am sure she broke down after she was hidden from the crowd. When she came out for the final scene in the modern day museum, she was back together, but you could tell that she had gone through it. It was an amazing day, and I will never forget it. For her curtain call, she came out running and jumping to thunderous applause and yells, and she bent down, and hit the stage, and then kissed it. it was so amazing. a memory I will never forget.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:08pm

Her second act of Dreamgirls ran out of steam???

As I recall it, she belted the last note of the show -- a feat never done since the show opened...it is a high Ab!!!

As far as her version of "Ain't No Party" goes, Lorell is overwhelmed with emotion there, and if she belts it perfectly, you lose the emotion of the role and the moment. I, personally, am glad she chose to heavily mix some of it, and to not let out a technically perfect vocal moment happen there. five minutes after that song, she sings the heck out of "Lorell loves Jimmy"...so, you can be sure she didn't "run out of steam."

[Chloe]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:10pm

Thanks for that wonderful story, Pippin, it sounds like the audience must have been put through the wringer as well. This is the kind of thing that can only happen in live performances.

[TennesseeTwang]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 6:59pm

That is a great story about Heather's last performance. Wish I could have been there. Thanks Pippin.

As for that camp of Dreamgirl fans who felt that Lilias White sang both Audra and Heather under the table in the Dreamgirl concert, well I tend to agree. And it's actually kinda fitting that she did considering the nature of the story.

Besides, it just goes to show that despite their awsome gifts and the praise that has justifiably been heaped on them, both Heather and Audra are human. Audra's voice is simply too operatic to sing in a convincing or pleasing pop style and as Margo Channing said, Heather's voice seems to be at the lower end of the mezzo soprano range, which made her sound very uncomfortable singing those songs as written.

But nobody - no matter how talented - can do everything.

[cudramacat]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 7:44pm

Okay, so I didn't have the pleasure of seeing Aida on stage but I have the soundtrack and let me just say that girl can sing! Yay for Heather Headley!