I LOVE SIMONE

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 8:19pm

What happened to her??? I saw her in the Aida tour. I recently found out she was Mimi at one point in Rent...??? Interesting.
Where is Simone???

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 8:20pm

simone is awesome!

I saw her in aida...

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 8:23pm

She also did AIDA on Broadway. No idea where she's been, though.

[Jim2]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 10:18pm

I saw her in Rent twice and she was incredible!

[WickedBigFan]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 10:29pm

She was the worst actress I've ever seen on a stage. Aida should be a princess...not a drill srgnt. Mimi is a 19 year old crack addict, not a 40 year old who could beat the sh*t out of the pretty boy front man. Plus, she riffs everything with absolutely no emotional intent behind it.

Plus, I saw her be rude to people at the stage door (not a reason to dislike her performance...but she was rude).

And, another thing. I hadn't seen Rent yet (this was about 6 years ago), and an 82 year old woman who had been in theater for 73 years (can't mention names) told me that Rent was wonderful and that I should see it, but that the woman playing Mimi gave the worst performance she had seen in 80 years...turned out it was Simone, and I'm not joking.

I wish my had a famous name so I could be in Rent...

[Chote887]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 10:30pm

I saw her as Aida on broadway and wasn't very impressed.

Yes, she has talent, but I felt as though she was holding herself back and didn't really put herself in the part.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 10:33pm

WickedBigFan - you are now on my sh*t list - along with a idinaroxmysox(1000 now?) and the scudder.

Congratulations!

[pair-o-dice]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 10:48pm

Sorry, Simone is on my Sh*t list. Props to WIckedBigFan for a good eye. She is not good at all. her eyes are blank. There is no connection to the material. I heard she sent her daughter to Africa . Any one else no anything about this?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:04pm

I saw her as Mimi five times. She was out of this world. In fact, when I said, "My god, that Simone..." to producer Jeffrey Seller who was sitting next to me in the audience, he said, "I KNOW! She's like from another planet." She was absolutely transcendant. She didn't do ANY unnecessary vocal pyrotechnics. None.

Later, I took my brother and sister-in-law to see RENT for their anniversary (they're not exactly well-versed in theater). I stopped by the stage door after with them. I too had heard that Simone could be prickly. My sister-in-law (who actually couldn't follow the story line, but liked the songs) sidled shyly up to Simone and said, "I could listen to you sing all night." It was clear that Simone was heading off for a break and was fighting off a cold. It was very cold outside. But she stayed and chatted with my sister-in-law, thanked her profusely for her kind words, and told her what a pleasure it was to meet her. Then off she walked.

When Simone went into Aida, that was the only thing that could have made me even consider seeing what to me, appeared to be a repulsive show. But I thought better of it when I realized that a crap sandwich wouldn't taste any better just because it was served by a staff member I was particularly fond of.

[pair-o-dice]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:12pm

OK but she can't act

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:13pm

She was a fine actor in RENT. Must have been the Aida "material."

[GardenOfEden]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:23pm

Well Heather, Mya Days and even deborah Cox made it work

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:35pm

And I am sure somebody somewhere thought Simone made it work too. Or she wouldn't have kept the job very long.

[kyle.]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:49pm

simone gave one of the best performances in rent i have ever seen.

she was A-MA-ZING! she was a full blown ROCK STAR when i saw her as mimi. you couldnt take your eyes off her. her acting was fine. her singing put every other women who has ever sung those songs to SHAME.

Updated On: 1/18/05 at 11:49 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:53pm

Well, Daphne is the woman. But Simone was the first person other than Daphne to have the part full-time and it was interesting to see what somebody who had Daphne as a template would do. And she did a lot.

With a mother like hers, how could Simone NOT be fantastic?

[Kris2]

Posted: 1/18/05 at 11:58pm

I think that's interesting. Most people I know who saw Simone in Rent thought she was all wrong for Mimi but was a great singer. The typical complaints were "too old, no vulnerability, not believable, scared of heights, etc." It's cool to see the other side of what people think. Personally, I saw her in Aida and thought she sounded good but left me feeling cold.

[GardenOfEden]

Posted: 1/19/05 at 12:23am

I'm with you cold is the word to describe her. I need to moved when at a theater. I can put a CD on at home and hear good vocals.