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I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

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#1

I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:31am

I don't understand this outrage regarding Pierce getting the Tony over Raul.

I saw Company and found Raul to be quite boring, monotone, and uninteresting, throughout the entire show, up until he sang "Being Alive".

Yes, "BA" was amazing, BUT one song delivered amazingly, at the end of the show did not save his performance for me.

I have not seen Pierce in Curtains, so I can not comment on his performance.

Am I alone in feeling that Raul is overrated?
#4

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:37am

I personally found him and the whole show overrated. Or I just didn't get it or something. I went with a friend who adores it, and I felt bad for NOT liking it as much as she does. But then I decided I'm me and I'm allowed to like or not like what I like or don't. (I'd bought my own ticket anyway. LOL.) The whole thing just left me cold.
Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
#6

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:39am

Yes, you're alone.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#7

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:42am

To call Esparza's performance "monotone" in that show is to entirely miss his contribution to material and what an actor does to begin with. Understated and subtle, though? Absolutely.

I haven't seen David Hyde Pierce, but he must be doing downright remarkable work to deserve it over Esparza.
#10

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:44am

I would have been happy for Raul but I think DHP was very deserving. It's a classic case of apples and oranges.
"She sang each word, the angels heard ... They closed her mouth and shipped her south. The woman's done."
#11

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:45am

I agree Broadwaygirl. And I see that unckristen just posted what I was going to say - its apples and oranges, beets - whatever.

Maybe some of the ppl who voted for DHP didnt even see Company, lol
The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?
#12

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:48am

I don't think he is overrated; he has an excellent voice. Compared to the work David Hyde Pierce had to do in "Curtains", Raul just wondered around stage and sang his one big song. I have the original cast album and Dean Jones & Larry Kert (it was added to the CD) sing "Being Alive" far better than Raul and that's listening on a CD. The Tony voters made the right choice!!
#13

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:51am

Totally disagree. I can't listen to my OBCR of Company anymore. The new one is just far superior on acting, singing, and orchestrations.
It's just a message board. Let's not take it too seriously.
#14

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:51am

Apples and oranges, indeed...but I was mesmerized by Raul's performance throughout. Watch him react to the scene (the role is reactive, after all), his eyes, his wry smile, his fear. Brilliant.
#15

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:52am

Born ~ I adore subtelty. I just don't adore Company.
Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
#17

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:53am

Exactly, gymman!

Sondheim has said himself that Raul is the first actor who has made him like "Being Alive" as the last song. He always thought it was a "cop out" ending but Raul brings such pain and depth to the role.
It's just a message board. Let's not take it too seriously.
#18

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:55am

No SpaceDog you're not alone. I saw Company and I thought then and still think Raul Esparza's performance was over-rated. Not bad by any stretch, but not worthy of all the praise. DHP deserved this Tony. Anybody see Micheal Cerveris' reaction -- he said, "Oh yes" when DHP was named the winner. I whole-heartedly agree.
#19

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:55am

I can't listen to my OBCR of Company anymore. The new one is just far superior on acting, singing, and orchestrations.

WHAT??? I am sorry, but other than Heather Laws on "Getting Married Today", the original recording is MUCH better. And no, even though Mary Mitchell Campbell's orchestrations were decent, Jonathan Tunick's were far superior and truly beautiful. And nobody compares to Stritch as Joanne.
#21

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:57am

Raul stood on the edge of the stage pretending to drink out of an empty glass, taking a brief break to sing Marry Me A Little(his strongest song in the whole show) and then continued to pretend to drink until the end when he screamed out Being Alive. My voice hurt for him by the end of that song. Now, granted, Bobby is a very complex role and Company is a very complex show and I think that the John Doyle direction of it made it impossible for the actors to delve into the deeper layers of the show. They were all too busy playing their instruments and marching around the stage. I think Raul did ony worthy.
First you're another sloe-eyed vamp, then someone's mother, then you're camp...
#22

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:58am

I don't love Company, but I loved his performance. I was at the Tonys, and I knew when Curtains hadn't won anything up to that point that DHP would steal it.
Just glad Audra didn't take Christine's award.
"A birdcage I plan to hang. I'll get to that someday. A birdcage for a bird who flew away...Around the world." "Life is a cabaret old chum, only a cabaret old chum, and I love a cabaret!"-RIP Natasha Richardson-I was honored to have witnessed her performance as Sally Bowles.
#23

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 10:58am

See, I think all Doyle did was FORCE them all to delve deeper into their characters. besides playing, he gave them so little else to do that it was all focused on characterization.
It's just a message board. Let's not take it too seriously.
#24

re: I did NOT think Raul deserved the tony...am I alone?

Posted: 6/11/07 at 11:03am

You think the orchestrations for the revival are BETTER than the original? Very interesting, Born. I think the original is PERFECT, and the revival orchestrations service the show well - but was NOT at all a high point of my experience with the production. It's probably why I don't have the CD.

I don't know if Pierce deserved the Tony over Raul because I haven't seen Curtains, but the look on Raul's face made my heart bleed.

Happy for Pierce though, he was so genuinely surprised, and earnest.
Personally, I think I have too much bloom.

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