Like many one-trick actors, he seems to have a standard performance that he gives in each show. Having seen him in Grey Gardens, A Catered Affair, West Side Story, and now Death Takes a Holiday, I really cannot differentiate between the performances. It's the same vocal inflection, the same posture, the same attitude. I agree with Theater Trash. He has a song in Death Takes a Holiday that is written to be a show-stopper--although it really doesn't have much to do with advancing the actual plot of the show--and he turns it into five minutes of pure boredom.
His voice isn't all that impressive, either. He does have a huge vibrato, and when he sings in straight tone, his voice becomes incredibly small and thin. Even in a theatre the size of the Laura Pels, you get the impression that he would have trouble projecting without a microphone. Really, I don't get him or his popularity at all.
This.
He was mind-blowingly awful in West Side Story. That vibrato was annoying, and I never once for a second ever believed he used to be in a gang, much less a founding member. Terrible acting. Oh, and he was still playing Joe Kennedy the entire performance.
See i actually thought he was quite good in the dreadful Urban Cowboy, his voice sounded great.
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