Is John Lloyd Young the Tony Frontrunner? — Page 5

"...he's basically playing himself."

O.K.,I'll bite: aside from the kid living in Whitestone, which had a fairly sizeable Italien community (Young also lived in Nebraska), how is the life of Young so similar to that of Valli's where he could just step into the part by bringing his own experiences to the table?

To suggest that Young's performance suffer's in comparison to Cervaris' is myopic at best.

First, the material is so differant one cannot even make any substantive comparisons between the performances of each actor.

Second, until an actor steps up to the plate and attempts certain material one does not know of what he is capable. The question on the street prior to the release of "Philadelphia" was "How is Hanks, basically a comedic actor, who made 'Bachelor Party', 'Mermaid', and 'Big' going to pull off the role of a homosexual attorney dying of aids?"

Almost everyone who knew Gregory Peck thought that he possessed many of the attributes of Atticus Finch but NOBODY sugested he was just playing himself.

Updated On: 5/10/06 at 12:51 PM

i think it is important to note that Broadway needs recognizable names especially in this day and age with attendance issues and such, and with Hugh Jackman back in the movies, and Julia Roberts' poor performance, Harry Connick Jr is basically the next best thing

I think it'll be JLY or MC, since AC did the whole AC/DC thing already back when he was the Emcee, but HC could get the sympathy vote for PJ because of the hurricane in N.O.

Updated On: 5/10/06 at 06:28 PM

WickedRentQ Wrote: "He seemed to be having a teeny teeny bit of understandable vocal problems, as just the highest notes sounded a bit raspy. But everything else he sang amazingly, I mean even those notes were great."

Oh no! Am seeing this Saturday's matinee. Hope everything is well with him and he's there.

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Don't worry kaboodles, it's nothing major at all, you will be quite pleased.

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And he shows up in classy attire to pick up his Tony nom!

Looks like someone knows how to find his way to a nice Italian menswear shop to choose his suits and ties...

Way to go, JLY!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=9752

Jersey Boys and the four season's are not going to sound the same, all the stuff that you hear of the four season's is older so the sound is not as good as it is with Jersey Boys.

The Jersey Girls won't sound the same as the Angel's becasue they are not the same people, and again the sound is alot better now days.

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Overthemoon, you said: "I just feel the need to point out that Jersey Boys is not the only "jukebox" show to tell the story of the musicians through their music. Lennon, anyone?"

May I suggest a different spin on that opinion: The difference here is that Jersey Boys would be a fabulous play without the music. Other jukeboxies would have nothing if the music wasn't in the show. (They took some good music and created a ridiculous plot and call it a musical when really its just like bad porn - you don't really care about the small talk and the awful plot - you just want to get to the good stuff...) Jersey Boys is NOTHING like that... Youv'e seen it, you know. The plot is still astounding in between the audience gratifying moments of music and staging the concerts...

JLY put it brilliantly: The music IS the story, not the excuse for it." You saw it, you know the distinction that the songs fit in because that's the song that was a hit at that time in the story to get them where they are. The songs aren't poorly interjected into the story to enhance a plot point...

I appreciate your opinion, I just wanted to open you up to the distinction between JB as a 'jukebox' and other pukebox musicals.

I will concede that JB is a step above many "jukebox" shows, but I refuse to deny Lennon that same status. Both shows tell the story of the musicians using their catalogues to accent certain moments. Both were good. IMO, Lennon was better. But both were good, and most assuredly better than Good Vibrations and Mamma Mia!.

When I said the girls sounded nothing like the Angels, I think I neglected to clarify my point: the Jersey girls sang the song wonderfully, but with the Broadway voices, not 60s pop voices. As much as I hate to give kudos to Hairspray, note the vocal technique the girls on its recording used - the Jersey girls should have used similar techniques to mimic the original song style. The guys mimic the styles of the Four Seasons, why not the girls?

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My name is Harpo and I'm a Lennon lover.

OvertheMoon, I just wanted to add my thoughts as someone with a staunch record of Lennon-love. I was on that apprecation thread last August/September. I was there at the final performance. I am 'over the moon' about every member of that talented cast. I took crap from people for defending the show (not on this board).

That said, to me the difference between Lennon and JB is so vast they aren't in the same league. The difference is so great I can't say it's an apples to oranges comparison...the difference is more like apples to orangutans. I know, I know, just my opinion, just as you are entitled to yours.


Ahem, back to the stated topic...It's all about JLY and I hope he is awarded the Tony.

I think JLY is incredibly talented. Out of all the nominees, he has struggled as an actor to get to where he is today. Thats an accomplishment that is worthy compared to all the other nominees.

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I think JLY is doing incredibly well with this role. I was just saying how remarkable it was that he was able to turn from usher and off-broadway performer into a Broadway superstar. He definitely has great talent which got him to where he is today.

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