Posted: 8/4/17 at 6:02pm
Patti LuPone FANatic said: "Katharine Hepburn was a wonderful actress. But I've heard a bit of her "singing". In no way, shape or form did it resemble actual singing. It was just spoken words with musical accompaniment. Sheer torture.
I saw Coco 3 times in its original run, and played the OBC album constantly when it came out. Much of the music is excellent, the lyrics were Alan J Lerner terrific, and Hepburn did very well playing a character. No-one expected her to sing well, they wanted her to stay on key and not be flat; and she stayed on key. And she sang every bit as well as Carol Channing did. I didn't care if it was a combination of talking and singing.
My only point was that, if that was the only issue keeping her from doing it -- and I would probably have to see her when she hit Tampa -- I would tell her that Dolly's songs are not exactly hard and that she should see a voice coach to determine i. The main requirements are to breathe, remember the lyrics, and stay on key. That was true of Channing, Rogers (who actually had a pretty limited singing voice and sang off-key very noticeably several times when I saw her Dolly), and every other essentially non-singer who has played Dolly over the years.
; and it was well-known that KLG was NOT happy being denied this opportunity. . 
