Laura Bell Bundy and the Note — Page 7

It's even less fair to judge Becky Gulsvig from a YouTube video than it is for people to judge Laura Bell Bundy from the MTV taping. Seeing as how you're so ridonkulously invested in Laura Bell Bundy, I can't imagine you being open to such rigid critiques of her performance from people who didn't actually see her live.

Laura Bell Bundy performed the role perfectly to her ability the night I saw it, and I was still eyeing Annaleigh and Becky and random ensemble members wishing one of them were playing Elle instead. For me, the role is just not well suited to her.

Oh geez...I can't believe that I've managed to hold out for seven pages of this, and am now posting, but, as someone who has seen all of them- Annaleigh!Elle live, Becky!Elle live (more than once), and LBB live (more than once), those of you judging Becky's 'bad' performance based on a clip on the Tube of You need to seriously reconsider, the woman is so *amazing* onstage and gives a truly great performance.


She's giving an understudy's performance. The reason people groan when they hear "At this evenings performance, the role of...."

Becky's "understudy performance" is one that makes me buy a ticket to the 2pm matinee if I happen to be wandering by the Palace at 1:30 and see her name up on the u/s board, yeah that's how much it makes me 'groan' to see her in the role.

Seriously y'all- I enjoy watching boots on YouTube as much as the next person, but they're boots. on YouTube. It's never been enough for me to be able to judge what someone's performance is like live.

Someone upthread said Annaleigh Ashford only went on once as Elle? Is that true? She seems such a natural fit for the role, judging by her performance in her normal track and a few clips I've heard on that site.

Annaleigh Ashford is adorable and incredibly talented. I love her. To be honest though, no one beats Laura Bell. Her voice is tired, give her a break people. She hit it at the beginning. She understands everything about Elle and gives 150% every night. LONG LIVE LAURA BELL!!!

edit- CRAWW- i LOVE your avatar, I didn't know that there were any Ashley Tisdale fans on here! Hooray! I absolutely LOVE her. Sorry about the off-topic-ness.

Updated On: 12/10/07 at 01:24 PM

"Annaleigh with comic timing? Now that's a good one!"

I didn't see her in anything else, but in LB, she definitely did have great comedic timing, and I think anyone else who saw her as Elle would agree.

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Maybe Michael Longoria should stand offstage and hit it for her.

I was the one that said Annaleigh Ashford only went on once, she was great but she left to play Glinda really soon after.

CurtainPullDowner wrote:

"Maybe Michael Longoria should stand offstage and hit it for her."

Very funny, especially considering now that he has begun doing 6 shows a week, he is having some difficulty in Jersey Boys...



Jersey Boys Thread with current information about Longoria's voice

Does she smoke??? Maybe that's the problem.

Super basic question about Broadway shows--has it always been 8 shows a week? I'm wondering if performers who were on Broadway in the oh, 40's, 50's, etc., had vocal problems as consistently as many people in the business do today. Lots of people back then smoked, drank, partied after shows. They probably didn't get up at 6am to do vinyasa yoga and avoid a lot of the partying like many of today's performers.

Updated On: 12/18/07 at 09:05 AM

And let's not forget, korennglish is the all time greatest vocal connoisseur BWW has. Sorry but you always seem to have something off to say about good singers and like her performance or not, Becky Gulsvig is a GOOD singer. LBB's voice hasn't sounded strong in a long time, that's old news but thanks for pointing it out again.

We are making ridiculously impossible demands on performers these days. Singing eleven numbers in a show AND carrying the book AND doing most of the dancing. Come on now! Compare what LBB does to what any of the classic gods of Broadway did in one show.

In fact, compare her to pretty well any other leading actor on Broadway. Damn Star Search and American Idol. They have caused us to ramp up to a frenzy and expect whirling dervishes at every performance.

It's stupid. We are burning these people out before their time. It's like overusing a field to produce three crops a season and then wondering why the soil erodes away.

The creative staff of shows like Legally Blonde may be fulfilling the wishes of the audience, but at what cost? Vocal pulps have taken down even iron throat singers like Nathan Lane, who will be the first to admit that "The Producers" written by the Broadway-naive Mel Brookes was WAY over the top in the demands it made on anyone playing Max.

And we all know other names who have torn their lungs and throats out trying to sing over orchestras pumping out massive arrangements when one or two instruments would do fine.

It's as if there is a disconnect between the modern compose/arranger and the modern singer. These people are not jukeboxes. They can't perform at this level forever.

I just hope LBB isn't the first one to blow a fuse.

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