Lupone "miscast" in To Hell and Back - performance called embarrassing

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 11/6/06 at 3:38pm

But Heggie made an inexplicable, and I think obvious, misstep by casting the two women from different musical walks of life. Stephanie, sung by the superb Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, is a traditional operatic voice, while Anne, sung by veteran chanteuse Patti LuPone, is drawn from the world of Broadway.

There is no inherent reason for this -- what does a Baroque orchestra have to do with Broadway, after all? -- and the decision turns what might have been a deft blend of two worlds into a weird hodgepodge of three.

Much of the score involves duet writing for the two women, which makes emotional but not musical sense: every attempt to bring the two incompatible voices together winds up as a stylistic dissonance. And although Anne's solo numbers make their mark in isolation -- Heggie can write a cheesily synthetic Broadway-style ballad with the best of them -- they always seem weirdly out of place.

It's conceivable that a better artist might have made a case for this decision, but LuPone's performance was simply an embarrassment. Singing through jacked-up amplification that made her voice sound as if it was coming from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously, she struggled to deliver even the simplest musical phrases in tune, to give shape to a single musical phrase or to pronounce the words decipherably.

Bayrakdarian's magnificent contribution, by contrast, was both a reproach and a thrill. It wasn't just her technical prowess or her exquisitely bright and forceful tone that made the performance shine. It was the way she seemed to grasp Stephanie's simultaneous existence as woman and myth, and to make her sufferings seem both real and totemic.

McGegan led a vivacious rendition, moving nimbly from one phase of the work to the next and underlining Heggie's most arresting inventions.


Full Review

[Mutts]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 1:38am

"It's conceivable that a better artist might have made a case for this decision, but LuPone's performance was simply an embarrassment. Singing through jacked-up amplification that made her voice sound as if it was coming from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously, she struggled to deliver even the simplest musical phrases in tune, to give shape to a single musical phrase or to pronounce the words decipherably."

Did anyone see this? I was told that the part LuPone performed was written with someone else in mind but they weren't able to get obviously.

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 2:09am

That's really too bad.

The only recording of her I have is the Sweeney Todd revival and every so often her English accent magically disappears. Then it magically reappears.

[little_fall_of_rain]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 2:51am

"I was told that the part LuPone performed was written with someone else in mind but they weren't able to get obviously."

in the program notes Heggie said that the ideal for the role of Anne was Patti.

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 2:55am

Patti miscast?...How could it be?!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 6:45am

dontchoo be talkin bad but my patti!!!

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 9:43am

IMO opinion Patti is NEVER miscast because she can sing/act anything... How dare they dis our La LuPone?!

[jv92]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 10:04am

I'm surprised her singing used "jacked up amplification." I've often heard how disgusted she feels about the overblown use mikes and sound systems in current theatre.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 11/7/06 at 11:18am

Well it's not her fault if she was miscast. She is a talented woman, and the fault lies with the production team. I am sure she is singing the hell out of that piece. Even a miscast show with Patti, is better than most shows.