MargoChanning's Best of 2005 — Page 2

You know, Margo. I think you're out of touch a bit, because you just don't go to the theatre that often. There's a lot going on out there. You should try to attend, even if it's only once in a while.

(...he says, humbly.)

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Thank you so much for that list.

And, can I be a dork for a second? The fact that I agree with you on mostly everything and actually saw a lot of the shows you deemed "Best" makes me all warm inside. I do value your opinion.

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i'm gonna ignore that and just keep smiling

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Great list Margo! What'd you think of CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG? And what'd you think of THE DANCERS LIFE?

Fantastic list, Margo. Do you think that Kaufman's HOPE LEAVES THE THEATRE will ever be published? It sounds too good to be a one-off kind of thing.

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If I lived in NY, I would see all of your recommendations.

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I saw CHITTY "alone" -- as much as one can be alone in an 1800 seat theater (not that it was full or anything). And I was bored out of my mind -- yawning and fighting to stay interested throughout. Jan Maxwell somehow managed to take her inferior material and make it seem interesting and worth watching. THAT'S what makes someone a great actress and why I put her on my list of notable performances. She and the rest of the cast deserved far better.

As for IN MY LIFE, I can only say that, at the first preview, I laughed harder at that than I have ever laughed at anything else in YEARS. It is the ONLY time I've been in a Broadway theatre and worried that I was going to be asked to leave -- I simply couldn't stop laughing at certain points. I was accompanied by a few other BWW people who's names I won't mention ..... OK, I literally fell on RobbieJ laughing at one point, but that doesn't count ........

I heard they later changed certain things and made them less funny...... bad move. The show might still be running had they simply given themselves over to the awfulness on stage and encouraged the audience to revel in how terrible the show was. I don't exaggerate by saying this -- the first preview was funnier unintentionally than the PRODUCERS was and is, intentionally. I wish it was still running. Life turns on a dime........................

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Updated On: 1/7/06 at 03:32 AM

Nice! It was great to start my year off with an honorable mention... Thanks, Margo!

Hey Margo!

Thanks so much for the kind mention of the Secret Garden Concert! I just wanted to make a small correction though, in that it was a benefit for The Joey DiPaolo AIDS Foundation and not BC/EFA.

:)

THanks again! Great list!

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Thanks Margo! I always enjoy your posts! Have a great New Year!

"Phantom2 --

Phanty, I'm a fan of yours myself."

Somebody loves me! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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Jamie,

Sorry about that. I've made the correction

apdarcey,

I think O'Hara has a gorgeous voice and is a beautiful young woman, but I felt that she could have done a better job of conveying Clara's condition to the audience. Now perhaps the fault should lie as much with Lucas' book or Sher's direction, but whoever's to blame, I thought that her performance slightly undermined a crucial aspect of the story. My opinion was further reinforced later when I watched the 1962 film version. Yvette Mimieux's Clara had a childish quality and a petulance about her which made it clear that something was "off" about her, yet Mimieux never overplayed it, so you could see how Fabrizio and his family might simply take her behavior for spoiled innocence, not mental infirmity. I never bought that with O'Hara who seemed like a completely normal 20-something American girl of the period (though she has the occasional tantrum).

Because of that, the show became more a story of a mother having trouble letting go of her grown up daughter than about the daughter herself. Had Clara's condition been more pronounced as it was in the film, there would have been even more poignance in Margaret's learning to let her go. It didn't ruin the show (in part, due to Clark's remarkable performance which filled in some of the blanks), but it removed some of the complexity and richness in the story which the movie managed to capture.

aspiring actress --

I do try to keep up to date with my reviews, but work and other time constraints sometimes make that impossible. I also go through periods where I see so many shows in rapid succession that I inevitably get behind. In the future, I hope to be able to do a better job of staying current.

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I want to be Margo Channing when I grow up!!

Thank You dear!!