#1
Posted: 9/19/10 at 10:44pm
I saw this last night and was bowled over. I expected to like them--I have in the past--and I liked the show when I saw the original cast. I happen to be one of the people who believes Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's writing completely deserved the Pulitzer.
But, still, I was unprepared for what I saw last night. Marin Mazzie's and Jason Danieley's acting was flawless and their singing was thrilling. And Kyle Dean Massey and Meghann Fahy were astonishing, and Louis Hobson and Adam Chandler-Berat were as powerful in their roles, if not better than they were months ago. In fact, I enjoyed the show more and saw and heard more in it than I had the first time.
Now, the purpose of this thread is NOT to compare Marin and Jason to the original cast or to start a debate about who was better. I saw the original and loved it. Alice Ripley's performance is iconic for our time, and J. Robert Spencer was terrific. This thread is not to denigrate their work but to marvel at what this replacement cast accomplishes.
On a certain level, it's something like stunt casting, but at an elevated level. We have the opportunity to see two members of a husband-and-wife team who have never teamed before, outside of concert performances, a Trojan Women and a delightful 2005 CD of duets and solos. But that's where the stunt aspect ends. The husband and wife happen to be two of Broadway's finest singing actors.
Marin does not bring any kind of aura of "living on the edge," the way that Alice did. Marin is, by nature, closer to the soccer mom discussed in the script. And, as most of us know from personal observation, there are a great many soccer moms teetering on the brink of madness. She brings a wry humor and and sudden jolts of anguish that are astonishing. And her voice is so different from Alice's, it is, in many instances, almost a different score. Her voice has always been supple. Singing Diana, she reaches into her upper register, she drops into her speaking voice--she uses every sound and tone and nuance.
Marin's voice, as an instrument, and her natural strength, don't tell the same exact story that Alice's voice and persona told. How could they? Who would want them to? But she plays a Diana many of us know in our own lives.
Jason is called up to use reserves of depth of feeling that most of us who have seen him onstage have never seen him display before. He also brings a love for the woman sharing the stage with him that sometimes seems so honest that we feel we are invading a real couples' privacy. And his voice has those notes, those thrilling notes. In Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's score, he hits those notes at moments of pain or repressed anger in ways that are chilling.
Those of you who love the show owe it to yourselves to see them in it. Those of you who were not as impressed with the writing as I was (and the Pulitzer administration was) owe it to yourselves to see it again with them see if the material strikes you differently this time. I think it might.
I had heard that people miss seeing the "crazy lady" whose antics offstage and on Facebook and Twitter were almost as crazy as the character's antics on stage. I heard people say that Marin's high notes are wrong for the score and that it needs a Janis Joplin-like "rock star" voice. I even heard that if I went to see Marin and Jason in the show, I would "miss the mountains," as Diana sings, and feel like I was watching the show on Valium and Vicodin and not the Adderall and Red Bull jolt that the show needs.
But I liked what I saw, I was moved, and it made me think. Did anyone else who has seen the second cast like it as much as I did?
But, still, I was unprepared for what I saw last night. Marin Mazzie's and Jason Danieley's acting was flawless and their singing was thrilling. And Kyle Dean Massey and Meghann Fahy were astonishing, and Louis Hobson and Adam Chandler-Berat were as powerful in their roles, if not better than they were months ago. In fact, I enjoyed the show more and saw and heard more in it than I had the first time.
Now, the purpose of this thread is NOT to compare Marin and Jason to the original cast or to start a debate about who was better. I saw the original and loved it. Alice Ripley's performance is iconic for our time, and J. Robert Spencer was terrific. This thread is not to denigrate their work but to marvel at what this replacement cast accomplishes.
On a certain level, it's something like stunt casting, but at an elevated level. We have the opportunity to see two members of a husband-and-wife team who have never teamed before, outside of concert performances, a Trojan Women and a delightful 2005 CD of duets and solos. But that's where the stunt aspect ends. The husband and wife happen to be two of Broadway's finest singing actors.
Marin does not bring any kind of aura of "living on the edge," the way that Alice did. Marin is, by nature, closer to the soccer mom discussed in the script. And, as most of us know from personal observation, there are a great many soccer moms teetering on the brink of madness. She brings a wry humor and and sudden jolts of anguish that are astonishing. And her voice is so different from Alice's, it is, in many instances, almost a different score. Her voice has always been supple. Singing Diana, she reaches into her upper register, she drops into her speaking voice--she uses every sound and tone and nuance.
Marin's voice, as an instrument, and her natural strength, don't tell the same exact story that Alice's voice and persona told. How could they? Who would want them to? But she plays a Diana many of us know in our own lives.
Jason is called up to use reserves of depth of feeling that most of us who have seen him onstage have never seen him display before. He also brings a love for the woman sharing the stage with him that sometimes seems so honest that we feel we are invading a real couples' privacy. And his voice has those notes, those thrilling notes. In Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's score, he hits those notes at moments of pain or repressed anger in ways that are chilling.
Those of you who love the show owe it to yourselves to see them in it. Those of you who were not as impressed with the writing as I was (and the Pulitzer administration was) owe it to yourselves to see it again with them see if the material strikes you differently this time. I think it might.
I had heard that people miss seeing the "crazy lady" whose antics offstage and on Facebook and Twitter were almost as crazy as the character's antics on stage. I heard people say that Marin's high notes are wrong for the score and that it needs a Janis Joplin-like "rock star" voice. I even heard that if I went to see Marin and Jason in the show, I would "miss the mountains," as Diana sings, and feel like I was watching the show on Valium and Vicodin and not the Adderall and Red Bull jolt that the show needs.
But I liked what I saw, I was moved, and it made me think. Did anyone else who has seen the second cast like it as much as I did?
Updated On: 9/19/10 at 10:44 PM
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