Marti Pellow joins Chicago cast

[janem]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 3:12am

finally they advertise it LOL

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/86907.html

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/86907.html>http://www.playbill.com/news/article/86907.html

I hope you all enjoy him in the role of Billy Flynn like we have in the UK

[Janki]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 10:55am

Please...I hated him in Chicago...and believe it or not Wet Wet Wet is one of my favourite bands....hmm...life is not easy

[janem]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 3:36pm

oh well, we all have our favourites :)

Posted: 8/3/04 at 5:43pm

can't wait!

[robusa]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 11:40am

can't wait either...
Updated On: 8/4/04 at 11:40 AM

Posted: 8/5/04 at 5:41pm

I`ve been waiting for so long to see Marti in Chicago and Tuesday night, my dream came true.

I sat through the first 20 minutes or so wondering where is Marti?! (I haven`t seen Chicago before) but then as the girls sing `we want Billy` I started thinking, `oh my God,he`ll be on any minute` and sure enough Marti appears on stage and the crowd gave a warm welcome to him which was nice. (I have to add that when he came on stage, the woman next to me shouted, `you`re gorgeous!') LOL!

He starts singing and you think, wow what a voice, (but then we know that anyway LOL). He seems to carry himself with confidence, plays the role well and enjoys playing it, that much was plain to see.

I thought the accent might be difficult for some reason with him being Scottish but he did brilliantly.
I sat in the third row and I can`t tell you how many times I wanted to jump on stage and hug him LOL
The whole show was fantastic, everyone was great in their roles but I went to see Marti and all I can say is I was not disappointed in the slightest.
I`m still so excited I can`t think straight LOL
razzle dazzle `em...I think he did!!
I feel silly telling all the Uk fans how great he was when they already know.
I read his website and I know what a following he has in the UK, you guys are so lucky to have met him as often as I know a lot of you have.
Oh God what else can I say?
He`s a fantastic singer and in my opinion he`s a fantastic actor I`m just lost for words,
Marti, well done!!!

[janem]

Posted: 8/6/04 at 4:05am

That`s a great review Toni,
thanks for that,
it`s so nice to hear how well he`s doing and that the crowd liked marti.

[G]

Posted: 8/6/04 at 5:37am

He's a pub singer. What's he doing on Broadway?

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/6/04 at 7:25am

That's a titch on the harsh side, G. His singing was absolutely fine when I saw him in London. His acting left an awful lot to be desired.

[robusa]

Posted: 8/6/04 at 7:53am

Pub singer? I wouldn't consider selling out arenas a pub singer...

As far as his acting, considering the length of his first run as Billy AND how he got into doing this in the first place... no one should question it.

We are full of crap 'pop' music in the US. Marti's style, voice and his own music is a breath of fresh air... take a listen.

Looking forward to next weekend and the trip to NYC.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 8/6/04 at 8:08am

As far as his acting, considering the length of his first run as Billy AND how he got into doing this in the first place... no one should question it.

Um, sorry? We absolutely should question it. He wasn't very good when I saw him in London at the beginning of his run, nor was he any better at the end of it. He sounded like Deputy Dawg reading a cue card.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/6/04 at 10:42am

No offense too his fans.

But I'm kinda glad I saw Chris Sieber in the role this summer, not Marti.
Chris was AMAZING.

Posted: 8/6/04 at 10:06pm

Oh, my...I had no idea my post would have the reaction it did...
I thought that since I hadn't seen any reviews of his debut on Broadway that I would put what I thought....I only went to see Chicago because he was in it....and I could tell that I wasn't the only one in the audience that enjoyed his performance that night...

[janem]

Posted: 8/7/04 at 4:31am

well each to their own,
G,
if you enjoy Marti`s music, fine, if not, then that`s fine too, but that DOESN`T mean he`s not good at his trade.
There`s loads of what I consider to be crap music and vocalists out there, but I am open minded enough to recognise artists for their own style and ability at whatever level they may be at in their careers.
Marti is well established in his trade and deserves to be treated accordingly. (IMO)
popcultureboy,
As for his acting skills, he must be worth hiring or he wouldn`t be on Broadway would he...
Marti didn't even formally audition for the role...he was doing a one-night gig at the Albert Hall for Pete Townshend's charity, and a couple of Chicago producers were in the audience, after the show, THEY approached HIM

Toni,
once again, thanks for your review, it was nice.
Don`t stop posting just because there`s a little negativity on here, there`s good and bad in everyone and criticism is part of life, you enjoyed Marti`s performance and you have as much right to have an opinion as anyone else.

ljay889,
no offense taken at all. Updated On: 8/7/04 at 04:31 AM

[CJR]

Posted: 8/7/04 at 4:53am

I saw the show tonight.. I'll post a full review tomorrow when I'm more coherent, but I really did not enjoy Marti as Billy. I've seen better, and I've seen worse, but I honestly could have done without him.

[janem]

Posted: 8/7/04 at 5:36am

Thanks CJR,
at least you have the decency to be fair in your reviews,
I look forward to reading it. (I hope LOL)

[G]

Posted: 8/7/04 at 5:53pm

Ok ok, I was in one of those moods. He actually didn't sing too badly when I saw him - though his acting his...urm...non-existent. And I used to have a Best Of Wet Wet Wet CD! But I still don't get why they booked him on Broadway.

[CJR]

Posted: 8/7/04 at 7:07pm

Here's my mini review -- stolen from Musicals.net where I posted it last night:

Chicago's kinda lost it's lustre for me. Saw Roxane (Carrasco) as Velma which thrilled me to no end... it goes without saying that I adored seeing her in the role again.

As always it was a pleasure to see Roz (Ryan) as Mama. I actually haven't seen Roz in almost 2 years, so that was great.

I enjoyed Paige (Davis), but not quite to the same degree I thought I would. She added some great bits here and there, and I adored her "Nowadays." There was quite a touching exchange between her and Amos (PJ Benjamin) which I've never seen from any other Roxie and it really got me. *I* felt the tears forming in my eyes!

Marti (Pellow) as Billy did not thrill me at all.... I just.. yeah. Wasn't liking him so much.

Hm. That's all I have to say about that... I've run out of inventive things to say after having seen the show THIS many times.

Updated On: 8/7/04 at 07:07 PM

[janem]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 2:48am

thanks cjr :)

[CJR]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 3:07am

No problem... I mean, I could go on and on about what went right and what went wrong during the show, but at this point it even bores me! lol

[janem]

Posted: 8/8/04 at 3:17am

oh dear LOL
fair enough though :)

[robusa]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 9:39am

i'm going saturday afternoon. can't wait to see marti.

anyone else who's seen him in NYC, please post.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 10:21am

I think I have to agree with G, CJR, etc. Pellow was a solid if unremarkable singer, but he did nothing for me, acting-wise. I didn't get any sense of the character from him at all. He wasn't bad, exactly. But he wasn't really much of anything.

I feel really bad now.

-Plum, cringing in the corner

[CJR]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 10:25am

Don't cringe... it wasn't so much that he was bad -- believe me, I've seen BAD -- he just wasnt a real standout to me.

[Madame X]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 11:53am

Oh was that who I saw? I saw Chicago last Wed - a couple of shows after Marti began apparently (my first revisit of the show in about 7 yrs - I haven't been keeping up w/ the cast) - and I didn't care too much for him either. I just didn't find he had the presence (nor the voice) needed for a Billy. There was this one point where he held out this note and it just layed there. It was probably the softest "belt" I've ever heard. Paige had to urge the audience into a reaction. I seriously thought his mic was on a different frequency than the others b/c I had such a hard time hearing him. That wouldn't be the case - would it?

FWIW - I didn't know of Marti before this moment, so I wasn't influenced by what I knew/didn't know about his "other" career.