Melanie Griffith on The View
Melanie Griffith on The View
#0Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 11:49am
Just watching Melanie on The View and they're discussing how the press is gaga over her performance in Chicago. I haven't read many professional reviews - is this true? From what I've read here (and other places) she's not a great fit, to put it mildly. And the critics love her? That, in my opinion, is what is wrong with Broadway these days. Critics and audience seem to have very different ideas of what is "good" and what is "bad."
Melanie also mentioned that she's forgotten her lines a couple of times and that it was 'so funny, everyone was laughing.' Huh? Since when is forgetting your lines in front of a theatre full of people funny? I realise it does happen but isn't the idea actually to try to hide the fact that you've screwed up? Maybe I'm wrong. Melanie has never been my favorite person so I suppose I could be biased.
Anyway. Diedre was great and I'd really love to go see her in the show. Any idea who's coming in after Melanie? Oh and how long is Brent Barrett in? Please tell me he'll still be around!
Perfect love, perfect sin...there is no perfect anything.
#1re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 11:57amI watched it too...gaga over Melanie's performance...they critics trashed her performance...
Vary My Days.
#2re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 11:59am
I'm sorry i'm at work and can't see this. Melanie and the View women. What could be better than watching tha always annoying Melanie chat with the equally annoying loud mouth Joy Bayhar and the obnoxious full of herself (although I can't see why)Starr Jones.
Anyway, you're right, Kelly. A good actress who forgets her lines is able to adlib something on teh spot and cover for herself so that audiance doesn't notice. But, that's a good actress, not Melanie.
http://www.danperezgallery.com
popcultureboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/23/03
#3re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 12:01pm
The critics didn't exactly trash her performance, though. They all said "she can't sing, she can't dance, she can't act she is just terrible terrible terrible. But we loved her performance, she's adorable, she's wonderful, she's gorgeous."
VERY peculiar.
Nothing precious, plain to see, don't make a fuss over me. Not loud, not soft, but somewhere inbetween. Say sorry, just let it be the word you mean.
#4re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 12:15pm
I wouldn't exactly say her performance was "trashed"...
For those curious, here are links to most of the major reviews...
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/04/arts/theater/04CHIC.html
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1947713
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1/1059802345288450.xml
http://nypost.com/entertainment/2285.htm
http://www.broadway.com/template_1.asp?CT=8
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-p2top23401236aug04,0,356494.story?coll=ny-theater-print
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/theater/story/106171p-96010c.html
seabyrd
Understudy Joined: 7/14/03
#5re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 12:17pmI dont get it either. Consider this though.....most of the critics are MEN. Do they find that personality endearing? I saw her on The View and she is just as ditzy as ever. Not too quick and a very giggly persona The baby-doll thing is sooooooo annoying in a grown woman. I can see where Deidre would carry the show - she was charming in the interview. Melanie treats the whole thing like a joke.
NBC
Broadway Star Joined: 6/5/03
#6re: re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 12:48pm
Right now Brent Barrett and Melanie Griffith are only signed until 9/28, as far as I know.
I, too, am hoping he'll stick around after she leaves so I'll have a chance to see him again! (Unless, of course, he leaves so he can originate a role in something fabulous...)
"I cried during the Frug." - MC
#7re: re: re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 1:01pmThe phrase "damned with faint praise" keeps coming to mind.
"Do you know ChrisLovesShows?" "Yes. Why, yes he does!"
Updated On: 8/6/03 at 01:01 PM
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#8re: re: re: re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 1:17pm
seabyrd,
Some of her biggest compliments came from gay men...so I'm not sure of your point.
I have seen performers who I forgive ANYTHING if they inherently have something in them that illuminates the part. I don't go to watch technical proficiency (one of the reasons I'd rather watch paint dry than a performance by Karen Ziemba). I go to be moved and changed in some way. These reviewers obviously know that they should be taking her to task for her lack of experience, but something about her transcended all of her faults...for them. No need to crucify her or the reviewers. If you don't want to see her...don't go.
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
seabyrd
Understudy Joined: 7/14/03
#9re: re: re: re: re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 2:01pmRob - that made a lot of sense - I think. Karen Ziemba leaves me cold too. I guess the defining thing is the difference between a STAR and merely a TECHNICIAN. Call if charisma, or whatever - it makes the person watchable no matter what they're doing or NOT doing. And to me it means smiling while Im watching.
#10re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 4:33pm
Melanie did not act professional at all. She seemed very bored with the routine she was doing. Very ditzy. (in the show). She brought a nail file with her when she came out on stage. Deidre was singing to her and she was concentrating on her nail. Now don't tell me that was in the script.
Go and see her for yourself. She is not Broadway caliber. WHen you pay a lot of money for tickets, that is annoying.
"Life is not measured by the number
of breaths we take, but by moments
that take our breath away."
"Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
but how to dance in the rain."
NBC
Broadway Star Joined: 6/5/03
#11re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 4:57pm
Well, I do think the nail file was just a bit of business Melanie decided to add, maybe she thought it would be funny or something...even if it's not officially in the script, I don't think she did it as a time-saving, multi-tasking type technique!
I didn't think her singing and dancing were Broadway caliber, either, but I'm pretty sure the nail file was a character choice. (Unlike the time when George Hamilton made an entrance carrying a coat hanger because he hadn't finished putting his jacket on beforehand.)
"I cried during the Frug." - MC
#12re: re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 7:20pmNo, she was showing the blonde actress, who gets hanged, her broken nail. I was in the third row. She decided to file it down during Deidre's number.
"Life is not measured by the number
of breaths we take, but by moments
that take our breath away."
"Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
but how to dance in the rain."
Updated On: 8/7/03 at 07:20 PM
sambaflora
Chorus Member Joined: 5/27/03
#13re: re: re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 7:36pm
Hey BroadwayLady.
Might this have been in 'I Can't Do It Alone' whereupon Roxie SHOULD be showing dis-interest in Velma's song + dance?
Seems likely to me as there are comparatively few solo numbers for Velma.....esp. with Roxie on stage with her.
Just a thought you should probably consider.
Me fail English? That's unpossible! - Ralph Wiggum
Sunfish
Broadway Star Joined: 6/11/03
#15re: re: Melanie Griffith on The View
Posted: 8/6/03 at 10:45pmNo they did not...Deidre sang a couple lines of Razzle Dazzle that pertained to a stage goof story she was sharing...but other than that, only silent clips of the actual stage show (which looked fabulous, even if short...)
Videos