Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita- Page 2
Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita
Featured Actor Joined: 1/2/07
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#27
Posted: 1/21/08 at 8:28pm
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#29
Posted: 1/21/08 at 8:41pm
Yowza...
I'm a definite "Pfan" of hers, but I don't think they sound very good at all. Even taking into account that they would be sweetened and smoothed, each track just sounds seriously weak to me.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/8/05
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#30
Posted: 1/21/08 at 8:51pm
I don't think the lower notes sound bad. It's not surprising that she doesn't sound totally stellar on the higher ones. There aren't many film actresses out there who could've sung the material in the original keys and ended up with a result that would be totally pleasing to most people.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#31
Posted: 1/21/08 at 9:27pm
I agree. The high notes are kinda jenky, but I think she's got a pleasant sounding middle range. I like that there's no Peron, so that one may duet with Michelle if one chooses.
I liked, maybe even loved, the Madonna version when I first came out, but revisiting it, I feel the same way I feel when I revisit Dreamgirls - it's not awful, but I think there was a better movie to be made. In the case of Evita, they just went too far in trying to present Eva has some sort of freaking martyr and going for too much kooky realism. Imagine if we could have Madonna - who still looked good instead of the weird botoxed gargoyle she is now - in that glitzing Casa Rosada gown that Patti wore instead of that dress that looked suspiciously look the one Rikki Lake wore at Tilted Acres in Hairspray? Squish, sqaush, kill that roach!
(Oh and not that anyone asked, but with Dreamgirls, I thought it was a lot of smoke and mirrors. It just wasn't as good as it kept telling me it was.)
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#32
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:15pm
Got to listen to the tracks (thanks Rosccoe!). She sounds...okay. The high notes at the end of "I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You" are quite painful though.
I thought Madonna was pretty good as Eva Peron, not her fault the actual film was not as good. Actually, it is kind of sad, Banderas makes for a thrilling Che, Pryce is good as Peron, and Madonna handles herself pretty great; the cast deserved better than what the movie turned out to be. It wasn't a bad movie, as a matter of fact, I love watching it whenever I get a chance, but it could have been SO much better.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#33
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:22pmthe dress madonna wears is supposedly exactly like the one eva peron actually wore that night. they were going for accuracy as opposed to "traditional staging" or whatever.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#34
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:25pmThe Waltz was one of the moments I think it got really right. Banderas and Madonna had chemistry, and I liked the part where they were dancing in a slaughterhouse. They needed more of that. The screenplay was too bland. There have been a zillion Evita screenplays and Parker's was the least interesting of the ones I read.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#35
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:32pm
Phyllis, did any of them have actual dialogue?
I felt that the sung-through script made it a bit too exhausting.
Parker's choices were odd. When I first watched it I found myself confused a few times as to what was going on.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#36
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:32pm
Wait, there's a clip of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina?"
I only have "Buenos Aires" and "I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You"
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#37
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:38pmHer vibrato drives me nuts, sorry.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#38
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:52pm
Meh.
It's a light soprano voice with no bite or sting to it. No gravity or weight. Passable, at best.
It's "pretty" though, in a bland way. Shouldn't we want better than that?
I don't think she would have been any better, and perhaps even worse, than Madonna.
But I'm getting tired of "passable." It's not good enough.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#39
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:58pmHaha, I was listening to "Buenos Aires" while on the phone with my sister, and she asked "Did I just hear a Buenos Air-ays there?"
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#40
Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:58pm
"But I'm getting tired of "passable." It's not good enough."
Aren't these from the 90s? Calm down.
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#41
Posted: 1/21/08 at 11:44pmI tried to listen and it says the files were corrupted or invalid. That's the message I got when i tried to upzip them. Help
Swing Joined: 1/21/08
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#42
Posted: 1/22/08 at 12:24am
One of the biggest disappointments of my life was the casting of Madonna in my dream role of EVITA. As the Post so hilariously stated.... "NO, SHE CAN'T ACT"
Meryl Streep in her prime would have kicked some serious Argentina booty!!
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/21/06
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#43
Posted: 1/22/08 at 1:07am
Are you kidding everybody?
Based on these recordings, and judging on her vocals alone, we would all be here complaining about her weak vocals had she made the film.
Her vocals are just as weak as Madonna's are, and even less assured and breathless. Again, judging by the vocals alone.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#44
Posted: 1/22/08 at 1:14am
I agree with Brick.
What makes people say Madonna was so awful in the film? And I mean, specific moments, not just "she can't act" or "her vocals were poor."
Swing Joined: 1/21/08
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#45
Posted: 1/22/08 at 2:48am
OK, here's one: watch the film again & count how many times Madonna raises her arms with fists mimicking the poster with Patti Lupone. It drove me freakin' crazy. The movie was a 2-hr Madonna video. Nothing more, nothing less. Except that Antonio stole the show.
I don't think it's fair at all to judge Michelle based on preliminary demos. Madonna had to finally face the fact that she was no great singer & take vocal lessons for the part & I'm sure Michelle would have as well.
And once again, Meryl would have wiped the floor with both of them!
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#46
Posted: 1/22/08 at 3:00amI think Michelle Pfeiffer sounds amazing. I definitly would have preferded her in the role. I wouldn't imagine that she would have needed a whole lot of studio sweetening. It didn't work out too well for Hairspray.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#47
Posted: 1/22/08 at 3:07am
"OK, here's one: watch the film again & count how many times Madonna raises her arms with fists mimicking the poster with Patti Lupone."
Uh, Eva Perón herself had a tendency to gesticulate when she orated, so if antyhing Madonna was mimicking her and not Patti.
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#48
Posted: 1/22/08 at 3:09am
And yet, Meryl has to resort to "Mamma Mia" as her first official movie musical??? Couldn't she hold out till something more substantial came along?
Also, I like Meryl, and I admit that she is a great actress, but why does everyone come to the general consensus that if she's in it, it will be gold? Could she have saved "Basic Instinct 2" if she was in it?
Anyway, I think her speaking voice has a distinctive timbre in it, and I don't really think I would have liked the sound of her voice in "Evita" as much.
And back to the original topic, I also like Michelle Pfeiffer, and she was great in the acting parts of "Hairspray", but her singing was one of the weakest in "Hairspray". This kinda confirms it for me, and I agree that we all would be complaining about her weak singing voice (like we all are with Helena Bonham Carter in "Sweeney"), but I do think that she could act it.
And for all of those out there bashing Madonna's performance, I think many of you are just bashing it because of Madonna as a person. I love Madonna, but I do agree that she's not the best singer or actress out there, but she did do an admirable job with the role (she did win the Golden Globe for it after all, even though she was shut out of the Oscar race). And there are many parallels to the real Evita. Evita was greeted with both vehement hate and ardurous love when she was alive too.
re: Michelle Pfeiffer : Evita#49
Posted: 1/22/08 at 3:11amI think madonna was cast perfectly for the role of evita. She even looks a lot like evita. Her singing isn't bad, I like the way she sings most of the songs :)
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