Natascia Diaz Front Page... Why?- Page 3

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 9:41am

Oh, wow, yeah, that's not very good. Snelson's acting is bad in that clip! Her singing is screechy (but not atrocious, and her "I'll do you proud" is pretty great), her dancing is ... well, lets just say that she lacks control. Same thing with the acting, really. She seems to be pushing and trying way too hard. Kind of flailing all over the place. She's not focused.

One big "light-bulb" moment on the DVD is when Donna McKechnie says that Bennett knew not to over-choreograph or over-stage something. Give the numbers just enough, but don't go overboard. (Are you listening, Rob Ashford & Kathleen Marshall?)

Was Snelson considered for Cassie initially and they just cut it from the documentary? Or was she always just up for Val only?

Updated On: 8/9/11 at 09:41 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 9:58am

Jessica Lee Goldyn is really the closest I've seen anyone come to touching McKechnie. I would have to assume that she wasn't considered because of her age, although it does kind of add some poignancy (to my mind) if you have a very young Cassie who already believes she's over the hill. How old was she when the revival debuted? 21?

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:01am

^ I totally agree!

Yeah, I think she was like 22 or something. Here's the clip for a reminder:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KObIVed6yeU

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:09am

I just watched that clip again and was blown away sitting at my desk. I saw her during her last week (the last week of the Broadway run) and she was incredible. She's also a really skilled singer--not McKechnie-level, but better than you usually get. She also danced an exquisite Ivy Smith in the Encores staging of ON THE TOWN, opposite her then-fiance (are they still together?) Tony Yazbeck.

I watched Nikki Snelson's "Music and the Mirror" and she just doesn't seem to have the fire required for Cassie. It was a workmanlike performance.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:11am

What is Jessica Lee up to now? It's a shame she's not dancing on Broadway right now in something.

30-40 years ago, you would have choreographers, directors, and composers writing shows for a talent like that.

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:18am

Almost all of her recent roles have been regional: Tiger Lily in PETER PAN at Paper Mill; Cassie again at MUNY; Lola on Long Island (I believe this was the production with Andre de Shields as Mister Applegate); Charity in upstate NY. She should be the premiere dancer on Broadway right now, especially considering that she's a more than credible actress and singer. I'm blown away by her talent.

And according to her official dates, she was twenty when ACL opened and 22 (!) in that clip. Unbelievable!

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:18am

Wasn't Goldyn also only initially being considered as a cover for Val? Then she blew everyone else out of the water and got the role.

I didn't get a chance to see her live as Cassie in A Chorus Line, but I have to agree with AC126748 that her Ivy Smith was simply beautiful. She's definitely been one of the standout dancers I've seen in New York, and I really hope to see her again.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:23am

The thing that makes me frustrated about someone like this is that these are her "golden years." Right now! And she has a good couple of decades ahead of her as a "star dancer" if the roles and shows present themselves (and if she takes care of herself).

Otherwise, I know she'll be a "working dancer/actress/singer" in regional productions. Nothing wrong with that, but I really wish producers and choreographers would step up to the plate when someone like this comes along.


EDIT: And givesmevoice--In the documentary, the casting director comes up to her in the the waiting room initially and tells her they are considering her for a "Val cover" and possibly a "Cassie cover" as well.

Updated On: 8/9/11 at 10:23 AM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:49am

Thinking about some well-known featured dancers on Broadway, it seems like they all were fortunate enough to hook up with a choreographer who worked with them on several projects (I'm thinking about someone like Megan Sikora and Rob Ashford). It's pretty ridiculous that no one's done the same for Jessica.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:54am

In terms of Goldyn being up for Cassie originally, she competed to understudy both Val and Cassie for the entire casting proccess, even up until the final callbacks. It wasn't until the second day on stage at the Broadhurst that the creative team fell in love with her Val and put her into contention for the principal slot. As the documentary shows, up until then, Nikki Snelson pretty much had the part. I didn't like Snelson as Cassie either, but I thought she was pushing way too hard in her Val audition footage, so I'm glad Goldyn won the role. She nearly walked away wth the show.

What a lot of people don't know is that Goldyn understudied Cassie from the beginning, even when she was playing Val. She never went on, and after the first year on Broadway, when d'Amboise re-negotiated her contract to no longer play matinees, an additional swing was brought in (Jessica Lea Patty) and Goldyn stopped covering the role. She didn't play it until they asked her to take over for the final week of the run, at which point she'd already stopped understudying it.

Updated On: 8/9/11 at 10:54 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 10:56am

Here's what Goldyn herself wrote in the comment section on that video:

"Hello to all my lovely fans! I just wanted to thank you so much for all your love and supportive messages. I never thought I'd go on for Cassie and feel very blessed to have had the chance. I was extremely young and am? looking forward to doing it again in about ten years when I'm really ready and right for the part. Thank you all for all the love and for keeping me humble and grounded. xoxo Jessica"

Seems very humble. Maybe she's not into self-promotion. That said, if I had her talent I'd be walking down the street doing Cassie's number.

[manaboutown]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:13am

I think it's interesting that everyone assumes that they only looked at Charlotte and Natascia because they were the only ones "who could do it". Not true by any means....I'd love to talk about the lack of a casting process that allowed the actresses that COULD do it a chance. As you have all mentioned...Shannon Lewis, Nadine Isenegger, Meg Gillentine---and Amy Spanger, Deborah Yates, Nancy Lamenager were all amazing in early auditions.....but it became clear that the producers and casting director wanted Charlotte at all costs. She was and is great--but---I still wonder what would have happened if those other talented ladies would have been given a real shot at winning the role.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:18am

I think Michael Bennett's post hit the nail on the head earlier- d'Amboise's personal story so mirrors that of Cassie that, if she was able to remotely pull off the role, she was always who the creative team really wanted to cast.

An interesting name who was up for the role who you didn't mention was Elizabeth Parkinson, manabouttown (you can see her briefly in the documentary.) I've never heard her sing, but I bet she danced the living hell out of it.

Some of the critics in San Francisco expressed curiousity as to why Deidre Goodwin wasn't playing Cassie, and I always wondered why she wasn't considered for it too. She may have had a rough time with the vocal demands of the role, but she has a heartbreaking eagerness to please that would have been perfect for it. Watch the emotional scene in the documentary where she talks about how she was questioning whether or not she was at the age to work anymore and it's almost exactly what Cassie says in her big monologue.

Updated On: 8/9/11 at 11:18 AM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:26am

Elizabeth Parkinson was who I was really hoping would play the role when the revival was first cast - I loved the idea of this amazing showstopping dancer who we'd never heard utter a word on a Broadway stage taking on Cassie (another example of life imitating art) but I'm assuming she probably wasn't up for the vocal demands.

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:31am

Some of the critics in San Francisco expressed curiousity as to why Deidre Goodwin wasn't playing Cassie, and I always wondered why she wasn't considered for it too. She may have had a rough time with the vocal demands of the role, but she has a heartbreaking eagerness to please that would have been perfect for it.

I've always been curious as to that, as well. We all know she could dance Cassie in a walk. She's a pretty good singer--she's not Patti LuPone, but she's managed to sustain runs in more song-heavy shows like NINE and CHICAGO. That said, I thought she was extraordinary as Sheila and would have much rather seen her nominated than d'Amboise.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:33am

I don't believe they would have given Charlotte the role of Cassie, just because of her similarities to the character. Ultimately, who cares? It makes for interesting conversation among those who know her personal backstory, but most of the audiences seeing ACL wouldn't even know this about her. She still had to prove she was the best. But I do think her similarities made her a natural fit for the part. She didn't have to act it as much as "be" it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:35am

AC126748---I doubt Diedre could have sung it. She can hold her own well enough as Sheila, which is not vocally demanding. Music and the Mirror (and Cassie's other one-liner solos) ... that's a different story.

[perpetualanticipatio]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:37am

Donna preferred Natascia over Charlotte from the auditions and felt that Charlotte was just "flailing her arms" throughout the number. She has said this several times to myself as well as others. Charlotte went to six performances because her mother was dying at the time. That said, its a shame Natascia is wearing a sundress and a wig. The choreography and get up look similar to any high school Cassie you can see on "that site".

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:38am

Well, it's a good thing Donna didn't cast the show then.

[sallydurant]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:40am

Having just seen Diaz do it I have to agree with the comment "Why NOT!" The choreography is not her doing as she was not the choreographer for the show. That is also neither here nor there - She was brilliant! Not only that, looking at her bio, how many other ladies have gone from Aldonza to Electra to Anita to Auroa and to Cassie? I can't say Chita or Donna or really anyone else for that matter. Say what you will, this is a brilliant and talented performer who, when I saw the show, truly gave us her heart and soul on stage. I look forward to many more brilliant performances!

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 11:55am

Baayork Lee also wanted Diaz in the lead - d'Ambroise was chosen because she was close with certain members of the creative team.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 12:04pm

Going back to the documentary which I just re-watched yesterday, and which I know is skewed to show the story a certain way, I just don't see it in the clips of Diaz. She does the steps well, but it's almost as if she's marking it. She doesn't throw her passion into the dance at the auditions. She does in her acting and singing, but in the dance, she's only "okay."

Maybe they "edited out" her brilliance as a dancer, but for me it's just not apparent.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 12:05pm

I liked her a lot when I saw her in "tick tick BOOM." But man oh man are some people insufferable when they talk in their hushed yoga voices and include the word "journey" in the first 45 seconds.

One of the reasons amateur video is forbidden is because it doesn't show the stage pictures in their best light. Despite this, I do think Diaz sounds better than any clip I ever saw of Charlotte, whose nasal vocals drove me to distraction.

And, to reiterate the difficulties of amateur videos, I saw Snelson play Cassie in a place the size of a jumbo jet airplane hangar. We have no idea if the clip in this thread is a place like that. I find her to be a much better singer and actress than Charlotte.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 12:06pm

"Baayork Lee also wanted Diaz in the lead - d'Ambroise was chosen because she was close with certain members of the creative team."

Gee, that's a funny comment coming from them (if it did come from them), because the same thing could be said about them. Not knocking their performing talents at all, but they were "close" to certain members of creative teams and landed many jobs because of it.

EDIT: And Bayyork's choice for Connie, her own original role, was off, too (in my opinion, as well as the rest of the creative team's). She just couldn't see that the other girl was giving a better audition each time. Yuki clearly deserved the part, IMO, looking at the side-by-side auditions in the documentary.

Updated On: 8/9/11 at 12:06 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/9/11 at 12:11pm

Good point, Namo. If she's doing it on a football field, that performance could be considered subtle.

And the only time I've really liked Charlotte's singing was in this documentary that showed her auditions for the part. I've never seen/heard her sing it that well again. (it's still not brilliant singing, just much better than what she usually does.)