Norbert Leo Butz Status Update — Page 2

Wow- I HOPE recovery goes well! What a major loss to the Broadway world that would be if we lost him!

Okay... I may be crazy... but I remember hearing a story about Celine Dion. A doctor discovered a node (or something similiar) on her throat and she was told that if she did not go on extreme vocal rest then she would never be able to sing again. SO, being Celine Dion, she took the problem VERY serious (she did after all sacrifice EVERYTHING for music- (high school diploma, college, etc.) She ended up literally not speaking a SINGLE WORD for over a month... perhaps it was 2 or so. She cancelled every performace and carried a notepad with her to write on for communication. When she finally did visit back with her doctor (yes, speaking this time)- he said she had a 100% recovery.

Now I heard this story a LONG time ago at a workshop thing... and I am almost postive that it was Celine Dion they were talking about... anyway, I think it just illustrates that WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S A WAY! And such problems can be cured!

Best of luck Norbert!

p.s. I am still heartbroken about Julie Andrews loss of a voice!I can't even IMAGINE!!!

mad4music, I remember watching one of those biography/behind the musics, something like that on her and you're right, I thought it might have just been a week that she didn't utter a word, but it very well could have been a month or 2, I don't entirely remember. But it was definitely Celine Dion

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Wow, that's terrible news. Best wishes to Norbert for a safe and speedy recovery!

Yep. As I recall Nathan Lane had nodes and when he came back also had a special voice teacher. Now maybe I'm mixing names up, but it was something about he'd never taken serious voice lessons and was using a poor technique? Whatever the case may be, he definately recovered well also...

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Laura, you?

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I know Cyndi Lauper developed nodes on her vocal chords when she was in her first band in the late 70s (she sounded a lot different then apparantly) but she recovered well from the surgery and, as you probably know, has one of the finest voices in pop music so it can go either way but I know we all have Norbert in our thoughts!

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I used to be a speech and language pathology major and we would watch videos all the time of people's vocal chords when they had nodes. It was so gross. It looks like a giant blister on the chords and the worse the case the bigger the blister and when it gets really bad the vocal chords cant even come close to eachother to produce accurate sound. Also what happened to Julie Andrews is that she had her surgery and somebody screwed up and ruined her vocal chords. She took them to court and got a lot of money but obviously her voice is worth more then she got. She hardly sings and if you notice if you ever hear her sing or in the princess diaries 2 when she sings with Raven she sings about a 5 note range.

You go, Mamie! :)

tagiunagi, with all due respect, I don't quite understand what you mean. Greg, like Mamie says, has been very upfront with the fans.

Dec. 28 cam, Greg told us Norbert was out recovering from food poisoning, which he was. This was the same cam that Greg also reported to viewers that Joe pulled his calf muscle during Great Big Stuff and that Jason came in to do the part with Ruprecht.

Jump to a Greg Jbara Love Thread reference, from page 583: On Jan. 4, Muscial_Nerd posted that they'd emailed Greg asking about Norbert's being out. A little later, they came back, after receiving a reply from Greg and quoted what he said in the email, which was this:

"Norbert won't be in for a while. Doctor imposed vocal silence. He's not happy about it."

So Greg has not denied anything, thank you very much. Puh-leaze! [EDIT TO ADD: He's told fans what he's known of the situation when he's had time and opportunity to do so, even though he never had to say anything about it at all, and he's certainly not obligated to put out regular updates. lol END EDIT] Also, Greg is one of the most UN-"Hollywood" type actors ever (in spite of having lived and worked in LA).

Anyway, perhaps more back on topic, here's hoping and praying for 100% recovery for Norbert's voice. I actually wonder if there's some sort of connection between the food poisoning incident and the nodes problem ... if he was barfing ... would that have a dire effect on a singer's nodes? I mean, I'd think it sure might ...

Updated On: 1/7/06 at 03:09 AM

This situation certainly makes his sitcom a more enticing proposition for him after his run with DRS. That , plus maybe a play or two (he's trained in Shakespere and I would LOVE to see him in one), may be a smart move to help his voice recover.

Thanks to all for the info, I really hope Norbert is able to take the time now to get better, it was really sweet of him to perform because his daughter had friends coming (yes I know it may have been dangerous, but really it shows what kind of a good guy he is) here's hoping for a speedy and more importantly complete recovary.

And second I just want to say we should all be thanking Greg Jbara for keeping us informed with what he knew-he didn't have to bother to tell anyone anything, and certainly had nothing to gain by keeping things from fans of the show, what's more logical is no one (possibly not even Norbert) was certain of the exact problem until now. so personally I'm saying 'thank you Greg' [gets down off soapbox]

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I was going to mention Nathan as an example, but see that that already happened. Remember how everyone jumped on him for being a poor actor who felt he was above his job and just wanted some time off to relax. Do you guys now understand the severity of nodes? It's not to be taken lightly, and poor Norbert will need some time off to rest or the situation will just get worse.

I just hope everyone is a little more easygoing with him than they were with Nathan. Norbert - I wish you a very speedy recovery!!

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I saw the show last night, and Norbert was great, although I was concerned that he was performing since I knew he was supposed to be on vocal rest. There were only two little moments that I noticed sounded...well, not weak but different.

1. His "holloring out with fear" screams during Ruprecht were a little quiet
2. On the last (and long) "guys" during Dirty Rotten Number, he and John took differnt and lower notes in the chord than on the OBC. I don't know if they do this often, but being a music person I definitely noticed. However, Norbert still hit the high "still deserve a hand" just like on the CD.

Not that any of this detracted from the show. Just little things that a slightly obsessive fan notices.

PS--I found out from Greg that the reason Norbert did the show last night (and today's matinee) against the doctor's orders is because one of his daughters has school groups coming to the show, and she was heartbroken that he wouldn't be in for her classmates to see. Isn't that sweet, if not a little crazy, of him?

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