Oklahoma

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 6:51pm

Ado Annie on the recordign is terrible. I'm listenign to I Cain't Say No and I've seen high school and middle school people who are better.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 6:52pm

Which recording? I can think of at least 4 offhand.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 6:52pm

Is that the '98 London recording with Hugh Jackman? I don't like her voice much either. I really wish they'd recorded the Broadway cast.

[Allie]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 6:53pm

She can't be worse than the Ado Annie from the movie with Gordon McRae!

[Adoannie925]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 6:58pm

The movie recording? Gloria Grahame couldn't sing a note, and she even admitted to it. However, she could act! And, wow...was she an actress.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 7:01pm

The one on xsao.net. I think it might have been the original. She was straining on the notes and I was in pain.

[MaTakeALookAtMe]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 8:15pm

I second the thoughts on the London recording...

I saw it on PBS a while back...it was awful. Especially any scen with Ado Annie and ali Hakim..they just weren't funny

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:03pm

The Ado Annie on the original recording is SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 9:06pm

She sounds like one of my teachers who's in her seventies.

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:04pm

I can't believe anyone is bashing the Ado Annie. It was the Laury that I thought was horrible. Oh, God, I won't get started on her.

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:25pm

The Ado Annie on the original Broadway cast recording (1943, Celeste Holm, was instructed to sing in that manner by the composers of the score.

Ado Annie wasn't trained at Juilliard, but she sure connects with the words, don't she?

Reminds of singers who insist on singing, "I'm just a girl who can't say no," when the lyric is "I'm jest a girl who cain't say no." Another example is "there's a boat that's leaving soon for New York," instead of as written, "der's a boat dat's leaving..."

[Jwei123]

Posted: 1/13/05 at 11:31pm

i loooved the ado annie from the revival, jessica Boevers! SOOO funny and talented!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 12:50am

I don't mind Ado Annie's voice on the London recording.

I didn't like the way Ado Annie was portrayed in the movie. During "I Cain't Say No" she just stood there, while on stage she is more perky and hyper.

Updated On: 1/14/05 at 12:50 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 1:00am

Jwei, I loved her too. Adorable, and perfect, IMO. Like I said before, I *really* wish they'd recorded that cast.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 1:09am

Yes, that would be Celeste Holm, an icon of both Broadway and Hollywood. It's called "I Cain't Say No" for Curly's sake. Did you expect Rene Flemming? It is a character song that she finds so much humor in that it would not matter if she sounded like a frog. It was intentionally not meant to sound purty. Musical Theatre is about so much more than sounding great, it is about interpretation, taking risk and being willing to sound like the character even if it ain't so purty.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 1:18am

If she sounded like a frog? If you're referring to my post, I never said anything about her voice, just her character during that song. And I still don't like it.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 1:30am

No, Millie, I was not referring to your post at all. My point was that even if she chose to sound like a frog it would be a choice by this great actress.

[jo]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 7:01am

I agree with Sueleen - musical theatre is not about a concert --it is telling a story though music, acting out the emotions while singing. Sometimes the character portrayal calls for something unusual ( e.g., some of Sancho Pinza's singing in Man of La Mancha), not necesarily what sounds musically pleasing.

[AndyHardy]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 9:34am

On a somewhat related note:

While I realize that the movie censorship code was breaking down by the mid-1950s, I am always surprised that "I Caint Say No" was used in the movie as freely as it was. I always thought Gloria Grahme may have been instructed to be rather stone faced so as not to seem overly perverted. After all, the censors had R&H change a lyric in "Kansas City" (about the "peeling" going on at the Burl-ee-que)

Gloria Grahame's performance of "I Caint Say No" has grown on me.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/14/05 at 3:27pm

I haven't watched the movie in years, but didn't they change around "Out of My Dreams" so it wouldn't look like the Elixir of Egypt made Laurie fall asleep?