Original First Names

#1

Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:10pm

What Broadway stars do you think have original or less common first names?

Sutton Foster
Bebe Neuwirth
Gavin Creel
Harvey Fierstein
Idina Menzel
Norbert Leo Butz

I know there are a lot more...

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"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611

#2

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:11pm

Well... Idina changed her name. Norbert's just makes me laugh.

aaaaaaaand.... I'm sure you all see this coming, but I need to do a plug for his Cuban Sexiness. Raul Eduardo Esparza. Come on. Tell me that's not beautiful.

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A work of art is an invitation to love.

#3

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:13pm

I thought Idina changed her last name...it used to be Mentzel but she took out the "t."

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"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611

#4

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:15pm

Right, so it would be like "Menzelle." ("Like French, but not.") Her first name (I *think*) was changed from either Adina or Adena... some variation on that, I believe.

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A work of art is an invitation to love.

#5

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:16pm

Harvey? Seriously??

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#6

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:16pm

Idina is not an everyday name.

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"[My son]'s really into my music, but one day we were listening to Billy [Joel] in the car and he said, 'Daddy, I think Billy's songs are a little better than yours." (Michael Cavanaugh)

#7

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:17pm

luvtheemcee: Cool.

Yes, seriously. I never said it was weird, though.

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"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611

Updated On: 8/2/04 at 01:17 PM

#8

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:20pm

I think this thread is just another excuse to see your favorite stars' names in print again.

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#9

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:24pm

Or not.

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"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611

#10

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 1:46pm

Roz Ryan
Eden Espinosa
Tonya PINKINS

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"So much of me is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart."-Wicked

#11

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:05pm

I think Tonya and Roz are fairly common names. (Or nicknames, in the latter case.)

There's some nice names in the Aida ensemble- like Troy Allen Burgess, Franne Calma, Schele Williams, Kenya Unique Massey, and Phineas Newborn III, to name a few. There's also Endalyn Taylor-Shellman, who's a swing.

In Caroline, or Change, Raethel Bean plays Grandpa Gellman. And Capathia Jenkins plays the Washing Machine. Anika Noni Rose isn't exactly a common name, either.

And by the way, no discussion of first names is complete without:
Baby's Named a Bad, Bad, Thing

#12

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:07pm

bebe's name is actually beatrice

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"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

#13

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:07pm

Not blaming her a bit on the Bebe then.

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#14

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:09pm

well, if this trule is a thread just to see our favorite stars' names in print again,

Hunter Foster.

there. yay!

#15

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:10pm

My favorite star's first name is Karen. Too bad for me.

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

#16

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:12pm

I think she originally was Aedena Mentzel.

And thanks for the link, Plum. I don't like my name much, but those make me grateful for what I have.

#17

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:14pm

From the website:

"My mother also used to work as a secretary for a large railroad in Texas and she was the one who was doing the charts of who was staying and who was leaving after the merger. She came across a guy named Harold Bahls. I hope he didn't go by Harry."

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"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611

#18

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:16pm

really? where the heck did you find this out? i think that Eden has an original name. whenever i listen to the first verse of the song she sang for the MYSB i crack up. 'the garden it was everything to me...', THE GARDEN OF EDEN!!

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"People asking questions, lost in confusion. Well I tell them there's no problems, only solutions." ~The one and only John Lennon

#19

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:24pm

Cheyenne! (Jackson :))

#20

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:27pm

*kicks self*
I forgot Cheyenne! I really like his name.

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A work of art is an invitation to love.

#21

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:30pm

Chita Rivera
Noah Racey
Ute Lemper

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Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson

Updated On: 8/2/04 at 02:30 PM

#22

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:33pm

Noah? Hm. I know a few Noa(h)s. Maybe that's more common in Israel.

#23

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:36pm

Marin Mazzie (this is pronounced like MARE-in, isn't it? am I saying it correctly?)
Shoshana Bean
Euan Morton
Bernadette Peters

I'm really into names... I'm a name nerd. Plum, I love the Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing website...some of the stuff there is hilarious.

#24

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:40pm

I actually think my name would be unusual and different. hopefully one day it'll be on a marquee.
TAL FOX

#25

re: Original First Names

Posted: 8/2/04 at 2:49pm

Beatrice isn't that uncommon of a name... maybe for a 44 year old, but certainly not for an 80 year old. :) (Can you blame her for going by Bebe???)

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"You! You are the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber! And you, well, I just plain don't like you."
~Stewart Gilligan Griffin

Updated On: 8/10/04 at 02:49 PM