As for the person talking about Kristin C.- I DO think she has potential to become a Broadway legend IF she strays away from the same "blonde" parts. However, I actually think she'll soon become a Hollywood celebrity.
"I believe that art does not exist only to entertain, but also to challenge one to think, to provoke, even to disturb, to engage in a constant search for the truth."
- Barbra Streisand
Really? so how many actors that you want to count as "broadway legends" are known to wide public? I am not talking about "American Idol" audience but nevertheless... Can some even very talented actors with great career count as legend if he or she is known only to narrow circle of theater fans and critics? Great actors,maybe, but legends? I think status of being "legend" considers wide recognition of your work,plus the rare star quality that helps to turn even a flop show into memorable event.
So if I understand you correctly, and amazingly enough I think I do, a theatre legend cannot be a legend unless his/her fame reaches outside of the theatre going public?
Updated On: 8/20/05 at 06:37 PM
Those of you who insist on posting only the first name Julie - have you not noticed there are TWO possibilities already named on the thread? Yours is either one of those two or a perhaps even a completely different Julie, for all we know.
Please post last names when there is more than one possibility.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
All of the above-I consider a legend to be someone who sticks to who they are and does not conform to a "type".
Audra will be a legend imo-she will go down in history as being one of the only females out there right now who does not have to belt her face off to be considered talented. Not that there is anything wrong with belting, but you have to admit what she does it very different from what many women on Broadway are doing now.
That being said, if you can belt with heart and soul, like Patti, Barbra, Bernadette, Liza, etc., you are golden in my book.
In someway ,yes.Actors the only type of artists which getting their full recognition during their life time and if a great ones aren't known enough to be a major star atraction for all kind of audiences (not only theater lovers)-I doubt that they will end up being called "Legends" in twenty years...Sure for all rules there are few exceptions and Of course Chita counts as a legend,but it took her many years to get her own "KOTSW" star show...At the same time Liza did very few broadway shows,but most (non theater)people would name her as "broadway legend"...Two different careers with same result.
hypertruffle: thanks for the kind words. For the record, 'Happy Hunting' was not a flop. It was a lousy show but it made a profit. Merman never had a show that lost money, hence: no flops
'Our whole family shouts. It comes from us livin' so close to the railroad tracks'
gertrude lawrence appeared in both musicals and plays. ethel waters also starred in musicals and plays -- and was a phenomenal talent. she was carol channing's inspiration to become a performer. katherine cornell, eva la gallienne, lynn fontanne, helen hayes, shirley booth, tallulah bankhead, ruth gordon -- all women of great artistry (in most cases) and renown. great books by them or written about them. mary martin had such a rich voice in her younger days--the recordings of her singing songs from One Touch of Venus are very sexy.
It seems to me that the only person who satisfies all or most every one's interpretations of "legend" is Ethel Merman. She originated many wonderful roles, she always "found her way back to the stage", and for the most part (at least more than most of the other women mentioned) she achieved some reknown outside of the theatre world. (Hell, she had to be well-known enough to have been spoofed in Airplane!)
And what about the men? Rex Harrison! Zero Mostel! John Raitt! Joel Grey!
"This is what I trained to do, and this is what I love about theater. What I love about being an actress is being able to really look into myself and understand another human being. And out my own self, to shape and form and fashion a real human being--and to present that in such a way that people see something of themselves or their own understanding in that human being."
--Phylicia Rashad