Rein it in, Elaine Paige!- Page 4
Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#75Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:17pm
I'm so glad AC126748, that you so "graciously" acknowledged how correct I was that critics would notice and agree. You need to read Musto again. That is a review and he is acting as a critic in his Village Voice blog, whether you like it or no.
Henrik, I am glad for you if you enjoyed her performance and I hope you were able to make out the lyrics, if they mattered to you. I found it detracted from Follies as a whole by drawing attention to Paige inappropriately and losing the meaning and lyrics of the song. I hope it will be fixed as her voice is lovely and it could be a wonderful component of the show.
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#76Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:36pm
ljay889, I know you devotedly love theatre. No quibble there. Can't agree on this performance, though. There is another thread for all the reviews and I am only listing in this thread the critics who noticed the problem.
I did read Brantley's NY review but was unimpressed with its content. He is not very good on musicals. Remember how he so misread Piazza?
Ben, Ben, so you noticed Elaine Paige was "doing" anger and trotted that insight out in your review. But you didn't realize the character was not "doing anger," whoops. And you missed the mushed and lost lyrics, the racing, what some have called "backphrasing," which to me in this situation seems a late rush to get in some of the (missing) lyrics after the time to sing them has passed. How did you miss or overlook that, Ben?
I really wish Anthony Tommasini would start reviewing musicals for the NY Times, if he would deign to depart at times from his usual more classical musical genres. The man knows music and would really be able to teach and inform the reader concerning the music and singing. One could only hope.
Anthony Tommasini
Updated On: 9/15/11 at 01:36 PM
#77Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:45pm
Anthony Tommasini can barely review opera. Keep him away from theatre, please.
Nom, why do you care so much about critics agreeing with you? Are you insecure in your own opinions?
#78Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:46pm
Anthony Tommasini can barely review opera.
Correction: Anthony Tommasini can't review anything. He also can't write a decent biography, and I would bet he can't cook, either.
marjoriemay
Swing Joined: 9/15/11
#79Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 1:47pmSondheim writes in 'Finishing the Hat' that he loosely based the lyric of I'm Still Here on the career of Joan Crawford. Carlotta needs to have an 'i dont give a damn' sensuality about her, so you can see how she made it through so many ups and downs and remains full of joie de vivre. Elaine Paige has never been sexy (or even funny) in any role that I've seen her play, and her angry interpretation of the song highlights how miscast she is in this role.
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#80Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:20pm
marjoriemay, I so agree with you about the joie de vivre. I wish Paige could summon that from her bag of tricks if she can find some in there, because as I said, she has a lovely voice.
Obviously I'm secure AC126748, or I would not have begun the thread. The additional quotes from theatre critics are interesting and help shine and illuminate the light I began to cast.
Ok, newintown, I don't read everything Tommasini writes, though I have learned things from him in what I've read. If you don't like him, who do you like as a musical theatre critic, or who do you think would would make a good one? List, please, I'm all ears, so to misspeak.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#81Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:29pm
Yes, because (sarcasm font) no one, anywhere wrote of their dissatisfaction with Elaine's performance before you found the courage to bring it up (end sarcasm font).
You would have known it had been discussed long before if you had DONE YOUR HOMEWORK.
#82Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:29pm
No, nomdeplume, you're using several critics in order to elevate your opinion of Paige to fact, as evidenced in the following quotation from you:
I'm so glad AC126748, that you so "graciously" acknowledged how correct I was that critics would notice and agree
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#83Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:38pm
The two of you aren't really here to discuss theatre. You are just lonely people and trying to get attention in a bleak way. Your "challenges" are only aggressive ones to beg attention because you have nothing to do.
Namo, stop following me around like a pet poodle and find something constructive to do.
#84Rein it in, Elaine Paige!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:41pm
Nom, I find all reviewers redundant; they no longer have any significant impact on the arts, and few of them demonstrate either good writing ability or knowledge of anything beyond summarizing a press packet. I rarely read any of them, but on those rare bored moments when I do, I never see any improvement.
With the single exception of Feingold, who has worked successfully in the theatre, and eschews any whiff of self-solemnizing. He knows about his art, and he knows how to write. And he stands alone in his field.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#85Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:49pm
Rein it in, Elaine!
You post dozens of your inane and elliptical observations that make me roll my eyes but I don't respond. I don't need to. There are plenty of other people here who are onto your game and who call you out on your BS. I do know you're trying to make this "follow me around like a poodle" thing catch on, but it's not going to happen.
#86Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 2:53pmMaybe she was too busy grading homework to realize she'd already called you her "pet poodle"...
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#87Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 3:13pm
newintown, I do think of critics sometimes as ciphers to art rather than as artists themselves. Some of them do approach criticism as an art. Some are just great writers, artists themselves.
I think of them as having a role in theatre to inspire and note excellence, for one. To give a fresh look when the mounting of a production and all its changes have tasked the minds of its creators, offering a different kind of direction. That's what I think it can be, but often theatre critics believe their role is to inform their readers. Which would mean they base their review on whoever they perceive their readers to be, demographics, who knows what.
The reviews are some of the only historical records we have of past performances. Today we have video of the Broadway and some other shows, at least in the library, sometimes airings on PBS, etc. That can only capture so much of the experience of a live performance, and may take place after some of the original cast has departed.
Updated On: 9/15/11 at 03:13 PM
#88Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:01pmI certainly wouldn't try to change your mind, nom, but I can't agree. As Joe Mankiewicz said through Addison De Witt, critics toil not, neither do they spin. Some see themselves as better informed than the common arts viewer, but they almost never are. They get paid to do something that is just as well done by the amateur - express a subjective, informed opinion. And the common theatregoer, free of undeserved pretensions of artistry, often leaves us with more reliable and interesting contemporary evaluations of art.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#89Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:03pm
The only critic worth reading in New York is Michael Feingold in The Village Voice. He's a critic, not a reviewer. Not a theater chat writer. A critic, steeped in theatrical history who manages to contextualize every show he writes in a way (take note of this, nom) that is never pedantic.
He doesn't even mention Elaine in his review. He does make two great points:
"No production of Follies ever gets everything right.... If Shaeffer doesn't create the cohesive work the authors strove for, neither did they. Like a giant seed pod spilling its gifts in every direction, Follies, as I said, is seminal, not pivotal."
You know, ideas.
#90Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:11pm
You forgot a few...
Elaine Page also gets separate billing, not only because she's a well-known musical star, but because her Carolotta Campion, the former showgirl turned TV star gets to sing Sondheim's anthem song "I'm Still Here." She delivers this ode to the survival power of show biz folks even as the blush of youth has worn off with power and humor.
CurtainUp, Elyse Sommer
Paige, a big star in London, is a diminutive combination of Mae West and Ethel Merman, whose insistence that “I’m Still Here” is now a roar of defiance, and it brings a roar of approval.
Richard Seff, DC Theater Scene
Rising to the top is British star Elaine Paige, who displays unexpected comic self-awareness as Carlotta, the aging diva trumpeting the up-yours anthem "I'm Still Here."
Elisabeth Vincentelli, NY Post
The actors deliver blissfully. Jayne Houdyshell's "Broadway Baby" is a knockout, as are Terri White's brassy "Who's That Woman" and Elaine Page's stunningly forceful take on the iconic "I'm Still Here."
Roma Torre, NY1 Theater Review: "Follies"
the savviest I'm-still-here anthem (slyly nailed by Elaine Paige)
Linda Winer, Newsday
Elaine Paige delivers an unforgettable, haunting “I’m Still Here.”
Jesse Oxford, The New York Observer
As Ms. Paige performs “I’m Still Here” — with a galvanizing fierceness that makes this much-performed song sound fresh and stinging — it’s not just an anthem of survival but also of rage against ravaging time.
Ben Brantley, NYT
Paige's "I'm Still Here" is a sassy cabaret triumph.
Mark Kennedy AP Drama Writer
Paige gets to sing the in-your-face "I'm Still Here," and gives it gangbuster treatment - it's one of those Broadway songs written for the rafters, and Paige is happy to shake them.
Howard Shapiro, Philadelphia Inquirer
And, as might be expected, Page knocks her show-stopping number “I’m Still Here” out of the park, as well as garnering consistent laughs along the way.
Frank Scheck
As film star Carlotta Campion, the diminutive Elaine Paige completely brings down the house with a magnificently executed "I'm Still Here," which begins almost conversationally and ends with a burst of defiance. In her hands, this now-beloved song is truly the anthem of a still-thriving survivor rather than a final summation of a long career.
Brian Scott Lipton, Theatermania
Elaine Paige wrenches every ounce of bruised experience and jaded humor from “I’m Still Here.” No matter how many times you’ve heard them, Sondheim’s lyrics to that survivor’s anthem, charting the decline of a screen goddess to a Vegas act, a camp icon, and finally, a TV fixture (back when television was a demotion, not a fresh career opportunity), make the song a peerless example of the wry character confessional.
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Elaine Paige, the Brit star who in years past created such roles as the title character of "Evita" and "Cats" highlight Grizabella, ups the evening's voltage with flashes of humor and an effective "I'm Still Here."
Steven Suskin, Variety
'I'm Still Here,' the latter performed by dynamite British diva Elaine Paige
Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly
Then there is West End diva Elaine Paige, imported here to portray Carlotta, the “Follies” girl who became a movie star. Sporting a mile-high blond chignon, an electric blue gown and an amusing accent that mixes Idaho with transatlantic swank, Paige is funny (just watch her gloss through the big “Mirror” dance) and hard-as-nails, especially when she spits out her careering “I’m Still Here” anthem. Wow.
Michael Sommers, New Jersey Newsroom
British star Elaine Paige stops things cold 75 minutes in with a punchy and perfectly calibrated "I'm Still Here," a wry ode to unsinkability.
Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News
British musical star Elaine Paige, drolly playing a resilient performer who's become a TV star, does a rousing, swing-from-the-heels version of "I'm Still Here."
Robert Feldberg, Bergen Record
The show's rousing "I'm Still Here" is given to Elaine Paige, better known in London than New York. This song about triumphing over life's adversities is tough to pull off, but Paige drops her party-girl persona enough to give us a glimpse at the pain underneath.
Mark Sullivan, Capital New York
#92Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:15pmThey obviously didn't read nomdeplume's OP before writing their reviews!
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#93Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:20pmMaybe they're just poodles following Elaine around.
#94Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:25pm
The only thing I've been able to take away from this thread is this:
Fetch. It's never going to happen.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#95Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:27pmAs they used to say in EST, you got it!
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#96Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:30pm
Interesting points, newintown. The "critics toil not, neither do they spin" seems to match my "cipher" reference.
The purpose, role or action of theatre criticism is up for perpetual discussion. It is not fixed and varies by the critic. My mind is open on the subject and your thoughts are welcome.
The "common theatregoer" you mention contributes as well in deciding which shows stay open by the purchase of tickets.
I do think some folks, and not necessarily critics, "can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not" to say what performances and pieces will stand the test of time as classics. There is room for theatre that speaks to the moment, but some artists aim for a longer life for their work.
#97Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:32pmPlume is your physician the same Dr Feelgood that helped Alan Jay Lerner write On a Clear Day...?
#98Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:43pmStop being libelous, Mildred.
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#99Rein it in, Elaine!
Posted: 9/15/11 at 4:58pm
If Namo as wouldbe pet poodle had done your homework and bothered to read the thread, you might have seen, if you bother to read, that the Feingold quotes were already listed, and Feingold's failure to even mention Paige speaks volumes.
The thread already noted the existence of other reviews in the reviews thread.
I have no need for an inept pet poodle. It looks like you have some ticks to go play with.
Yeah, newintown, there are a lot of hacks. But also there is a lack of awareness in, for example, the variety and nuance of acting choices, partly do to television shows having to grab the viewer with as much action, violence and noise as possible where there are so many choices of what to watch, a fight for viewers. It conditions viewers to lots of anger and rage so they expect that behavior as "acting" when acting can be so much more.
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