Ruben on Broadway — Page 5

I agree with Truth. I think that the "Velvet Teddybear" would make an excellent Birdie in the hip hop remake of "Bye Bye Birdie".

Instead of twitching his hips he would just flash that smile and give that little wave that he does.

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Ruben acting is something I can't picture. I'm not going to insult him, but I did REALLY want Clay to win. I think that Ruben would make an amazing Audrey II. I just can't picture him acting. I definitely can't picture him as Amos Hart either.

Ruben could definitely do the "Seasons of Love Solo". Have they have had a guy sing that part before? There's no reason why the part couldn't be a guy.

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NO!!!! Ruben will not be on Broadway...NEVER!!!

First, Namo, you've already assumed that he can't hold with the melody line. Are you refferring to him doing "runs" or "riffs" at the end of some of the lines?

In regards to Harvey, my main comparison is that he's a big guy too...because people were making making fun of Ruben's weight. I don't see why Ruben couldnt play a character actor too. I don't think its fair to say just because Ruben won a singing competition that he should be excluded from being able to play character roles. Why are people boxing him in so early in the game? These poeple are just starting out and we have no idea what they are fully capable of. Assuming that he does move into the world of broadway he automatically would be marketed/promoted diffrently than he is as a pop/R&B singer. I don't even see why Ruben is a target here. He can sing. And he's a lot better than a lot of "singers" that have crossed over to the broadway stage. I think many are dogging Ruben because they really want Clay on bway.

I saw a guy do the Seasons of Love solo right after Queen Esther's voice gave out in the first national tour. It didn't work at all.

No, TheTruth, I am referring to basic melody lines. He would be singing lead, solo, and the background singers would join in and he would just lose it, and sound flatter than Crystal Waters doing that homeless song she used to sing. And I thought, well, Ruben just can't hear himself for some reason and he's groping for the notes. But it happened EVERY time he was ever joined by other singers. And he simply is incapable of singing in a group. At all.

RLB, Ruben's never going to make any serious bling, he's just going to be exploited by the record label that will give him huge advances which he will spend spend spend and then he'll end up broke and on a Behind the Music special within a few short years. But it's fine, they'll show him working with kids at a community center by then and his voice over will tell us that that's what it's really all about, giving back to The Lord and the special will end on a happy note, with Ruben singing lead on an inspirational gospel verse and then the youth choir will join in on the chorus and Ruben's voice will go flatter than a plate of IHOP specials.

Billy, of course you love Clay. You both have so much in common.

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Updated On: 8/26/03 at 01:28 PM

I would love to see him as the Teen Angel. I also think he would be great in the Seasons of Love solo, but not in the show. Maybe he could do it on a solo album. The top two roles I like for Ruben are the teen angel in Grease, and Audrey II.

I have had a Reuben on Broadway, can't remember wich deli, but it was AWFUL. Way too much dressing and not enough meat!

Seriously, I don't think he has the stamina to do more than one or two songs at a time. He has major breathing problems. I am sure he will go the Carney, Al and Star route and get that stomache by pass thing that is sooooo popular now, then we can consider him for 8 shows a week.

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...or ALW. That gets parts for people who arent good enough ::cough:: sarah brightman ::cough::

I seriously doubt that Namo is a 400 pound American Idol wanna be R&B singer. So to say that he's just upset because he's "not up there doing his thing", is absurd. Second, what really gets my goat on all these types of threads is this, NO ONE who is having success in the music business, is EVER going to abandon it in order to come and work on Broadway. You're all wasting your breath. (Xtina, Ruben, Tamayra, et al)

It's FAR less lucrative, far more work than they're used to and there's far less coddling. None of the performers reared in the music biz, would last 5 minutes on Bway. For starters, there are no "DATS" on Bway and you have to sing LIVE, that in and of itself, cancells most of your choices out. Leave the recording artists where they are and vice versa.

My opinion of his singing is rooted squarely in what I saw and heard with my own ears and eyes on the show. And I marvelled at how none of the fans seemed to notice or care how flat he went when the gospel choir in robes or the other contestants joined in with him on a song. It didn't seem to matter, and I guess it really didn't.

My other predictions are based on what he himself said in the Rolling Stone interview about being exploited into doing 13 hour shoots for commercials he didn't get any cash for, dawg.

AND, the very notion upon which American Idol is predicated, that getting a major record label deal is a good thing and not a chance to sell your soul to the devi, is faulty. Just ask the myriad artists who had lots of bling at the beginning what a nightmare that really is: Toni Braxton, TLC, Prince, Aimee Mann, MC Hammer, et. al. And with Rube's church background, that's the only way the narrative will go. When you see it in a few years on Behind the Music or its equivalent, I hope you will remember you heard it here first.

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EXACTLY Namo. When you see a Toni Braxton or a Taylor Dayne on Broadway, KNOW that is is not by choice or some profound "love" for the artform. It is out of sheer desperation and the fact that the well has dried up in the record business for them.

Do you think MC Hammer WANTS to be a judge on Dance Fever? Musical theater is the cemetary for has been pop stars that really can't (logically) get day jobs. It's not *that*, embarrassing, in the scheme of things, to say you're in Aida, as far as post pop star career's go.

Another perfect example is Debbie Gibson. I know you're going to say she started in musical theater but I sincerely doubt she'd have killed herself playing Sally Bowles 8 times a week or Velma Kelly WAY off the beaten path (North Shore) if she were still on top of the charts.

And it's pretty much only Broadway afficianados who give a crap about Broadway anyway, it's utterly irrelevant for the vast majority of people.

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