@AdamGreer:
Lael is fantastic...maybe you went on an off performance...her singing raise your voice is absolutely unbelievable...girl can BLOW. Just as good if not better than Marla. Lael has since lost all her weight and she looks damn good, you should see the tour and reassess your views. And Chelsea is great, but her voice isn't like Lael's. I find it super interesting that you feel the need to tear apart the girl on this forum....most people are trying to find out the cast and you feel the need to rip Lael a new one....come on man, what good is it gonna do? Is your negative opinion valuable to anyone? Go head and use your freedom of speech, but how about having some class, tact, and respect for actors and rephrase what you say in a more organized, positive, and less degrading manner. No one wants to hear you complain
"Louise Pitre is not playing Mother Superior.
Now that that's out of the way....
I have a much lesser opinion of Lael van Keuren as Mary Robert than ljay does. Frankly, I thought she was awful. Absolutely awful. And it was a performance I suffered through twice, each time equally as bad. Her voice was screechy both times, possessing neithe the power or clarity of Marla's voice. She had absolutely no concept of her character at all, and never once played Mary Robert as meek or unsure of herself. This meant that her big moments in Raise Your Voice and during the act 2 climax ("I said no!!") have no resonance because the character hasn't changed at all. You never got a sense she ever found her calling like you did with Marla. The Life I Never Led (my favorite moment in the show when it's well performed) became a throwaway number with her.
Appearance wise, I'll say it, she was too big to be playing a little nun. Marla may have been tall, but she has a tiny frame that contrasted nicely with Sarah Bolt. Lael is a big girl, and she got bigger as the run went on (for proof of this, watch footage of their Bryant Park performance from last summer, then watch this summer's footage).
It was a messy, amateurish performance. I was never really sure why they didn't use Chelsea Morgan Stock more often, who was quite good in the role."