Sondheim Masterclass -- Who Is This Girl?

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 8/12/13 at 11:53pm

Does anyone happen to know who the girl singing Amy is in this clip? She is phenomenal. From her accent, she seems to be an American. I'm curious if she ever made a career from performing.
Sondheim teaches Not Getting Married Today

[handsome25]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 1:36am

I believe that's Clare Burt who has played roles such as Grizabella and Rose in Aspects of Love in the West End, as well as Company in the 1996 London Revival

Updated On: 8/13/13 at 01:36 AM

[mrkringas]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:09am

Love Clare Burt. In more recent years she was in London Road and Vernon God Little. And was sensational in Closer than Ever - in the Life Story track.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 9:58am

I'm sorry but that ain't Clare Burt. Burt played the Witch in the Donmar's Into the Woods in 1998, and Susan in the Donmar's 1996 Company... She looks nothing like this woman, so I think you must be mistaken

[artscallion]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 10:26am

The Amy rubs me the wrong way. She sings it very well. But she seems to me too cheery, not manic and panicked. Almost with the attitude of, "Look at me! I've got this down! Watch how well I get all the words and all the notes. I'm awesome!" Like she's singing this in an Up With People concert. The perfect example of why Sondheim prefers actors who can sing, rather than singers who can't act.

The best thing about this video is getting to watch Sondheim in action.

Updated On: 8/13/13 at 10:26 AM

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 2:44pm

Thanks guys. I looked up Clare Burt and I can't tell for sure if it's the same woman. If it Burt, she does an incredibly good job at an American accent. I have rarely ever heard a Brit perform a regional American accent with much success, and this girl's accent was quite idiomatic and natural so I assumed she was a native American.

Hmmm... I agree that the best part of these videos is Sondheim himself, but I'm not sure I see what you're seeing in the Amy. In a masterclass setting, where one has selected a piece to perform out-of-context, you'll inevitably not have a fully fleshed-out character. We don't know how long these students have been rehearsing this song, but judging from the other two in this video, it probably wasn't very long. The patter in that song is a nightmare to sing and I can't say I blame the girl for feeling a little "Okay, I finally got all the words down! LOOK AT ME!!!" lol. I also have to disagree that she's a singer who can't act. Although she could turn the "manic" dial up from the 6 where she is up to about a 9 or 10, I think she's a fine actress.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 4:26pm

This is taken from an episode of The South Bank Show shown on ITV in the early to mid 1980s.

Therefore, whoever she is, she's almost certainly British.

I last saw Clare Burt six weeks ago and, if it is her, then the shape of her skull and nose has changed a lot in the last thirty years.

[theeatah]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 4:29pm

"Therefore, whoever she is, she's almost certainly British. "

British drama schools often have a quota of American students. (They get more money from them in fees).

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 4:31pm

I'm sure they do.

Now.

But was that true thirty years ago?

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:13pm

"Therefore, whoever she is, she's almost certainly British."

I'm not sure I follow. Unless performing arts programs are different from academic programs, British schools have been accepting international students at least since the 1970s. My father received his Ph.D. in the U.K. in the 1980s and was not a British citizen, albeit in a scientific field. I don't see why it would be out of the question that an American would end up at Guildhall or perhaps an expat who relocated there as a teenager or something.

I'm not saying it's impossible that she is British. For all I know, she might very well be. I just wanted to find out who she was.



Updated On: 8/13/13 at 06:13 PM

[operavore]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:19pm

^ Rebecca Caine was an expat Canadian when she attended Guildhall thirty-something years ago, so it most definitely is possible.

[carriesparkle]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:22pm

http://www.sondheimguide.com/television.html

Hope that helps.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 6:53pm

Thank you, carriesparkle! According to that link, these three are featured in that clip: Jane Shaw, David Adair, Elizabeth Rodger

Now to do some Googling.

[sparrman]

Posted: 8/13/13 at 10:43pm

Elizabeth Rodger is the soprano who went to Guildhall, meaning Jane Shaw must be Amy in the video.

http://www.evmonteclair.fr/pages/Direction_et_partenaires_artistiques-3745167.html



Updated On: 8/14/13 at 10:43 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 4:13am

I think a British television company producing a programme for broadcast on a British television channel for a British audience, within the prevailing thought patterns and culture of time, choosing an American student to appear in it is about as likely as the authors of A Chorus Line writing a British character into that show.

In the pre-internet age, the world was not a global village.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 4:17am

The only one of those students I'm aware of having a long-term career, and who is performing today, is Jackie Dankworth.

[chrisv2]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 7:49am

Jane Shaw is singing Amy - I had seen her the previous year in the Guildhall's production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG in which she played the 'Gossip Columnist' as well as being part of the ensemble. It's still the production I have the most affection for - probably because it was the first (and before it was rewritten)! The production was the yearly show put on by the students in the Musical Theatre programme - and was so successful it played a limited engagement at the Bloomsbury Theatre which is where I saw it.