The Search for the Next Elle Woods: The Spoiler thread — Page 31

cjane: Thanks, I'm a classical singer so technique and vocals are VERY important to me.

Rachel was a great singer, but her acting was boring! Sorry, but yeah.

Autumn isn't an amazing singer, but she has good technique and is scads better than LBB, Bailey, and Rhiannon. However, Bailey has more the look and personality of Elle, and is a better dancer. It all comes down to which you prefer. I'm sort of vascillating between the two because I need good singing and acting but Autumn just doesn't come across like Elle to me. Also, call me silly, but I sort of think Elle should be played by a real blonde.

Pity that they can't find a girl with all three, huh? You'd think that there would be someone like that somewhere in NYC. Lauren was the closest to that in my opinion; if only she were five years older or so.

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Updated On: 7/17/08 at 04:46 PM

It is NOT a tap role. Jesus. 10-20 seconds of tapping doesn't make a role a tap role.

Its a role that requires tap dancing isn't it? I'm not arguing with you that its an intensive dance role, with tap number after tap number. But I'm sure under the casting information of Elle, one of the things they are looking for is the ability to tap. Even for 10 seconds. If I was casting I would want some degree of tapping. Not necessarily a hardcore tapper that has been taking lessons for 19 years, but I don't think anyone ever said that that's what they expected.

It doesn't matter if it was Swedish Polka and Elle was a ballerina. You do the choreography they give you.

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Updated On: 7/17/08 at 05:09 PM

Plus, like I said earlier, she doesn't even make any sounds (which, I'm sorry, is kinda the point of tap dancing). It's for effect. Therefore the sounds don't matter. You want a tap dancer, go see 42nd Street. Elle is NOT a tap role. (And, this is coming from a tapper)

And also, I think everyone is taking Autumn's comments about "faking" the tap in a different way than intended. She did not give up. What she was saying (and if you pay attention, Denis agrees with her) is that for the scope of that audition and time period, it was more important to get the feel of the dance than worry about the specific steps/sounds. As long as it looked like a shuffle and had the energy/personality, she would be happy with it. And since the sounds didn't matter, it wasn't as big of a deal. I don't know about anyone else, but until I learned certain steps, I "faked" them so it would at least look the same as everyone else. I've been to plenty an audition where they say the technicality of the feet are less important than the performance, and that's what Autumn was going off of. She was by no means giving up. (I have a feeling she wouldn't be a working actor if that's how she dealt with difficulties)

I guess we have to agree to disagree then. Being a choreographer before, if I give a dancer a step, I expect them to do it. Even when they were auditioning. *shrugs* That's just me. And I'm a tapper too.

And I didn't ever say it was 42nd Street type dancing at all. In fact I'm pretty sure I said quite the opposite. But like I said, I would expect a performer to do the choreography they're given, regardless of whether its a "tap" role or not, or to what degree the difficulty is.

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Choreographers can change choreography. When Mara Davi went over into Drowsy they changed chunks of Show Off to fit her, also she had done 42nd Street before she went to ACL. People have different talents if they are wanted bad enough THERE WILL BE CHANGES TO THE SHOW. Where in Legally Blonde does "Legal Jargin" get called tap? No where, because it isn't a big deal if someone can't tap. My schools Play directors took a Tap class & said it was the hardest thing they have ever danced.

Updated On: 7/17/08 at 05:25 PM

I used to be a tap dancer (even competed once) so I guess I can't understand.

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Yeah, I get what you mean. Luckily, I have non tapper friends that I have tried to teach, and it's not that easy. (It's taken them weeks to learn a triple times step and they still haven't master it!)

wicked_beast4: Good point. She doesn't even wear tap shoes for it.

I never realized that you have to be born with a tap ability. I must be one of the lucky ones then, though I never considered myself to be that fantastic.

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A lot has to do with natural rhythym and having a good ear. Which is different from other forms of dance. And Autumn is self-admittedly not a dancer, so she's probably got less training than some. Usually, she probably wouldn't be going to dance calls that call for intricate trained dancers. Elle is a very competent mover.

And I do believe there are people that just can't tap. Everyone has their talents.

She can't sing them though. I don't know what's going to happen; I'm just going to wait it out and see. The ensemble does dance a whole lot more than Elle, so I don't get it either (although I don't see the Autumn/Enid thing). It's pretty much a trainwreck anyways.

And, yeah, good for them, but I find the whole "all top 4 get parts" thing a cop-out. The contest was for Elle. And by giving roles to all of them, it's less special. I have the same problem with Grease casting losing Dannys/Sandys as replacements.

I think that Rhiannon can sing, but she's the weakest singer. I don't think she's had the training to be able to sing and dance at the same time, but with the training, I think that she may be able to. She's perfect for Margot. I can't REALLY see her as Serena, but to me, she's more of a Serena than Autumn is.

Autumn definitely can handle the vocal demands, but to me, she doesn't look any of those parts. I also don't think her voice is an "Elle" voice.

The thing that bugged me about Autumn "faking it" isn't that she faked it, but that it LOOKED like she was faking it. To me, it came across like "I have no idea what I'm doing so I'll just jump around ".

They made such a big deal about Lauren looking too young, but to be honest, Rhiannon's goofy charm they're always going on about reads much younger than Lauren, to me anyway.