The Tony Battle Is Enjoined; First Blood, Prince

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:03pm

Today's NY Times marks the first shot in what will no doubt be the bloodiest battle of the 2008 Tony Awards: Faith Prince vs Patti LuPone...and this early round goes to Faith Prince. She's remade herself, even dyed her hair, to play a "Risky" role in new musical. Whereas Patti played herself in yet another revival is the inference.

I don't know if she's going to pass out "Vote Your Heart" buttons, but the girl is making her case....

Broadway's Cookie Un-Sugar Coated

[perfectliar]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:07pm

So now we're giving out Tonys for makeovers? Please.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:09pm

What exactly was "risky" about Faith Prince's role in A Catered Affair?

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:47pm

Didn't Faith do the same thing Patti did when she won her Tony for Guys and Dolls?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 9:51pm

Faith wears a wig in CATERED AFFAIR. So the fact that she dyed her hair is irrelevant.

And JoeKv99 hasn't even seen A CATERED AFFAIR or GYPSY. So his starting of this thread and calling Faith's role "risky" and saying Patti is just playing herself is just an exercise for him to pass his time and see how people react.

Kind of an odd article, though. I don't understand why the NY Times would want to interview her while she's at a hair salon when it doesn't have anything to do with the show.

[pc1145N2]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 10:06pm

If they gave out Tony awards for hair dying, half the highlighted audience of Xanadu would be eligible.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 10:08pm

The NYT article didn't say much about the show, one way or the other. Which bodes ill for the show, I would opine.

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 10:25pm

The hair dying was in relation to her own personal transformation, not her character.

I guess they were trying to emphasize a shift from the old Faith Prince (the fun, bubbly one with the bright orange hair) to a new, more mature Faith Prince who embraces her role as a mother and doesn't want to be that one-sided performer anymore.

Interesting article, though I wish they would've gone deeper...

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/13/08 at 10:33pm

There is a lot about her character, and how she works with Doyle, which I prefer to Raul's interview the Sunday before COMPANY opened, which was about his confused sexuality.

It seems the TIMES is on the right track trying to find something interesting about the actors and not a rehash of the show which you can find anywhere.

I loved Ms. Prince in the show in San Diego, it's a far more interesting performance than others I have seen this year.

[Steve2]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 8:27am

"The NYT article didn't say much about the show, one way or the other. Which bodes ill for the show, I would opine."

I have been reading the Sunday New York Times for over 15 years. It is common to have a unbiased "background" piece a week or two before a new show opens. I think this article was just trying to describe what Faith Prince has been doing since "Guys and Dolls" and how she has transformed. I enjoy knowing a little bit more about the performer in this way.

[jrb]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 10:05am

"She's remade herself, even dyed her hair, to play a "Risky" role in new musical. Whereas Patti played herself in yet another revival is the inference."

"...is the inference" implies that JoeKv99 is not making a statement about his own feelings, but is stating what he believes the article is implying. Yes, it's odd structure, but if you read it, he's not talking about HIS feelings.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 10:29am

Thanks JRB- I was of course speaking about the article which says those things. Oddly, WannaBeAFoster posted a link to the same article about the same time I did- so I'd assume that he, like I, thought the article was of interest.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 10:35am

You guys are forgetting that she has a nude scene. That's why it's considered risky.
Apparently it's being compared to Kathy Bates' hot tub scene in About Schmidt.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 10:52am

As Paris Hilton would say "That's hot!"

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 11:24am

This writer had his facts wrong about Prince and Lane winning Tony awards for their portrayals of supporting characters turned into leads, Mr. Lane did not win for "Guys and Dolls."

Wasnt her last NY stage role in "A Man of No Importance", not "Noises Off?" (Interesting that that was with LuPone.)

I didnt see a word about LuPone playing LuPone, inferred or not...maybe I missed it because I completely disagree. I also was unable to read a thing into the color change to her hair...perhaps at 50, orange hair is silly and unattractive? Did she have flaming hair on "Mad About You" or "High Society?" I remember her being pretty dowdy in both of those roles, and brunette...not brassy or "cookie"ish. I find this article annoying...not sure what it's saying.

Still, I adore Ms. Prince and hope she has great success with ACA, I dont doubt she's wonderful in it.

[kyleorlando]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 6:06pm

"Only a few women at any one time have the name recognition, the vocal placement and the deep confidence in their own stage-worthiness to shoulder a Broadway musical. Because viable roles for even so small a number are rare, each member of the diva guild tends to develop a brand. In recent years there have been perhaps six: call them the sweetheart, the steamroller, the ditz, the doll, the thrush and the cookie — that last one Ms. Prince."


So if Faith Prince is the cookie, who are the others? I think I was able to identify them as such:

Steamroller - Patti LuPone
Doll - Bernadette Peters
Thrush - Audra McDonald

Sweetheart and Ditz, however, are escaping me.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 6:10pm

Sweetheart = Sutton Foster maybe.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 6:13pm

I'm sure Kristin Chenoweth is one of them.

Perhaps she's the "Ditz"? (NOT making a personal comment here. Just based on some of her roles and character choices, I could see that classification mentioned in this article applying to her)

[Brick]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 9:08pm

Yeah, I thought of Kristin Chenowith as "the ditz". But who is the sweetheart?

And Donna Murphy isn't one of them? Who is another lady besides Adura, Bernadette, and Patti that can/have headline shows?

[slimandslam]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 9:57pm

< vocabulary cop >

The subject of this thread should be changed. To "enjoin" something is to forbid it or prevent it.

The phrase you probably want is "the battle is joined." It takes two (or more) to have a battle, so once a second person (or nation, or army, or whatever) joins the battle, then the battle starts.

< / vocabulary cop >
Updated On: 4/14/08 at 09:57 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 10:42pm

Kristin is certainly the ditz. No idea about the sweetheart.

[theaterkid1015]

Posted: 4/14/08 at 11:26pm

I really don't think this was like shot one in a great battle. It was just a very nice article about Faith Prince. Remember the one about Patti from last July?

[Brick]

Posted: 4/15/08 at 2:00am

I second theaterkid's thought. If this article came out during Tony voting, then it would be a different story. Brantley's review will have much more effect, as will the financial success of the show.

[once a month]

Posted: 4/15/08 at 7:23am

The ditz is Betty Buckley.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/15/08 at 9:09am

I still think Sutton Foster is the sweetheart.