Plum, I completely agree with what you said about Tonya's performance. I really did find it remarkable.
But clearly I found Menzel more astonishing. Why? I think her justification is more complex. To me, she's a master at realism. She seems to have lived the life of Elphaba, and by this I mean that--for example, when she's telling the story about her mother's death, it's not just "It's my fault my mom died and it's my fault." It's more complex than that. This moment deals with the bruises she feels from her father and maybe even her sister(or maybe its even wider than that), and the discomfort of revealing such things. And I think this all comes across on stage. She has a clear vision of the character's life, but not only that, it feels as though she's experienced the part of the character's life that we don't see on stage. The result is real emotion, natural reaction, and the real experience of the character in the situation, rather than what an actress thinks it should appear to be.
And all this is seen on stage. Her vocal and physical expression is exactly what pulls the realism together for the audience's eyes. Little minute details, like the way she walks in certain situations, has little fidgety things she does...I could go into such detail...but it all is natural (for reasons stated above) and I think it's brilliant characterization on her part. I always see posters on this board saying that she does all this awkward movement on stage and people immediately assume she's a great actress because she doesn't know what she's doing. That always makes me laugh, because she certainly had very different physical and vocal expressions in Rent and the Wild Party. It's all a matter of characterization.
Her interpretation of the role itself is fantastic. As I said, I think its complex, and I think for the first act, she found the perfect balance between the youthful optimism in the character, and the bitter, passionate, outsider. And I think the strength she gives the character in the Defying Gravity moment, and the way we can see the pressure close in on her character as the second act moves on is exactly what the show needed...I feel as though the script does not call for Elphaba to be as dark as she has made it, but to me it only makes the show better.
And lastly, I think it takes real talent and pure passion to resonate emotion with the power she can throughout a monster of a theatre that seats nearly 2000 people. Even in the hat scene--in a moment of silence--I could feel every one of her emotions boiling...while sitting in the second to last row in the mezzanine section. I think she pours more intensity and passion into her performance than any of the ther ladies nominated this year, without a doubt.
I feel like I am going to be attacked now.
Updated On: 11/6/04 at 08:02 PM
...I dont think Avenue Q deserved the Tony and thats just my opinion so im begging you PLEASE DONT bash me for it!
