Katrina’s Bobbi still haunts me. She literally brought a new sound to Sondheim - it’s simply not the case that she ‘can’t sing’ but her sultry expressive vocals brought new texture to ‘someone is waiting’ and ‘being alive’. The style is not typical of Broadway and it makes me cringe that the general population would have been fine or preferred to substitute this for boring standard fare vocals (see also, Rosalie Craig).
As for her acting, I always found it very interesting how she played the role. She was incredibly sexy and powerful but there was always the subtext of, I’m not sure, awkwardness or insecurity. I believe it was 100% intentional to try and bring more subtext in the role because it can be quite boring just to be the observer in the corner. Also, she is single and a subtle alcoholic so I felt that she was trying to take us on a complex journey around this not just someone who is a passenger waiting around for the right guy to come along and had bad luck
I met one of the producers recently (not a ‘real’ producer but one of the many investors who had their name as one and collected a tony award for best revival as a consequence). He did cite Katrina’s casting as one of the show failings. Ouch.
This revival I remember also being one of the first examples where we saw post Covid costs rise to very challenging levels causing the show to close earlier than might have happened in the few years before it. A problem that is only even worse now.
Sondheim has always had a legacy of collecting odd vocalists who can act rather than vocal powerhouses. Katrina was continuing this tradition.
The last Sondheim show on Broadway Sondheim ever saw. I know he loved it.
I wish he could have seen Audra in Gypsy: Sondheim, Marin Mazzie and Gavin Creel couldn’t be there
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Give me claws and a hunch, just away from this bunch.
Updated On: 10/20/25 at 03:11 AM