Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

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Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 2:32pm

I just saw clips of the original Carlotta from the OBC of Follies - Yvonne DeCarlo and she was sensational - in spite of the fact that she forgot a ****load of words in this clip lol - she belted the roof off the place with I'm Still Here.

How have other Carlottas fared? - Polly Bergen who got a Tony nod for her portrayal in 2001... Elaine Paige in the 2011 production... Dolores Gray in the original London version....

Who was your favorite?

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 3:29pm

Tina Turner (the production in my mind)

Ann Miller was pretty good in the Papermill production.

Link

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

Updated On: 2/15/12 at 03:29 PM

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 3:35pm

Above all of them for me, de Carlo stands out (despite the forgotten lyrics). She brings a mix of kind of pathetic determination to it. But they all have things to recommend them- Stritch is probably the angriest.

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 3:58pm

DeCarlo probably lived the song the most. I saw Eartha Kitt play it in London, and she lived those lyrics too!

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 4:19pm

I really liked Dolores Gray when I saw her in the London production.

Least Favorite was Christine Baranski. And I love Baranski just not when she sings.

"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter." Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.

Updated On: 2/15/12 at 04:19 PM

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 4:23pm

William Shatner.

You do know that he performs "I'm Still Here" as well as Carlotta's part of "Who's That Woman" every night, don't you?

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 4:27pm

Elaine Paige.

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 4:37pm

Donna McKechnie at Barrington Stage Company.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 4:42pm

I'll let these chorus boys and girls sing my answer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISVcuHjZdHw&t=01m00s

(I also love Eartha Kitt).

#10

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 4:48pm

Based solely on her performance of the song, Dolores Gray. I think she's the one who really grasped Carlotta's anger best.

I know you. I know you. I know you.

Updated On: 2/15/12 at 04:48 PM

#11

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 4:56pm

Nancy Walker (audio only--but still the best)

http://youtu.be/l3CwCpwrV8M

Julie Wilson

http://youtu.be/sd3UtltqLgA

Dolores Gray

http://youtu.be/QPA0UhnKQkk

Karen Morrow (Low-quality video)

http://youtu.be/XoJP_bV5Lso

Randy Roberts (yes, Randy is a drag queen, but hers is a flawless interpretation)

http://youtu.be/NkBhNdPB9T0

Jim Bailey (another drag queen, but Jim does the song as Judy Garland)

http://youtu.be/9MPBkApOQgA

#12

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 5:05pm

Thanks for the links, joey. I look forward to hearing all of them.

For me, the song belongs to de Carlo, but I'm sure I'm biased because that who I first heard.

And who says Carlotta has to be angry? I think there are plenty of angry characters in FOLLIES. Carlotta has more interesting emotions to play. For one, I like a Carlotta who is proud of her tenacity and survival, but who also recognizes that a life in show business has to be a little ridiculous. Leave the "angry" to Phyllis, et al.

#13

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 5:09pm

I think angry Carlottas are really going against the spirit of the character.

#14

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 5:11pm

Of the Carlottas I've seen/heard, the only one who seemed to play the character completely angry from start to finish was Bergen. I couldn't stand her performance but a lot of people loved her. I don't think the overall tone of Paige's Carlotta was anger, though it does come across in her "I'm Still Here."

#15

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 5:17pm

When I saw Paige, I didn't find her angry, but it was early in the DC run and before she started inconstantly shouting the ending.

Christine Baranski did an angry "I'm Still Here" at Encores. I thought her entire performance from the beginning of the show to the end was just dreadful.

#16

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 5:24pm

To my ear, Paige seems much less angry on the OBC recording than in the Kennedy Center clip. I hope that trend continues to California.

With all the bitterness and anger of the central quartet, and the irony that therefore attaches to their younger selves, I feel very strongly that the show needs a few breaks from the angst. "Broadway Baby" is one such break; "I'm Still Here" is an even bigger one, at least potentially.

I can understand why actresses who play Carlotta may want to compete with all the "seriousness" going on around them, but the character isn't less "serious", she just has a very different attitude about the past. She wears it as a medal rather than an anchor.

Updated On: 2/15/12 at 05:24 PM

#17

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 6:17pm

I, too, saw Eartha Kitt in London and she was more than remarkable in the role.

"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

#18

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 7:50pm

Updated On: 2/15/12 at 07:50 PM

#19

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 7:52pm

I think it might be Hollis Resnik from the recent Chicago Shake's production. Starting conversationally at a table with Weismann (she touches his hand on "I met a big financier...") she eventually rises and moves center. Delighted by its irony, she infused the song with such an 'ain't I just lucky to be here" spirit, with such downright joy, I might be disappointed now seeing anyone else's interpretation (especially if they go the angry route).

Baranski's was the worst.

#20

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 8:20pm

Yvonne de Carlo. A Carlotta who's had as much fun with her life as she has with the song. When did "I'm Still Here" become angry? Miss de Carlo's rendition was warm, boozy, rueful and just a little bit reflective, like the character. After all, it's not her life that's being torn down, just the building.

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

Updated On: 2/15/12 at 08:20 PM

#21

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 8:34pm

i totally agree about Nancy Walker!

#22

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 8:40pm

No arguments about Miss Walker's rendition of the song- I was in that audience that night and the Shubert was rocking! But she was never Carlotta Campion (the nature of this thread).

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

#23

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 8:53pm

De Carlo gets points for being the first one to sing it (and boy she sings it like a champ!)

Delores Gray's version is beyond delightful and fun and she sings the hell out of it.

I saw Elaine Paige in D.C. and she was good. not great, but good. She nailed the last 30 seconds of the song, but that was about it. She seemed either bored, sedated, or way too angry for the rest of it.

Polly Bergen sang it surprisingly well, but it was too angry for me.

Christine Baranski was the worst. Oh, God! She started out just fine, but once she got to the end...yeesh! I don't even know the notes she was singing. Must have been out of her range, I guess.

I really don't think it should be an angry song. What's so horrible about the act that you've survived and you're still here? Even the song title denotes some sort of joy and accomplishment. I agree that this song and Broadway Baby are two of the happiest and more joyful moments of the show.

#24

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 9:04pm

Paige's performance started out rocky, but improved by leaps and bounds over the course of her run.

#25

Your Favorite Carlotta Campion

Posted: 2/15/12 at 9:05pm

Miss de Carlo did "Can That Boy Fox-Trot!" to a fare-thee-well, too.

Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

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