I saw Julie on her last night, it was so much fun! But liza probally could add a different taste to the role. I would have still liked to see her.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
She wasn't that good to me. I saw her first night and they had to add crap for costume changes and they cut out a few songs (If I were a Man) and I just didn't like her performance. I like Liza but I think she is really overrated.
I heard Raquel Welch was pretty bad too.
Victor/ victoria to me was hard to adapt into a musical but i still liked it. the material is very 'different"
I hate to say it, but Laura Benanti in THE WEDDING SINGER.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
^ I don't think she was miscast.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/15/05
Patti LuPone in SUNSET BLVD.
Whoa.. Were you even born when she did Sunset Blvd?
WICKED - Rue McClanahan as Madame Morrible, she was absolutely TERRIBLE in the role, why she was cast I don't know.
Both David Ayers & Joey McIntyre for Fiyero no interest & terrible voices.
JLT for Glinda - A great singer but the acting made Glinda's character an absolute Air-Head.
Shoshana Bean was okay but the acting was over the top. And finally, Kate Reinders, Nothing personal but she was 'Nuts' and made Glinda a crazy physco.
NathanLaneStalker - I liked her acting, but I found her voice just wasn't right for the music.
I think ethel merman was miscast in life in general, but i particularly hated her in hello dolly. she bothers me.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
"Rue McClanahan as Madame Morrible"
I HAD NO IDEA SHE WAS IN IT! WHEN WAS THIS!?
^ I believe it was 2005. I think Bernadette Peters in Gypsy. I heard her Rose's turn and she didn't sound to right for the part. Updated On: 12/27/06 at 05:29 PM
You should've SEEN her in Gypsy. It was so much like watching her AS Momma Rose, but more like watching her TRY to BE Momma Rose. I know this one divides people like crazy, but I found her inexcusably dreadful. There simply wasn't a moment of her performance that I bought...it was just watching a woman woefully uncomfortable in her own skin, trapped on stage in a role that she couldn't sing.
It actually made me angry. A performer of her talent and experience should just plain know better than to take a role for the vanity/diva factor of being able to say you played Momma Rose.
Featured Actor Joined: 10/13/06
Updated On: 8/31/11 at 05:44 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/05
To answer an earlier question:
Vanessa Williams did a lot of character developement for the Witch...she was not a revelation, but she was dark, and brought a rather raw sensuality to the her role in the second act. I only watched Peters on the DVD, but from what I saw there, I preferred Williams' interpretation more. It was felt a little edgier and riskier (but, again, not a revelation).
I agree about McClanahan...she seemed drunk the entire time.
Nancy Opel in the Fiddler revival...she seemed so uncomfortable in her role.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
Nancy Opel was most defnitly not miscast in Fiddler.
I saw Bernadette in Gypsy... and I liked her then, but comparing her to other who have been Mama Rose (mainly Bette Midler), Mrs. Peters was awful.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
Oh! Sarah Jessica Parker in Once Upon a Mattress.
jerry lewis in damn yankees
richard kind in DRS
melanie griffith in chicago
david ayers, jeffrey kuhn, rue mcclanahan, ben vereen,kate reinders and shoshana bean in wicked
I've noticed that elphabas tend to go downhill about halfway through their run... Recall if you will when idina started screaming shoshana was the best thing since sliced bread when she performed(in standby capacity) and so on
greengirl, on what are you basing your statement that Merman was miscast as Dolly? You write that you "particularly hated her" in the show, which makes it sound like you saw her in it, but I'm kind of doubting that you did judging from your photo and from what you write in other posts.
Merman was the original choice for the role, and I think she was quite right for it.
Re Vanessa Williams in ITW: For me she came off as too nice. She didn't seem to have the acting ability to overcome what seems to be an innate niceness in her personality (which, of course, may just be what comes across onstage and not what she's really like).
That having been said, I didn't much like Peters in the role, either. Betsy Joslyn was terrific in the role when she played it later in the original Broadway run and on tour.
Daphne in les mis and Haylie Duff in hairspray
sorry to disagree with a lot of you, but I love Shoshana Bean
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/3/06
I AGREE 110% WITH BROADWAY BABY 4
Featured Actor Joined: 12/16/06
Bernadette Peters in GYPSY.
Hasselhoff in J/H
Melanie Griffith in Chicago
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Loretta Swit in Drood
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
I don't know if this counts but the two actors I saw in the North Shore Music Theatre's Production of Kiss Me, Kate who played Lois and Harrison were absolutely terrible. Lois could not act and Harrison played the role straight. He didn't play the role like some macho mysoginist schmuck. His performance was very, "I think I've got a valid point to make." And I sat there thinking, "Huh, I see what you mean." In other words, he made Harrison far too sympathetic. They were cracks in what I thought was an otherwise gem of a production.
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