scary spice in RENT — Page 2

i actually went up to see jai rodriguez as angel, and was supposed to see her, but fortunately i was spared. karmine was pretty good, though i have to agree with the yodeling comment.

i saw the national tour twice this past weekend, and it was an amazing show. the mimi i saw was incredible, and she did one of the best "out tonight"s i'd ever heard.

Did you see it in Philly? If you did, I did too! Is Maureen supposed to have a lisp, or is that just an Ava thing? Her singing was off the hizzle though.

Mimi is supposed to be Hispanic. I tried to see Melanie Brown (Scary Spice) and she called out all 3 times ::shrug:: Generally, she didn't do matinees (it wasn't official that she was doing maybe 6 shows a week in a good week).

From what I've heard from people that saw her, she started out with NO voice. Absolutely trashed it during rehearsals by singing too hard with crappy technique. She hit strained and flat/sour notes. Heard her acting was decent enough even if it was nothing special. Yeah, they changed the Out Tonight costume. Whatever. She didn't take time off to heal so she never had a healthy voice while in the show. Her attendance was a day to day thing. You never knew if she'd be there. Sometimes she would have to call out right before a show or even in the middle of the first act right after Another Day.

By the end of her run, her voice had slightly improved but her acting had gone far downhill as she started overacting and such. They took Another Day down a key for her because it was too hard on her voice. Sounds like I didn't miss much with her. However, she tried and was apparently a very nice person. She just wasn't a good performer and was not prepared for the demands of a Broadway show or a role like Mimi.

I don't believe the producers had an invite-the-press-to-see-her day like they had planned, but I believe Clive Barnes was sent by the NY Post to review her anyway. She got a decent but nothing special type review. He said, ". . . the truth is, she's not all that good, and not all that noticeable . . . Brown — her stage inexperience every now and then showing like a slip — appears pallid, although her voice proves agreeable enough and her presence and projection are perfectly adequate. But a star? Hardly. Not yet."
Clive Barne's NY Post review - 6/15/04