I've seen her twice on Broadway and both times she was the worst part of the show.

I'm betting one of these was Sweeney Todd. What was the other?

I don't think it was Boyle's weight. I think it was her age, for one -- the teen in the audience rolling her eyes clearly though a woman her age had no business dreaming of being a singer anymore.

I think it's more about expectation -- people might expect a woman who looks like she lives alone with her cat to be sort of delusional about her talent. And yet she opened her mouth and was great.

And yeah, she wasn't perfect. But she was really, really good for an untrained voice in that situation, with a cheering audience, and I honestly don't believe that there are dozens of women in church choirs who sound like that solo. I've been listening to my parents' church choir for years, and there's maybe one woman who could come close to performing like that.

Sweeney Todd and Noises Off! Two of my favorite shows out there, and she just about ruined them. Ptui.

Well, that production of Sweeney Todd had issues all over the place. The thing with the actors playing their own instruments is an interesting idea, but it really didn't work with that show. A love scene with one person behind a cello and the other behind an upright bass just looks silly. (And it worked even worse when the same director did it with Company.)

Huh, I never thought much of Patti Lupone as I only knew her from that stupid TV show she did, but I thought she was really great in Sweeney Todd. I agree that the play had major issues, but I was pretty blown away by her.

See now and I kind of liked that Sweeney.

I agree about Lupone.

When I saw Les Mis in Los Angeles (1989), little Cosette was played by the little girl who played Robin on General Hospital, and she wasn't half bad!

But even so, the actor playing Sweeney was able to project an understanding of the character that overcame the ridiculously awkward staging. He was incredible.

Patti Lupone was just...Patti Lupone in a stupid wig playing the tuba. And randomly breaking from her oh-so-gothy monotone performance to belt every ten minutes for no better reason than otherwise you might forget she was Patti fucking Lupone.

(Ahem. Issues.)

And Noises Off! was a completely traditional staging, so she's got no excuse there. She was just terrible.

I don't think it was Boyle's weight. I think it was her age, for one -- the teen in the audience rolling her eyes clearly though a woman her age had no business dreaming of being a singer anymore.

I think this is it, completely. We're so youth oriented and preconditioned to imagine that dreams are merely the province of the young. Preconditioned to think that once we hit some age (probably thirty or so) that our lifepath is set and there's no way we can veer from it. And frankly, it takes guts to veer from what's set and comfortable, if a little dissatisfying.

And when someone has the sheer balls to veer off that path, to take a chance, people mock and jeer because a) how silly and b) it makes people sick with jealousy because they don't have the guts that one frumpy, living alone with her cat spinster does.

Seriously, I wish I had 1/10 of the guts that lady exhibited. She lived my dream up on that stage. I want to believe in the story that is Susan Boyle.

I want to believe in the story that is Susan Boyle.

Lots of people feel exactly this way. She's tapped into something. And that's why she's an internet sensation.

Y'know, I just begged off writing a preview of Mandy Patinkin, because the one time I saw him live he was so abysmally bad that, at the intermission, my theater professor had to assure us all that it really was Patinkin, and not some last-minute stand in. He was terrible.

Mind, I've hear recordings of Patinkin where he's been great. But that one bad performance has scarred me. Which, I suppose, is the big gamble of live theater.