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.

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.

That's another thing about that video! The girl rolling her eyes could have been doing so at any point in the taping (like, say, when Boyle did a weird dance). It seems a little weird that an audience member who is there to watch the auditions of people who think they have talent would have such a rude reaction, right? But if I remember the video right, that's one of two colorably negative reactions displayed -- it's very memorable, and everyone seems to believe the audience is against her. Clever editing. Isn't the whole point of the show undiscovered, unpolished talent? I don't understand the presumption that the audience just KNOWS that this unpolished woman is a bad singer. It's a voice, could happen to anyone.

I saw Lupone in Sunset Blvd and then due to an odd set of circumstances saw the same show a week later with her understudy.

The understudy blew her away.

Mind, I've hear recordings of Patinkin where he's been great.

See, Patinkin has never done it for me as a stage actor voice. I've seen him perform his one-man show which is more cabaret, and it's wonderful. But, for example, everyone goes on about him being the definitive Che in Evita and I can't stand that recording. His voice is too... pretty, for lack of a better term. It's too sweet to really convey the anger and cynicism of that character.

I didn't like Bernadette Peters or Pantinkin until Sunday in the Park with George, but then I loved them.