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.

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.

I guess ... I don't care? I liked hearing her perform and the audience respond, just like I liked the story about pilot landing in the Hudson and the firefighter giving water to the baby koala. I've got enough cynicism all on my own on a daily basis, so I like to embrace the unexpectedly sweet and good once in a while, and this did it for me.

Hear hear!!

I've got enough cynicism all on my own on a daily basis, so I like to embrace the unexpectedly sweet and good once in a while, and this did it for me.

Yep. This is me too. If it makes me a sucker, then so be it.

Got my Federal refund and it is already gone, 90% went to credit cards and 10% went to medical bills. That was fast.

I've got a lead on a neighborhood flea market in 3 weeks. If I can still get a table, I already have one other mom friend who will watch mac for part of the time and will give me things from her to sell. One more mom to call if I get in and I should be all set. Then I'll have to figure out how to fit all I want to sell into 6'x3.5' of space.

A little background on what happened during the Susan Boyle auditions. (Found on Nathan Bransford's blog).

I think the Susan Boyle thing is not so much about her humble background, but more about preconception by the audience (at the audition and on TV) that she'd have a voice to match her looks. According to a few people on forums here in the UK, who were at the theatre for that audition, a lot was cut out in the edit, and she was given a particularly hard time by the judges, especially Amanda Holden, the female one, who was laughing her head off when Susan walked on, and tried to discourage her from doing the Les Mis number and do something by Britney Spears instead, much to the amusement of the audience.

If that's actually true, then it makes what happened just that little bit more special.