Norma
Everyone’s favorite non-operatic diva Faye Dunaway reacts to the news of her “firing” by Andrew Lloyd Webber. (The show, of course, was Sunset Blvd., and the year was 1994. Miss Faye sued Lloyd Webber and eventually settled out of court for a reported $2 million.)
Those lips
there just wasn’t rooooooom to uuuuuuse the artist… mmm… have to remember THAT little one.
Thank you LaCieca… made my afternoon
Speaking of ALW … did anyone watch the Kennedy Centers last night?
Gregory Turay and Harolyn Blackwell (!! where has she been?) were pretty splendid and John Williams whipped up an amazing sound to honor Spielberg with “Make Our Garden Grow”. I think Turay didn’t slip on the lyrics but rather they made him sing it unrhymed so the tribute didn’t start “You’ve been a fool and so have I / so come and be my wife.”
Despite l’Affair Simpson (she was ALMOST completely edited out–the black dress next to Reese Witherspoon at the end of the Dolly tribute is Simpson), the Parton tribute was really special, with Carrie Underwood and Kenny Rogers duetting beautifully, Allison Kraus singing both lead and backups, Shania in a gorgeous gown, and the ever-amazing Vince Gill, who could put both Gregory Kunde and Eric Cutler to shame
As usual, the classical part is the briefest and they always know who their surest bets are as players.
The Webber tribute was strange–a JCS montage that included almost no music he actually wrote, the new Argentine phenom who is way more Lemper than Lupone (not that that’s a bad thing) in Evita, my goddess Christine Ebersole flubbing a lyric in an otherwise nice, restrained “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” and Betty Buckley, after all these years and only down a step, giving it her all on “Memory,” with Sarah Brightman, who did a really lovely tribute, filling in the soprano line as she did in London.
I’m a huge lover of soul music, so the Smokey Robbbins tribute started it off really beautifully for me. C-Lo from Gnarls Barkeley should have taken his sun glasses off but he sang “Tears of a Clown” really well. India.Arie was magnificent, it was great to see Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, and the Temptations (or the ones who are using that name these days) still got it!
The less said about Aretha’s outfit, the better!
All in all, a very good year for the Kennedy Centers. I know they short us on the classical music, but it’s still a great music night for TV, and it was really bizarre and fun to see Condoleeza jamming to the Smokey tunes.
Oh, and the award for most close-ups that almost always goes to Leontyne Price went to Mr and Mrs Tom Hanks this year.
And they even spelled his name wrong on the news reel!
Lloyd Weber Missed out on La Dunaway. I can only imagine what wonder she would have brought the role a la mommy dearest. Sure, Glenn Close was wonderful but nothing compared to what Faye would have been. Of course, I love FD.
As far as the KCH go…..I enjoyed them. I thought Betty Buckley was freaking amazing. I kept thinking how in the hell is she doing this so simply. I don’t think many opera singers could do such a great job and Broadway sings a heck of a lot more than opera does. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!
Boy this brings back memories. My maestro has one of those cd collections that encompase everything that is muscial theater both legal and illegal, including some fantastic filth to play at parties. The best of the lot is undoubtably a recording of Ms. Dunaway singing “loving you” from Passion and Norma’s two big numbers.
Let’s just say she’s not Patti LuPone and leave it at that.
just a sidebar- I didn’t see the KCH honors but would love to see Christine Ebersole sing the Sunset stuff. I was thinking last week while watching her in Grey Gardens what an amazing Norma Desmond she would be
Vicarious…Peripatetic…Playwright!?
The night I saw Glenn Close do the role, she was just terrible. I was so surprised, because I had heard that she was rather good in the role. She had absolutely no voice, she couldn’t sing in tune to save her life, and she did a sort of Carol Burnett version of Gloria Swanson playing Norma Desmond. In fact, at several points, the audience was openly laughing at her (she was literally croaking). All in all, it was a miserable evening in the theater.
I’ve never heard Faye Dunaway sing, but always assumed that it would be a little like Bette Davis singing. At the time, I couldn’t understand why she wanted to do the show anyway. (The money? Something to revive her career?) I think the concept of turning that movie into a musical was really misguided anyway. In the hands of ALW, it really had nowhere to go but camp. And boy, was it ever. The Glenn Close version of Norma Desmond reminded me of the Sills versions of Elizabeth I. It seemed like, over time, the role became a vehicle for “older” actresses to do a kind of a drag show.
It was one of those times when I was sure that culture in America had hit a low point. I’ll have to say that the audience, mostly tourists, and mostly people who I’m sure had never seen the original movie were just there to see Glenn Close.
By the way, I have nothing against drag or camp. In fact, I have been known to endulge in a little drag myself…better, of course, when I was younger. Now (sigh), about the only drag I can pull off is The Queen (Elizabeth II, that is)….what’s going to happen to all those purses when I’m gone?
Wow, she has the Diva thing down to a science! Her interview is part wounded, part indignant and part benificent. Perfectly played.