Post by missthelma on May 23, 2019 13:01:00 GMT
Not sure if this belongs in international or performers.
Anyway wondering if anybody else has been able to watch this series of concerts? They seem to have been an occasional treat in the past (Kristin Chenoweth) and then last year there were three (Stephanie J Block, Leslie Odom & Andrew Rannells) . Just about an hour long and like a cabaret/supper club setting. Last years' three were all very good and seem to have been popular and so this year another three, oddly filmed in December just before Christmas but not broadcast until now. We have Cynthia Erivo, Annaleigh Ashford & Megan Hilty for our entertainment. The first two have aired and the third is this Friday (Hilty)
Cynthia Erivo's was very strange, all of the songs were performed at the same pace with no variety to the tempo, she seemed to have no rapport with the audience and engaged in virtually no chit chat. But then when you have that voice you probably don't need to. A thing of wonder. Marvellous versions of Imagine & I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Bizarrely she introduced the former as if it were an obscure song she had dug up and discovered and was premiering to the world. Came across as very disingenuous. And whilst I hate mentioning it and it is reductive, either her or her stylist need to have a word with themselves. As I say it's an intimate setting but she came out garbed like a Glam Rock/P-Funk arena tour diva with what appeared to be four bath puffs attached to the back of her head and jewels encrusted on her nails. It was like a Liberace fever dream. In another setting and with another set list she would have looked magnificent but there seemed to be a huge disconnect going on.
Annaleigh Ashford was amazing, funny, warm, engaging, tackling a wide variety of songs and styles and really seeming to get the vibe of the location. Although at the end she did something again which belongs in an arena/stadium type setting, are all musical theatre stars, frustrated rock stars? She relied a bit too heavily on her 54 Below album from a couple of years back for material.
Really looking forward to the Megan Hilty one