Memory from Cats
What, I still have an eljay? :P
So I was perusing performances of Memory (reprise) from the musical CATS tonite on youtube, and, as with anything like this, there is much arguing in the comments about who plays the character and sings the song the best. Honestly, the song isn't that hard to sing, but it is hard to sing WELL. Even I could easily hit all the notes in it and I'm no professional singer. But to get the character of Grizabella across is something else entirely from just hitting the notes and holding the tones.
I have never seen the musical and have only read the summary on the wikipedia page. But from what I've read and watched, this is my idea of what Grizabella needs to be.
Grizabella is first and foremost a cat. She's also an aged glamour cat who is shunned by all and wallows in memories of what she once was. She's happy when thinking about the old days, sad when thinking about the now, sad when thinking she may not win Old Deut's favor and be stuck in her misery forever, and happy when she realizes she has won his favor. As can be seen, there are a lot of emotional changes in this song that must be conveyed in order to really nail it. This is the hard part about it and I would definitely not attempt to sing it in any serious context (a contest, whatever) without really understanding the character first.
Anyway, I have never seen any full or live performances and therefore have no real bias like that. Without further ado, our three contestants are, in ABC order:
Laurie Beechman - vid
Betty Buckley - vid
Elaine Paige - vid
It's hard to say who truly is the best because each nails a certain aspect perfectly and fails on certain other aspects. No one performance perfectly captures what I would consider the character to be, but I can break it down a little and still come up with a winner.
Conveying of Cat-Like Nature through Mannerisms:
1. Laurie
2. Betty
3. Elaine
Conveying of Cat-Like Nature through Voice:
1. Elaine
2. Laurie
3. Betty
Conveying of Emotional Changes through Acting:
1. Betty
2. Laurie
3. Elaine
Conveying of Emotional Changes through Voice:
1. Laurie
2. Betty
3. Elaine
Overall Vocals:
1. Elaine
2. Laurie
3. Betty
Best Interpretation of who the Character Needs to be in the Plot:
1. Elaine
2. Laurie
3. Betty
Overall:
1. Elaine
Elaine's Grizabella is extremely sad and truly conveys the low-ness she has come to in her life where she finds herself standing before Old Deut as she begs him for a new chance. I feel this performance is the closest to what the character needs to be in terms of the plot and the character and the point of the song. The cat-like nature and transformation back and forth between her current and former selves as she relives her life are lacking in this performance, however.
2. Laurie
Laurie's Grizabella is the most well-rounded of them. She really, really delivers a haunting performance with changes between her old and current self seamlessly fluid. It is also the most insanely cat-like delivery by far. The problem in my mind is that the changes between her selves just isn't significant enough and especially on the sad, current self, she just doesn't come off quite desperate enough for the character.
3. Betty's
Betty's Grizabella is not only seamlessly fluid in her transformations between her current and former selves, she also has the most dynamic of the changes between these two selves. Every expression in her performance conveys a thousand emotions, the problem is that the sad and desperate side is just not emphasized nearly enough for what this character needs to be, both in her acting and her singing. However, she is the only one who totally nails the formerly glamorous side of the character. No one else even comes close to that aspect.
It's amazing how differently a character can be played and still be played well by all.
Etc: The differences in makeup and costume was not mentioned because (afaik) the actors have no control over that aspect even though I know it really, really affects how the character comes across. Additionally, the actors' facial structure does affect the presentation of character as well but it isn't something directly under their control either. All ratings of vocals are based not on the clearest, bell-like voice, but the voice that conveys the character the best and by necessity includes how close they sound to an aged cat.
So I was perusing performances of Memory (reprise) from the musical CATS tonite on youtube, and, as with anything like this, there is much arguing in the comments about who plays the character and sings the song the best. Honestly, the song isn't that hard to sing, but it is hard to sing WELL. Even I could easily hit all the notes in it and I'm no professional singer. But to get the character of Grizabella across is something else entirely from just hitting the notes and holding the tones.
I have never seen the musical and have only read the summary on the wikipedia page. But from what I've read and watched, this is my idea of what Grizabella needs to be.
Grizabella is first and foremost a cat. She's also an aged glamour cat who is shunned by all and wallows in memories of what she once was. She's happy when thinking about the old days, sad when thinking about the now, sad when thinking she may not win Old Deut's favor and be stuck in her misery forever, and happy when she realizes she has won his favor. As can be seen, there are a lot of emotional changes in this song that must be conveyed in order to really nail it. This is the hard part about it and I would definitely not attempt to sing it in any serious context (a contest, whatever) without really understanding the character first.
Anyway, I have never seen any full or live performances and therefore have no real bias like that. Without further ado, our three contestants are, in ABC order:
Laurie Beechman - vid
Betty Buckley - vid
Elaine Paige - vid
It's hard to say who truly is the best because each nails a certain aspect perfectly and fails on certain other aspects. No one performance perfectly captures what I would consider the character to be, but I can break it down a little and still come up with a winner.
Conveying of Cat-Like Nature through Mannerisms:
1. Laurie
2. Betty
3. Elaine
Conveying of Cat-Like Nature through Voice:
1. Elaine
2. Laurie
3. Betty
Conveying of Emotional Changes through Acting:
1. Betty
2. Laurie
3. Elaine
Conveying of Emotional Changes through Voice:
1. Laurie
2. Betty
3. Elaine
Overall Vocals:
1. Elaine
2. Laurie
3. Betty
Best Interpretation of who the Character Needs to be in the Plot:
1. Elaine
2. Laurie
3. Betty
Overall:
1. Elaine
Elaine's Grizabella is extremely sad and truly conveys the low-ness she has come to in her life where she finds herself standing before Old Deut as she begs him for a new chance. I feel this performance is the closest to what the character needs to be in terms of the plot and the character and the point of the song. The cat-like nature and transformation back and forth between her current and former selves as she relives her life are lacking in this performance, however.
2. Laurie
Laurie's Grizabella is the most well-rounded of them. She really, really delivers a haunting performance with changes between her old and current self seamlessly fluid. It is also the most insanely cat-like delivery by far. The problem in my mind is that the changes between her selves just isn't significant enough and especially on the sad, current self, she just doesn't come off quite desperate enough for the character.
3. Betty's
Betty's Grizabella is not only seamlessly fluid in her transformations between her current and former selves, she also has the most dynamic of the changes between these two selves. Every expression in her performance conveys a thousand emotions, the problem is that the sad and desperate side is just not emphasized nearly enough for what this character needs to be, both in her acting and her singing. However, she is the only one who totally nails the formerly glamorous side of the character. No one else even comes close to that aspect.
It's amazing how differently a character can be played and still be played well by all.
Etc: The differences in makeup and costume was not mentioned because (afaik) the actors have no control over that aspect even though I know it really, really affects how the character comes across. Additionally, the actors' facial structure does affect the presentation of character as well but it isn't something directly under their control either. All ratings of vocals are based not on the clearest, bell-like voice, but the voice that conveys the character the best and by necessity includes how close they sound to an aged cat.