While I get people getting upset at a baritone role going to a tenor, I wonder how many of them cared when Jonathan Price was cast as the Engineer in Miss Saigon or any of the other whitewashed casting that happens frequently.
Their casting in this is absolutely being used to get asses in seats and you can't tell me otherwise.
Just because Sutton is MI royalty doesn't mean she can be in every role. Her Marion Paroo was god-awful.
If Sondheim was alive he'd nix this. They're gonna be changing those keys heavily without his consent. Sondheim has been very particular about how singers sing his stuff. I can't recall, but I remember a female (I wanna say Johanna Gleason) asked him why did he write this song this way because she wanted to change it, and he gave her a look and said 'well, then you just don't sing at all'. I was like, dannn.
Their casting in this is absolutely being used to get asses in seats and you can't tell me otherwise.
That's my theory tbh. I saw that Aaron played John Wilkes Booth (another baritone role) in an Off West End production of Assassins, so I'd like to think that maaaaybe he's got the range in there somewhere, but who knows if they had to change the keys for him. My dad is a baritone and has the range to have sung tenor and bass parts when needed, but that's been in situations like if choral sections were unbalanced in number, not playing the lead daily in a musical theater production.
As a former orchestral musician, my sympathies to the pit if they do end up changing the keys, that just sounds additionally obnoxious for them.
Love them both but I kind of hate this. Sutton, it makes sense. But I’m worried her voice is too brash for it. Aaron is one of my favorite voices, but idk this is just weird. And the two of them together seems weird. I just can’t imagine them playing partners. Weird vibes.
I don’t think this production is very good. The direction is not great and the choreography is just flat out bad. Why is there so much hand acting!? I thought Josh and Annaleigh were very good (although Annaleigh makes everything better in my mind), but this casting makes no sense to me. Maybe they’ll both surprise, but I can’t really see either of them in the role.
I like both Sutton and Aaron. They’re both on my list of performers I will absolutely make an effort to see on stage, but I just don’t think it will work. I know it was not going to happen, but I would have liked to see Jake Gyllenhall take over. Maybe it’s just because of the Annaleigh connection, but he was the first that popped into my head.
Side note: the people on the Bway message board saying Bernadette or Audra should do it sound ridiculous.
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While I get people getting upset at a baritone role going to a tenor, I wonder how many of them cared when Jonathan Price was cast as the Engineer in Miss Saigon or any of the other whitewashed casting that happens frequently.
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Just because Sutton is MI royalty doesn't mean she can be in every role. Her Marion Paroo was god-awful.
If Sondheim was alive he'd nix this. They're gonna be changing those keys heavily without his consent. Sondheim has been very particular about how singers sing his stuff. I can't recall, but I remember a female (I wanna say Johanna Gleason) asked him why did he write this song this way because she wanted to change it, and he gave her a look and said 'well, then you just don't sing at all'. I was like, dannn.
Reply
That's my theory tbh. I saw that Aaron played John Wilkes Booth (another baritone role) in an Off West End production of Assassins, so I'd like to think that maaaaybe he's got the range in there somewhere, but who knows if they had to change the keys for him. My dad is a baritone and has the range to have sung tenor and bass parts when needed, but that's been in situations like if choral sections were unbalanced in number, not playing the lead daily in a musical theater production.
As a former orchestral musician, my sympathies to the pit if they do end up changing the keys, that just sounds additionally obnoxious for them.
Reply
Word is now that Sutton actually went to the producers and asked, and she got it without audition. Aaron auditioned.
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And you may immediately say, “You judgmental prick, what you think is obscene is nothing to the next guy down the line!”
Guess what: Her filth has something to offend everyone.
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Deets?
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we need deets!!!!
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I don’t think this production is very good. The direction is not great and the choreography is just flat out bad. Why is there so much hand acting!? I thought Josh and Annaleigh were very good (although Annaleigh makes everything better in my mind), but this casting makes no sense to me. Maybe they’ll both surprise, but I can’t really see either of them in the role.
I like both Sutton and Aaron. They’re both on my list of performers I will absolutely make an effort to see on stage, but I just don’t think it will work. I know it was not going to happen, but I would have liked to see Jake Gyllenhall take over. Maybe it’s just because of the Annaleigh connection, but he was the first that popped into my head.
Side note: the people on the Bway message board saying Bernadette or Audra should do it sound ridiculous.
Reply
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