![]() She has said repeatedly that, at least at the beginning of her career, she never thought of herself as a singer but only as a dancer. I don't recall Chita ever "making fun of" her voice. I don't think she is a bad singer, just not an "excellent" one. "A powerful and characterful voice limitations". My feelings about Chita align quite closely with r244's. I simply don't agree with the characterization of her as an "excellent singer". In this case, we really aren't far apart on Ms Rivera and her many talents. What an odd and combative way to frame a friendly discussion, r249, with you assuming that I am unwilling to change my opinion. We can agree to disagree, if you REALLY want to stick to your opinion. She may be that not-unusual creature-wonderful onstage (and the scene from "Our Town" we have from the TV special shows great depth of feeling) and not much going on intellectually or psychologically off-stage. Will we ever get a less timid biography of Martin? Maybe there really isn't that much to tell, beyond what has been told. Rivera was, along with Verdon, the most exciting dancer, but she could outsing Verdon even early in their respective careers (and Martin was actually a quite decent dancer-remember she began by teaching dance at her studio before she abandoned Larry Hagman to his grandparents and ran off to Broadway, Hollywood (briefly), Dick Halliday, R&H-and Janet. The one whose voice and acting seemed to me unsurpassable was Mairin Mazzie, alas. Nothing against O'Hara-she is a fine performer in her own lane, as is Foster (I loved her in "Chaperone," though not so much in other things). ![]() Rivera seemed to me much like Mary Martin, in that Martin's vocal range became increasingly limited as time went on (was she a smoker?), but she found ways of using what she had-even though her Maria VT is menopausal, the singing may show her voice at its strongest and most secure-even better than some of the notes (which can be shaky) in "South Pacific." And I still prefer her vocally uneven Nellie to O'Hara's. By the time of "Spider Woman" and "The Visit," it appeared Kander and Ebb were writing for an instrument all knew was diminishing, but I'd still rather listen to her than Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara, and the others, whose musicianship outstrips Rivera's, but who just don't bring much "fire and music" to the table, IMO. There were limitations to Chita's vocal abilities-she may be at her strongest in "Bye Bye Birdie," but she's quite fine in "West Side Story" in a role not meant to be operatic, except perhaps in some parts of the Quintet and some phrases in "A Boy Like That." Her work in the OBC of "The Rink" is great-and the role is not meant to sound like Beverly Sills. It certainly was in a different class from Verdon's and Reinking's. I think Rivera had a powerful and characterful voice. Performer: Sally Gracie Offsite Link by Anonymous The other girls: Linda Lavin, Renee Taylor, Mary Louise Wilson and Diane Kagan. She also did this 1965 comic parody of The Group recording called The Bunch. Its playwright John Patrick died with a plastic bag over his head. He eventually finds peace by furthering a romance between the doctor and the young girl. Then the pretty cook, a former model who prepared the fatal dishes, returns to the house and is mistaken for his illegitimate daughter. Instead of the solitude he expected, he is beset by the spirits of an Indian girl, pushed off of a cliff by her lover, a Southern Belle, with a disturbing drawl as well as a phony liberal attitude, and a frustrated composer. After signing a will that leaves a third of his estate to his young doctor, a third to perpetuate his house as a sanctuary for his spirit, and the final third to the Harvard Law School to ensue that the terms of his odd testament will be carried out, he eats a sumptuous meal and dies happily. This lack of much heart has made the philosophy of his books coldly cynical. Lo and Behold, a comedy-fantasy, tells the story of Milo Alcott, a Nobel Prize winner who has lived for years on a meager unpalatable diet to favor an ailing heart. It’s strange to me that they used to do plays (in three acts!) with such ditheringly inconsequential plots.
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