Thanks for that. It made me laugh quite a lot.
To be honest that's what I kept saying.. John's got a great voice and what they say about his look is sooo true... But he needs to play roles where he's in the middle of attention. He doesn't really bring a lot of depth into his roles.. But that's just me and I haven't seen MS yet so I can't judge his performance as John. (And for I have never seen the show I'll probably love him in the role anyway.. [img]graemlins/whatever.gif[/img] )
Bombi
True Bombi, great voice, great looks, great stage presence, but he lacks depth to his characterizations. He tends to play most of his characters in the same manner - do I dare say they all come across as 'Tuggers' without the costume & make-up? I know he likes to put his own spin on the characters he plays & he really doesn't like to follow in anyone's footsteps, but he needs to stay true to how the character was meant to come across to the audience. I've seen Miss Saigon before in NY with Lea Solonga (sp?) & of all the roles I remember that stood out were the Engineer (that is such a great role for any performer) & of course, Kim. But to tell you the truth, I really don't remember much abt the role of John - but I think it's suppose to be that way - he's not a main character - he's not suppose to be stealing the show away from Chris & Kim.
I still say, over & over, that John's perfect role is the Phantom in POTO!!! That is a perfect over the top role for him.
I know many of us would like to see him in Aida as Radames & I would, too, he's got the voice for the songs, but in order to do that role, he's going to need to share the lead with whomever plays Aida, plus he'd have to convince the audience that he's deeply in love with Aida. I don't know if that's possible because I felt that when he was Roger, he wasn't convincing with the feelings he's suppose to have towards Mimi.
<font size="3.5" face="Verdana Italics">Originally posted by Bombi:
But he needs to play roles where he's in the middle of attention.<font size="3.5" face="Verdana Italics">I absolutely agree [img]biggrin.gif[/img] And I thought I was the only one who had noticed it [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img] . Exactly - Gringoire and Marilyn are deep in their souls nothing more (and nothing less [img]smile.gif[/img] ) than Tugger: the same gestures, mimics, glances. And I like these gestures, mimics, glances [img]cool.gif[/img]Originally posted by Kelliiii:
He tends to play most of his characters in the same manner - do I dare say they all come across as 'Tuggers' without the costume & make-up?
<font size="3.5" face="Verdana Italics">I don't agree with this very point. For me his feelings were convincing enough and - not to let you accuse me of being partial to a certain person [img]tongue.gif[/img] - they were convincing enough for someone who's a fan of "RENT", not Johnny's. On the contrary, that "someone" was quite sceptical about Johnny and my attitude towards him.Originally posted by Kelliiii:
I felt that when he was Roger, he wasn't convincing with the feelings he's suppose to have towards Mimi.
I am not sure that Johny is the best Rodger, but he is a very good Rodger. And I stay that Rodger is the best Johny.
And what do you say about the part of Lestat? Perhaps I'm a victim of the stereotypes concerning parts that are "suitable" for Johnny, too, but as far as his traits of character are taken into consideration he's a perfect "vampire Rum Tum Tugger", inconsistent, unreliable, but with very high self-esteem and extremely narcissistic. Taking into account that many dream of seeing him in the part of Radames, I guess it's not a bad (I mean nice) choice (for Johnny's audience)
[img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/present.gif[/img]
Hope there are enougth smiles, so you can understand where I was joking - it is so hard because my English is not very good [img]redface.gif[/img] . There are too few smileys here to express my emotions correctly [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]
Yeah, one more remarque [img]smile.gif[/img] What is "sp"? (sorry for my ignorance...)
Ufff... I'm so tired of writing.
I still don't speak English.
<font color="#990009" size="1">[ August 01, 2005 07:43 AM: Message edited by: Rerina ]</font>
<div style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px"> I was about to post here, but Rerina's just said everything I wanted to say, so... Well, I guess it's just less work for me. ^__^' ///sp=spelling
I just wanted to add my agreement. John is basically Tugger and every character he plays is another version of Tugger but then again I suppose that's not so surprising given how long he has played Tugger for and also how young he was when he first played him.
Personally I love John as John in Miss Saigon but partly this is because of the irony of the campness of his performance compared to the tough GI image and his powerful stage presence. He has really beefed up for this role and grown back his chest hair so the look is very masculine compared to the performance and especially the walk which so is not. I am hoping to catch the show again in Woking maybe later this week so more info then and hopefully another photo or two.
I love this - this message board is getting some good debate & discussion going. I think the one point we can all agree on is that John has a brillant voice. Whether or not we can agree abt his acting, we love his voice!
As for Lestat - I can see that! I think that would work for JOhn as well.
@Debra - so his walk during MS is very camp?? Hmm, & his performance of John is camp, too? I don't know why, but for some strange reason when I think back to seeing MS on Broadway abt 6 years ago or so, why do I remember thinking that the John character had a little campness to him in the sense that he puts his hands on his hips a lot & shows a lot of skin??? Does the character John swagger a lot in the show? I vaguely remember the role it's been so long, I could be wrong, but for some reason I remember thinking that....
Wow.. I'm about to praise us for this discussion! *lol* I know message-boards were everybody is 'so in love' with the actor, that as soon as somebody 'criticizes' him everybody's in a fight. I think it's always important to stay objective.. at least most of the time.. [img]wink.gif[/img]
And Rerina- I must agree about Lestat! (Did you read some of the books?) And about the stereotypes.. sadly, but it often happens that there are actors I really adore and then realise that they strongly remind me of John. [img]graemlins/whatever.gif[/img] (Don't know why but Johnny Depp in the role of Jack Sparrow is one of them! [img]wink.gif[/img] )
Bombi
Dead on Bombi re; Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow - the second I saw the commercial for P of C - I thought of John P.
And yes, it is very good for this board to have debates - I know what you mean abt other boards - as soon as someone criticizes the person, they are attacked.
Just because we criticize John's acting, that doesn't mean that we don't love him - he's fantastic on the stage with his voice & he has a great stage presence - he's very good at drawing the audience in, but he does go over the top sometimes with his acting; esp in spots that he's suppose to be emotional. He grimaces too much sometimes so much that it seems too much for the part.
Although, I've seen photos of him like from Dinslaken & from the early days of Rent when he was out in a club after the show performing & I've seen him get - if you will - emotional during the performance of a song and kiss another performer (female) which appeared to be passionately - that **has** to be acting on his part, but it came across as very believeable - so I guess he has the ability to 'act' like he could be in a passionate role. But, unforunately when I saw him in Rent, it didn't come across as sincere emotion re: Mimi.
On the other hand, Cabaret is opening in London in the spring of 2006 - Another perfect role for John that is full of campness & where he can be the center of the show is the Emcee in Cabaret (my all time fav show!!!!). John would literally steal the show as the Emcee & he would bring the house down & rightly so. I would take the first plane out to London if he took that role!
<font color="#990009" size="1">[ August 01, 2005 01:03 PM: Message edited by: Kelliiii ]</font>
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