Topic Review of Sondheim, Etc from the General Chit-Chat forum.
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| Author | Topic: Review of Sondheim, Etc |
|---|
 Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/15/2006 at 9:41:17 AM ET
What? A review of a recording from 1996? Somehow I'd never seen this, it's a wonderful analysis of the Sondheim, Etc recording, by an obvious fan, but not slavishly so.
from sondheim.com
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/15/2006 at 12:51:41 PM ET
Thanks, I really enjoyed reading that ... but, "leader of the pack"? I'm gobsmacked! - whatever does it mean?
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/15/2006 at 1:41:36 PM ET
Think "Top Dog" or "Supreme Supremo."
|  moljul
Registered User
Registered:
4/2/2001
From:
New York
Fav. BP CD: I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Fav. BP Song: Dublin Lady
| posted: 12/15/2006 at 1:53:50 PM ET
Nah, I'll just stick with Queen of the Broadway Stage.
"I'm one star away from Dolly Parton ... and Raymond Massey is between us. I hope we don't suffocate him." Bernadette Peters receiving her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, April 24, 1987
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/15/2006 at 1:56:52 PM ET
Cheers. In truth, all I could think of was the sound of motor cycles revving up and "my folks were always puting him down - down, down"... and couldn't make the connection. I even went away to listen to Chico's Girl thinking it might give me a clue 
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/15/2006 at 3:55:25 PM ET
LOL! I was just trying to interpret what he might have meant. I agree that "leader of the pack" is not the most felicitous description I've heard.
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/15/2006 at 4:10:56 PM ET
Oh, I don't know, I sometimes think of Bernadette as the "Alpha Dog", to use the doggy metaphor.
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/15/2006 at 5:52:00 PM ET
 I know what you mean and you are so right!
But the Betty Buckley/Bernadette review where this chap consults his "word program's thesaurus" (What's that? Is it something like the Roget's Thesaurus of the English language?)
So, BP is not yet a Diva (in the Betty Buckley sense of the word?) ... but yet is too big to be a star ... and the best his "word program's thesaurus", comes up with ... is "the leader of the pack".
Blimey! ... and quite frankly... I think he ought to get a new Thesaurus.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/15/2006 at 6:35:03 PM ET
Once again I'm just guessing at his intent, but I presume he didn't want to call Bernadette a diva because of possible negative connotations that have come to be associated with the popular use of the term: difficult, demanding, egotistical, etc.
Maybe he should have looked to the etymology and gone with "goddess." That's always worked for me.
| Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/15/2006 at 7:02:50 PM ET
Yeah, Karen I think you've nailed it:
diva==prima donna
prima donna = "A temperamental, conceited person"
I honestly think he was being extremely complimentary to Bernadette.
Perhaps something is getting lost in the translation as the words travel across the pond?
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/15/2006 at 8:59:26 PM ET
But surely Prima Donna actually means, in effect, "First lady" ... and when used in regards to the Arts means "Chief (or primary) female singer in an opera or ballet (i.e. Prima Donna/Ballerina). Diva is a great term too - and just because negative reflections have been cast upon such terms please don't let us give all our ancient and exalted female titles up so easily.
I am not saying he wasn't being complimentary to Bernadette I am just amused by his bizarre terminology which genuinely puzzled me for a bit. Simple as that.
By the way, as far as I am concerned the "pond" is a mere puddle. As the Grand-daughter of a New Yorker I am well used to the 'two peoples divided by a common language' theory.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/15/2006 at 9:28:40 PM ET
Hey, Scottie, let's not disregard the distinction between "denotation" and "connotation"--and I know you know what I mean. 
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 12/16/2006 at 1:56:37 PM ET
ha, of course I do! 
Incidentally, I adore what this chap had to say about Being Alive and Not A Day Goes By. Very informative.
Still slightly on topic ... earlier today I received a DVD (not commercially available) that I had ordered some time ago. It may be of interest to some of you as it is something that might not have been shown in the US (though, who knows?, you may very well already have seen it if it happened to air on BBC America - in which case it's old news)...
It's a British television interview with Bernadette in New York in 2000. The interview forms part of one episode of a 3 part, 3 hour look at Broadway - from a British viewpoint. The interview is conducted by a (now disgraced) TV presenter called Michael Barrymore who is a huge fan of BP. She talks about working with Sondheim and a couple of other things - it is also quite amusing as she promised him at least 10 minutes but keeps him waiting and he wrings very ounce of humour out of it. For instance, while waiting for her to turn up he starts talking to her picture on the wall outside the theatre and BP walks up behind him obviously thinking he was some sort of crazy person.
It may appeal to some of the completeists among you - if it does then please PM me. Hope that's OK ... I am looking for a couple of things that I cannot find readily available.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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