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A Rant
Yesterday, we were listening to <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17207234"</a> on the way to the site. I'm a little annoyed by the bit when Teri Gross calls attention to difficulty of singing Sondhiem's music and the fact that none of the main actors are trained in voice and Richard Zanuck says that he gave Tim Burton the freedom to chose real actors instead of goind with stage actors.
Now most of you probably know that I'm a huge Broadway Musical/Musical Theater fan. While (true confession time here) I don't know Sweeny Todd well at all, so can't speak directly to that show, in general I have found the results to be much better when musical theater actors transfer to television and movies rather than the other way around. Contrary to the opinion of Richard Zanuck and apparently Tim Burton, the Broadway casting offices don't just throw people up on stage because they can sing. The audience isn't just coming to hear pretty voices (If we wanted that we'd go to a concert). Now we're coming to watch a story unfold. A story where heightened emotions come to the surface in song instead of in teary monologues.
I would say that the Broadway to screen transition usually works better than the opposite because Broadway performers have to be a triple threat (singing, dancing, and acting) and the good ones are always honing these skills, all of them. Screen actors only have to have the single treat (acting) and spend the majority of their time honing it, as is proper. When one is cast in a musical, proper singing technique can not be fully learned in the month or two or six of pre-production. They can get better, and even good, but not great.
Of course, musical theater actors making the transition must also develop new skills. Stage acting is different than screen acting. On stage if you chew your lip in thoughtfulness or let a single tear slide down your cheek, well no one is going to see it. Motions and emotions need to be big to translate to the person sitting in the last row of the third balcony. On the other hand, if you try to use those motions and emotions on screen you'll look like a raving lunatic. Not every one has made this transition well. Still the underlying acting concepts are the same.
Stage to Screen:
1. Kristen Chenoweth
Stage credits - The Apple Tree, Wicked, Your a Good Man Charlie Brown, Epic Proportions, Steel Pier.
Screen - The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction, Bewitched and yes RV.
She should also get credit for being the inspiration for Harriet on Studio 60.
2. Alan Cumming
Stage credits - Best known for the MC in Caberet.
Screen - Check out X2 (nightcrawler) and The Anniversary Party
3. Mandy Patinkin
Stage - The Wild Party (my favorite), The Secret Garden, Sunday in the Park with George, Evita (If you can find them both, compare his version of "And the Money Kept Rolling In" with Antonio Bandares'"
Screen - Criminal Minds, The Princess Bride (who could forget "My name is Inigo Montoya, prepare to die")
Also feel free to check out Audra McDonald on Private Practice, though I've never watched it.
Screen to stage:
1. We've got Rosie O'Donald in the Grease Revival
2. Richard Gere in Chicago
3. Renée Zellweger also in Chicago
4. And as much as a hate to say it Robert Sean Leonard in The Music Man.
Of course, this is just a small list
Now most of you probably know that I'm a huge Broadway Musical/Musical Theater fan. While (true confession time here) I don't know Sweeny Todd well at all, so can't speak directly to that show, in general I have found the results to be much better when musical theater actors transfer to television and movies rather than the other way around. Contrary to the opinion of Richard Zanuck and apparently Tim Burton, the Broadway casting offices don't just throw people up on stage because they can sing. The audience isn't just coming to hear pretty voices (If we wanted that we'd go to a concert). Now we're coming to watch a story unfold. A story where heightened emotions come to the surface in song instead of in teary monologues.
I would say that the Broadway to screen transition usually works better than the opposite because Broadway performers have to be a triple threat (singing, dancing, and acting) and the good ones are always honing these skills, all of them. Screen actors only have to have the single treat (acting) and spend the majority of their time honing it, as is proper. When one is cast in a musical, proper singing technique can not be fully learned in the month or two or six of pre-production. They can get better, and even good, but not great.
Of course, musical theater actors making the transition must also develop new skills. Stage acting is different than screen acting. On stage if you chew your lip in thoughtfulness or let a single tear slide down your cheek, well no one is going to see it. Motions and emotions need to be big to translate to the person sitting in the last row of the third balcony. On the other hand, if you try to use those motions and emotions on screen you'll look like a raving lunatic. Not every one has made this transition well. Still the underlying acting concepts are the same.
Stage to Screen:
1. Kristen Chenoweth
Stage credits - The Apple Tree, Wicked, Your a Good Man Charlie Brown, Epic Proportions, Steel Pier.
Screen - The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction, Bewitched and yes RV.
She should also get credit for being the inspiration for Harriet on Studio 60.
2. Alan Cumming
Stage credits - Best known for the MC in Caberet.
Screen - Check out X2 (nightcrawler) and The Anniversary Party
3. Mandy Patinkin
Stage - The Wild Party (my favorite), The Secret Garden, Sunday in the Park with George, Evita (If you can find them both, compare his version of "And the Money Kept Rolling In" with Antonio Bandares'"
Screen - Criminal Minds, The Princess Bride (who could forget "My name is Inigo Montoya, prepare to die")
Also feel free to check out Audra McDonald on Private Practice, though I've never watched it.
Screen to stage:
1. We've got Rosie O'Donald in the Grease Revival
2. Richard Gere in Chicago
3. Renée Zellweger also in Chicago
4. And as much as a hate to say it Robert Sean Leonard in The Music Man.
Of course, this is just a small list