[Gasfghj]

Susan Boyle Loses on British Talent TV Show

Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images
Fans of Susan Boyle were disappointed in Blackburn, Scotland.



By SARAH LYALL
Published: May 30, 2009



ArtsBeat

Andrew Milligan/PA, via Associated Press
Susan Boyle on Sunday.



She is an internationally acclaimed Internet phenomenon and a symbol of the folly of underestimating people because of the way they look. But in a shocking upset, Susan Boyle, the 47-year-old Scottish church volunteer whose stunning audition for the “Britain’s Got Talent” TV show last month has been viewed something like 90 million times on YouTube, lost in the final round of the program on Saturday night.
After the audience votes had been tallied, Ms. Boyle placed second, beaten by a joyfully innovative dance troupe named Diversity.
Winners of “Britain’s Got Talent,” one of a host of talent shows that are among the most-watched programs in Britain, receive about $160,000 and a spot on the roster of the Royal Variety Performance, presented in front of the Queen. Their high profiles also virtually assure that they will have lucrative careers in show business.
But the same is often true for the runners-up, who in this case included Julian Smith, a soulful saxophonist who was a darling of the studio audience and came in third. And the exposure Ms. Boyle has received since her original audition, culminating in an appearance on “Oprah” in the United States, means she is a hot property who is virtually guaranteed a recording contract.
For weeks she seemed to be a shoo-in for victory. To see a middle-aged woman from a small town — who lives alone with her cat, Pebbles, and seemed at first to be almost comically awkward — open her mouth to reveal such a beautiful voice was revelatory and inspiring. Celebrities like Demi Moore said she they were rooting for her.
But in recent days there were worries that Ms. Boyle — who is said to have suffered slight brain damage when she was deprived of oxygen at birth, and is so unworldly that she has no computer — was cracking under all the pressure. Various tabloid reports had her paralyzed with nerves, lashing out at reporters and swearing uncharitably about her competitors. She was said to be a packed suitcase away from quitting the competition and going back home, to the town of Blackburn in Scotland.
Piers Morgan, one of the judges, described her in his blog as “a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights.”
But in the end Ms. Boyle proved stoic in defeat, graciously congratulating her opponents.
As popular as it is, the show has also come been criticized for the way it so cruelly raises contestants’ hopes and then smashes them. Several performers who made the semifinals, and were then rudely dismissed by Simon Cowell, one of the judges, and voted unceremoniously off, began weeping with disappointment.
“This show is all about manipulating the eagerness for celebrity among vulnerable, often desperate people,” David Wilson, a professor at Birmingham City University who briefly worked as a psychologist on “Big Brother” several years ago, wrote in The Daily Mail. “The more tears, humiliation, conflict and embarrassment, the more the public loves it.”

[occurrini]

Wanna know why she came in SECOND?

Because there can only be one Number ONE

[JNancy46]

Thank you, I laughed so hard I think I now have to change my pants!

[Kragh]

Better yours than mine!

[flanna.kersting]

Can`t stand susan boyle.

[pharmaclid]

^Then listen to this: my dear friend Lalo knocking it out of the park... in Spanish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOyvbleOPMs

[seervezex]

^ OMG, he murdered that beautiful song . Terrible voice, terrible interpretation.

Susan did it MUCH better .

Can`t stand susan boyle.

You don't have to like her to appreciate and respect her talent.

[Qwjyrgij]

Murdered? Really? OK, maybe I'm a little prejudiced... but I hear a proper old time Broadway belt. They are two different interpretations but Boyles voice and placement is not b'way... it's the Amature Hour compared to his.

Other opinions out there?

In the meantime:

Elaine Page (a bit more pop):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZKKNwiltX0

Miss Patti Lupone: what a real b'way star sounds like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYTN8...eature=related

--

[ZZtop]

The setting in which Susan sang the song was Amateur Hour, not a Broadway production. Given some training and experience, I'm sure she'd do such a production proud. On the night, she just sang and interpreted a beautiful song beautifully.

The quality of the sound wasn't the best in that video, and I could be wrong, but I thought I heard a few false notes in there. And the accompanying music was dreadful and inappropriate for that song. Didn't sound remotely Broadway to me, in fact very stilted.

Sorry, but the Paige and Lupone interpretations didn't do anything for me either. Too smug in their fame.

[xsexymasterix]

He sounded a bit pitchy to my ear.

[didrexx]

As you can hear a very bad recording and the orchestra is not good... but IMHO his is a real voice that could take 8 performances a week and fill a thousand seat house with out sounding over-miked.


Page and Lupone are smug.. and that's part of their allure. They were never the wholesome ingenue.

---

IMHO the gold standard for the male B'way voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKCUapUEFkY

[provigil]

Yuck! That is the longest, numbingly boring, excruciatingly painful to watch/hear piece of sappy garbage ever!

[Hdzcxqoi]

I can understand how that would be your opinion.

Carousel is one of the finest scores in the opera/operetta/broadway tradition.

It is one of the greatest pieces of stage art that America has produced.

"In 1999, Time magazine in its "Best of the Century" list, named Carousel the Best Musical of the 20th century..."

-----------------

Interesting news :

"Tony-winning actor Hugh Jackman may star opposite Anne Hathaway in a screen remake of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Carousel.

Variety reports that Carousel is among several stage and screen projects that Jackman and his partner at Seed Productions, John Palermo, are currently eyeing. Oscar nominee David Magee, who penned the screenplay for Alan Knee's "Finding Neverland," has adapted the timeless 1945 musical Carousel for contemporary audiences."

(note: Hugh Jackman starred in the concert version at Carnegie Hall in '02.)

http://www.playbill.com/news/article...i_for_Broadway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carouse...l)#cite_note-3

----------


One of my favourite melodies of all time is the show's Overture (here performed by the BBC orchestra). A great piece of Americana:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cTuWGoRgxA

Interesting how it was used By the Dire Straits for Tunnel of Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWX5yXMqxeA

Another fascinating interpretation of a song from this musical is Nina Simone singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the early 1960's... it suddenly became very Black Civil rights.

Here's Sam Harris giving it a gay touch on Oprah... pretty fabulous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWkzeTOOxbo

----------------------------

More about "You'll Never walk Alone":

"The song is also sung at football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on matchday; this tradition began at Liverpool F.C. in the early sixties and later spread to several other clubs."

"The song was recorded by many artists, first charting in 1945 in a version by Frank Sinatra (#9 on the Billboard charts). The great tenor Mario Lanza conducted by Constantine Callinicos sang it in 1950. It was a #1 R&B hit for Roy Hamilton in 1954. Gerry & The Pacemakers sent it to #1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1963. Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles had a #34 charting version in 1964. Elvis Presley's version got to #90 in 1968."


--

[elektikaka]

Politically Neutral Dog weighs in on this subject

[FliveGell]

Woof

[nuabuncarnigo]

Off topic posts deleted.

[molaunterbizone]

Thank you. Nice to see the moderators doing their job.

I did however post Patti Lupone from the London Cast of Les Mis, let me at least get that back :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9y4G7Fcu_Y

^ I posted a live version of this earlier, but it's nice to hear the studio version with full orchestra.

(Compared to the best of B'way IMHO the music and lyrics to this show are far inferior to B'way's best.)

[ZESINTERS]

yes, thanks indeed, Alonzo.

[deackatera]

She reminds me of Jane Olivor. Does anybody else remember her, besides me?

[bonyclayd]

What a fabulous version. Go, Susan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjAkq5iMHZw

Singing sensation Susan Boyle gambles on a Stones song for her American debut ... and wins

By David Hinckley

September 16th 2009


Susan Boyle sings her heart out on 'America's Got Talent'

Susan Boyle startled the music world again Wednesday night – but this time not with a voice that came from nowhere.

This time it was with a song that came from the Rolling Stones.

Boyle, who became an international phenomenon earlier this year by singing the show tune “I Dreamed a Dream” on “Britain’s Got Talent,” made her American TV debut last night by singing “Wild Horses,” a Mick Jagger-Keith Richards song.

She did it mostly with piano accompaniment, in a deliberate style that sounded at times like a soaring theatrical ballad and other times like something out of a hymnal.

It definitely wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll – which is good, because that would have been just too bizarre. But it was still a bold choice from a woman who said in numerous interviews that show tunes were her music.

“Wild Horses” will be a track on her debut CD, which is scheduled to come out Nov. 24, and Wednesday night’s show was in a sense the promotional kickoff for that CD.

Whether the song choice will broaden Boyle’s potential audience or merely puzzle admirers who expected an album of show-style tunes is a gamble she and he producers are obviously willing to take.

Boyle became the world’s Cinderella story earlier this year after her British TV appearance. She mesmerized first the judges and then the world with the astonishing contrast between her plain appearance and the powerful voice with which she sang “I Dreamed a Dream.”

Within days, a video of that performance had been viewed by millions of people on the Internet and Boyle’s life became a tsunami of media obsession.

She handled it as gracefully as any civilian could, receiving media at her modest home in Scotland and listening to the world argue over whether she should get a makeover.

She ended up not winning “Britain’s Got Talent,” though she gave another strong performance in the finale, and she finally took some time off to decompress.

Now she’s back and embarking on the next phase, which is to find out whether fame and fascination are enough to launch her into an actual paying professional singing career.

Tonight’s performance of “Wild Horses,” which was taped earlier in the day before a live audience, showed a composed performer who has done some touchup work on her appearance and wardrobe, but not radically altered anything.

She sang the song confidently, even when some of the lyrics seemed disconnected from any personal experience – and it certainly wasn’t the oddest Rolling Stones song she could have chosen.

“Under My Thumb” or “Tumbling Dice,” those would have been truly weird.

But even then, they would have been no odder or more unlikely than the whole story that 2009 has become for Susan Boyle.

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/20...san_boyle.html