 by Brian Juergens
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Opening night of Liza's new one-woman show appropriately star-studded, bizarre
Last night the unsinkable Liza Minnelli opened her new show in New York City, and from the looks of the photo coverage the event was every bit as cuckoobananas as we'd expect. First, the photo service that we use has the title of the show — Liza's at the Palace — listed as "Liza's at the Palace?!", suggesting a sort of abject amazement at the fact they'd let the old bird in the joint in the first place. But that's just the beginning: even the pics of the celebrity arrivals are unusually bizarre. Check out more pics of stars talking on their phones, doing calf-stretches, and making stink-faces after the jump!
Liza closed with a Secret Service kick-line
Sandra Bernhard: "Oooh that smell! Can you smell that smell?"
James Lipton: "I'm a celebrity interviewer ... get me out of here!"
Married life is treating gay actor Alan Cumming very well. Snazzy!
I refused to believe that purple is the new black until Cheyenne Jackson wore it.
Mario Cantone: "Turn your head and cough!"
Look, ma - no question mark! Submitted by on Thu, 2008-12-04 12:09. |
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Cheyenne? Hello, Clark Kent!
The red, slashed lettering
cheyenne Jackson....
Bitchy Comments Are Tired
Well, the main reason her
Well, the main reason her voice sounds like that now is she had vocal cord surgery in 1997. Ever since then, she's had an odd lisp.
ETA: This comment was supposed to be a reply to Carl.
Vocal chord surgery
can't give you a lisp. It can, however, partially restore a voice that has been severely damaged (and yes, I'm a voice professional, these are not just random comments thrown out). To remove nodes or nodules (which one can only get from years of friction from bad technique), the doctors also have to cut out a slight notch from the vocal folds. They will never close completely again, which leads to a breathier sound. In order for the surgery to have any success, the patient must undergo lengthy vocal therapy both before and after the surgery to learn how to correctly use their voice without damaging it further. This is the step that patients usually skip. It is a huge commitment, and since the voice is so identified with the self, the patient is usually resistant to any change.
Another prominent example is Julie Andrews who misused her voice for decades, attempted surgery expecting it to completely rejuvenate her voice, and then sued the doctors because the results didn't meet her unrealistic expectations.
That all being said, both Liza and Julie are icons for more than just their voices, and none of the above commentary is meant to dismiss or belittle them. They both have had incredibly successful careers after all.
Very well said.
Moreover
Exactly.
For an example of someone who has had terrible technique, ruined her voice, but made a fantastic transition to a tremendous older performer, look at Marianne Faithful. She had a lovely, light soprano voice in her youth, but cigarettes and hard living have taken their toll. She is now the pre-eminent interpreter of Kurt Weill songs.
Another example is Maria Muldauer who intentionally lowered her voice (a la Lauren Bacall or Rock Hudson). She said she wanted to sing music that the lighter, higher tone of her youth wouldn't allow.
And of course, Bruce Springsteen wouldn't be who he is without all of that grit and gravel covering his vocal folds.
However, the voice lowering is not something that automatically happens with age, only with using it in certain fashions. I personally, am delighted that my voice has continued to get higher as I age.
I've always wondered
about that. I had a voice teacher who was in his 70s and his range (tenor) was as good as it had ever been. So it really is in how you take care of it and use it.
I've been a Barbra fan for years and always thought her voice would stay strong, but hers is slipping, too. It must be that pop singers don't study, and so they lose it.
I was surprised at Julie Andrews, since she has studied her whole life. She has said her problems started with My Fair Lady and the gutteral sounds she had to make and then sing really high - and she did it for three years.
Carl
If you listen
To Julie Andrews's recordings from throughout her life, you hear a large number of glottal stops (sort of like grunting before you begin a vowel). This is pretty common for British women in both singing and speaking, and it seems that British women's voices have a huge drop in range throughout their lives. British men seem to not have the same vocal habits (perhaps because of cathedral training?). Andrews also "scoops"--connects very low notes to high ones, which can also be very wearing on a voice.
I've heard recordings of her from before My Fair Lady as well as after. These are lifelong habits of hers that she seemed unwilling to give up. She was also very boastful of her large range and continued to press the top long after she should've given up singing the very high notes.
Had she limited her singing to movies and recordings, she might've been able to go on longer, but trying to reproduce her vocal gymnastics night after night in "Victor/Victoria" was the end for her. It angers me that she continues to blame the doctors for botched surgery, instead of herself for "needing" the surgery in the first place.