On Mar 3, 2007, at 5:14 PM, authfriend wrote: > >> And also, he couldn't >> sing, so it's really not clear why they picked him for >> WSS in the first place. > > It was all going to be dubbed anyway (except for Rita > Moreno), so they must not have thought that mattered.
Evidently not. But the big question is, why? In a musical, one would think singing ability would matter, as well as acting. They did that for at least some of the other musicals of that period, and IMO it really detracted from the quality. > The big problem, I thought, was that he didn't have > the tough-guy chops. He could do dewy-eyed lover OK. The complexity of that particular role was probably not the best vehicle for a newcomer. And he was a complete newbie at the time, right, kind of picked almost at random. I think he was as much surprised he got the role as anyone else. There was an article a long time ago, can't remember where it appeared, that expounded on how eagerly-awaited WSS had been, and how in the years since, most of its leading lights had fared poorly, one way or another.
