A few months ago, I went all biography on Anna Kendrick in the wake of her Up-In-The-Air-Oscar breakout, and found - curiously - videos of her singing. Apparently she's in that Anne Hathaway way. Anna Kendrick started her acting career on Broadway (yay, stage origins!) at the age of eleven or something crazy precocious. A Tony nomination followed; so did performing at Carnegie Hall shows like "My Favorite Leading Ladies" alongside legends like Elaine Stritch and Bernadette Peters.
Anna sang "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" with the ladies from "Cabaret". She wears pigtails. She's the lead performer. As it turns out, she is a phenomenal stage actress. I could not stop watching the video.
Thank goodness for these little side recommendations, because it led me to the Other Great video of Anna Kendrick singing "Lades Who Lunch" from the movie Camp (2003). Again, the quality of her singing and acting just bowled me over. There's something very sharp and confident about her movements - it's calculated, but executed with wonderful aplomb.
IMO, the best video comment is also the most insightful. For me, It's always great to hear praise from an area expertise, and user "SuttaBro" is clearly adept in the study of musical theatricality:
"This performance absolutely stuns me. Sondheim in general is NEVER easy to sing and yet here you have a girl who is about 30 years too young to be playing this role, and she absolutely nails it. The tone of her voice, the facial expressions, the attitude - she completely captures the emotional mood of the song. I am beyond impressed."
Nails it. We have schmucky musicals like Nine starring fake-singer-actors, while real singers like Anna Kendrick fly under the radar? I am fully ready to see a musical adaptation starring Anne Hathaway and Anna Kendrick. Yessir, I am.
I love Anna Kendrick! She was brilliant in "Up in the Air" which was one of my favorites of 2009! (Have you seen "Rocket Science?" Kind of a mediocre frustrating indie, but she nails her role as the control freak debate team captain. I believe it was the film that got directors noticing her). I didn't know she could sing, but it doesn't surprise me. She has a very feisty personality, so I can totally see her in musicals!
ReplyDeleteI love Phantom, it was the first musical I ever saw live and my family is a little addicted. We've seen it 4x! haha
I've downloaded half of the soundtrack now. Sadly, I had to see the mediocre 2004 movie to get interested in seeing the actual musical, but that's what's good about movies sometimes - spreading the exposure, eh?
ReplyDeleteYeah it was Rocket Science that got her cast in Up in the Air. I have this thing where I always to read the IMDB trivia page of actors I notice :P