Matt Bogart
Matt Bogart
NativeNewYorker
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/03
#0Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/18/03 at 1:20pm
I've been listening to his CD a lot lately...I admit, I bought it a while ago when he was still in Aida in case I went to see Aida and Adam called out...I wanted to be used to Matt's voice so I wouldn't be too upset that Mr. Pascal was there :)
I love his voice, and even though I've never seen him on stage, his personality seems to shine through his voice. I love how he does "I Could Write a Book" (and, believe me, I've listened to my two favorite men, Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick, Jr., sing that song 7 million times each that it should be hard for someone else to impress me with their cover of it) "Written in the Stars" and "Elaborate Lives" are nice, very, very different from Adam, of course, but still pretty...and "Why, God, Why" really showcases his voice.
What's he up to now? Will he be returning to NY? I know he was at Paper Mill a few months ago.
broadwayguy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
NativeNewYorker
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/03
#2re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/18/03 at 1:23pmI guess that would be the most logical thing to do :) Thanks.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#3re: re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/18/03 at 5:09pm
Matt is as gentlemanly as he appears to be, besides being extremely talented performer. A very decent forthright guy.
Yours for a better Broadway!
broadwayguy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
#4re: re: re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/18/03 at 5:10pm
Yes. Wonderful performer and very nice man. Damn that Jessica Boevers. 
to quote Carson Kresley :: "What does she have that I don't... besides a vagina"
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#5re: re: re: re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/18/03 at 6:02pmTastefulness?
Twitter @NamoInExile
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#6re: re: re: re: re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/19/03 at 1:58pm
touche, Namo. :)
Bogart is also on the roster of featured vocalists with the Philly Pops " Broadway Showstoppers in Concert" at Kimmel Center in Jan. 2004 Other Broadway performers to perform with him are Dee Hoty, Sutton Foster and Donna McKehnie. For more info. http://www.phillypops.com
Broadway Show Stoppers is a real crowd pleaser every year. Get tickets early for this year.
www.pbentertainmentinc.com
BWW regional writer "Philadelphia/South Jersey"
NativeNewYorker
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/03
#7re: re: re: re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/19/03 at 10:07pm
I didn't know they were together! :)
I also picked up Sean McDermott's albums...he sings pretty much the same songs Matt does on his album. On some songs, he sounds really good (the West Side Story ones). However, others...such as "One Song Glory" are not too good.
Also, the drawings of him on his first CD are just horrible...he's such a good-looking guy, WHY would he let himself drawn like that?
#8re: re: re: re: re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/19/03 at 10:18pmDon't forget that Sean and Matt sing a duet of "You Walk With Me" from THE FULL MONTY on Sean's CD. I love that song.
"Do you know ChrisLovesShows?" "Yes. Why, yes he does!"
NativeNewYorker
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/03
#9re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/19/03 at 10:23pm
Oh, I forgot that! I just got the 2nd album and haven't listened to it much, yet.
I also like how Sean sings "Music of the Night".
And his introduction notes to his second album made me cry :)
#10Matt Bogart / Sean McDermott
Posted: 8/19/03 at 11:45pm
I may be in the minority...but neither of these guys really impress me vocally. Their CD's, like them are very generic. Pleasant to watch and hear...but that's it.
Too many Broadway performers CD's are repeats of the same songs, especially the male vocalists. How many times can we here "Being Alive" MOTN, Soliloque etc. Maybe it's me...
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BWW regional writer "Philadelphia/South Jersey"
TxTwoStep
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/24/03
#11re: Matt Bogart / Sean McDermott
Posted: 8/23/03 at 6:36pm
both these guys are very nice in person, very handsome, and are fine actors not afraid to take themselves less seriously. They do have, IMHO, smaller voices. They sound fine in studio and when amplified; both have good pitch, nice vibrato/straight tone contrast, and can act as they sing, phrasing well and making good choices in their vocal coloring for various types of songs and expression of character. But i have also heard both sing unamplified and would not rate their voices as powerful. i don't mean to slight them, but i think it is entirely dependent on the venue in which you hear them as to how you rate their voices.
And i would agree that many male vocalists do too many of the same theatre songs, but they seem to be the ones their public recognizes and likes. What would be more interesting (but less commercial) is to do new songs, as Audra and Bernadette do (written by new composers)...or perhaps a solution would be to try to sing some songs usually associated with a female voice, as Sam Harris has done (and then their "fanbase" would know the selection and respond to it more readily). A lot of women, Linda Eder most recently, have taken this tack to some success.
Some food for thought...
Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys.
"I guarantee that we'll have tough
times. I guarantee that at some point
one or both of us will want to get out.
But I also guarantee that if I don't
ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for
the rest of my life..."
Al Dente
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#12re: re: Matt Bogart / Sean McDermott
Posted: 8/23/03 at 10:27pmI'm sure he's a perfectly wonderful chap but I was absolutely left cold after seeing him in that pitiful, Civil War. He's lovely to look at but not a major talent and most definitely not a voice to be reckoned with. I think he and Ms. Boevers are perfect for eachother, another great gal who's, IMO, a little *lite* in the talent department. Ado Annie, anyone?
tpdc
Broadway Star Joined: 5/30/03
#13 Matt Bogart / Sean McDermott
Posted: 8/24/03 at 11:18pmHaving seen Matt Bogart perform live many times and several times unamplified, I have to say he is not an impressive singer. He is OK when miked or on an album. Most of his performances were professional but bland. However, last season I saw him in 110 IN THE SHADE at Signature Theater in Virgina. For the first time I found he had presence and personality and his acting knocked me out. He was very weak vocally though. Before 110, I thought he was "attractive" but he was downright hot in this performance.
#14re: Matt Bogart / Sean McDermott
Posted: 8/25/03 at 11:22am
Matt's currently in Camille Claudel playing Camille's (Linda Eder) brother, Paul. I'm hearing great things...Can anyone out there who has seen it attest to Matt's talent in this show?
#15Seth's Camille Claudell preview
Posted: 8/25/03 at 12:09pm
I respect Seth's theater saavy a great deal, so here you go....
Warning: here be spoilers, both of the plot and staging varieties. Be ye warned.
I did my regular trip up to Goodspeed today and saw both shows. Sure, Very Good Eddie is a frothy, silly delight (an incredibly silly show, but that’s what it’s supposed to be; I liked Me and My Girl more, though), but all eyes are on Camille Claudel, aren’t they? :)
Camille Claudel has a lot of gorgeous music, some awfully good lyrics, a book that’s problematic but hardly unfixable, a mostly great cast, and an astounding physical production.
All of that is why I’m going to start with the good things.
Most of the music is great – it’s easily Wildhorn’s best work yet, overall. Thanks to the limitations of the venue, he’s limited his score to only five musicians, all playing acoustic instruments (orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick with his usual superlative skill, with arrangements by Constantine Kitsopoulos) – piano, percussion, bass, cello, and reeds. This gives the score a sound unlike any of Wildhorn’s other works – out with the overly popped-up arrangements, heavy drums, period-inaccurate electric guitars; in with a more sensitive sound reminiscent of a small-scale chamber musical (which Camille is, in a way). The weakest song, to me, was “Gold,” the big ballad that ends the show – to be frank, (not Frank), it just sounds too “Wildhorn” to me, i.e. too redolent of other, more memorable big ballads he’s written for the leading ladies of his other shows (my mom specifically mentioned “In His Eyes” from Jekyll & Hyde).
Nan Knighton has provided a set of lyrics better than the one she wrote for The Scarlet Pimpernel. Although she occasionally lapses into a mode where her writing is more clever than good (sacrificing meaning and intelligence for a string of rhymes – the same occurred at moments of Pimpernel), generally she’s struck a strong balance between the two. Her book, while not as strong as the lyrics, is substantially better than a lot of musical books with which I’ve become acquainted (I’ll deal with the problems in it a little later on). She is, I’m fairly certain, the best of the writers with whom Wildhorn has worked, light years ahead of Leslie Bricusse, Hampton and Black, and the guys from The Civil War.
The staging and design are, in a word (to repeat the word I used at the top), astounding. For his set, Walt Spangler has ripped down what is normal the stage right wall of the stage and expanded to the outside wall, eliminating the wing space that’s usually there. The set itself is a large, white, brick-walled space, filled with moving platforms, a turntable at what’s usually center stage, a curtain that extends across the space, a set of doors on the stage left wall, and a floating skylight. The name of costume designer Constance Hoffman was previously unfamiliar to me; looking at her bio, that’s because I’ve never seen anything she’s done, but I hope to see more. Howell Binkley’s lighting is, as always, effective, and Acme Sound Partners are to be commended.
And the staging. My god, the staging. I’m a big fan of Gabriel Barre’s work – he directed two of my all-time favorites, Summer of ‘42 and the Andrew Lippa version of The Wild Party - and he’s come close to outdoing himself here. There are some stunning touches, although with some of them (such as having the many statues be portrayed by members of the chorus), I don’t know if they came from Barre or were written into the script by Knighton. It’s a pleasure to see Mark Dendy return to theatrical choreography after the few years he’s taken off since The Wild Party (during which he’s authored the book of a musical with a score by Stephen Trask, so I’m not complaining), and he’s in fine form. The show is threaded throughout with choreographic movement, and the dancing is centered on a couple based on Claudel’s sculpture “The Waltz,” portrayed by the fairly recognizable Mayumi Miguel and the heretofore unknown (to me, at least) Timothy W Bish, and they do the work justice. I’m now looking more forward than ever to seeing what Dendy does with the dances for Taboo. Like with The Wild Party, all of the physical/visual elements flow together beautifully, which is a distinct skill of Barre’s.
The cast is, almost to a person, terrific. Michael Nouri, above all, is phenomenal as Rodin. His is an imposing presence, a powerful voice, a terrific performance all totaled – why is it that he’s done so little musical theatre? Matt Bogart is just right as Camille’s self-righteous, religious younger brother, although it’s a shame that he doesn’t get to sing more (he has one song in Act II, the lovely “Field of Angels,” and parts of other songs, but that’s it). Rita Gardner and Milo O’Shea, although underused as Camille’s parents, lend an air of extra theatrical legitimacy to the proceedings by their very presence. Gardner, although trapped in an unlikable character, sings as beautifully as she ever has, so it’s a pity that her one solo has been cut from the show (the songlist in the playbill listed an Act I number entitled “Lost in the World,” which wasn’t on the inserted list, nor was it performed), and O’Shea offers as sweet, sensitive portrayal of Camille’s encouraging father. Of the eight-person chorus (discounting the two lead dancers), special commendations go to John Paul Almon, Natalie Hill, and Shonn Wiley, all of whom bring a little something extra to their various roles.
It is probably clear by now that I’ve avoided talking about something. That something is the big black hole at the center of Camille Claudel, warding it away from greatness. As it would happen, the big black hole is also the entire show’s raison d’etre: Linda Eder.
I have never been much of a fan of Eder’s but I was walked into the Norma Terris with a completely open mind. I’d heard that she’s been spending time boning up on her acting skills, pulling back on her usually grandiose singing, and just generally trying to get better. Unfortunately, she hasn’t done anything remotely resembling a good job. The fact of the matter is that she simply cannot act. She couldn’t in Jekyll & Hyde and she can’t here. Granted, she looks great, but good looks are merely a fraction of what is needed for a role of this caliber. There’s no nuance to her portrayal, nothing going on beneath the surface, and not a hell of a lot going on AT the surface.
The same goes for her singing, as I’ve always felt. Her vocals are powerful, but nothing more, and here not even that, as she has indeed managed to pull back and not blast the roof off the theatre. I’ve always found that everything that she sings just sounds very much the same to me; I know that there are people who’ll disagree with me, but I’m the one writing this review.
The best thing that can be done for Camille Claudel is the one thing that will never be done, which is the replacement of Eder. Throughout the show and on the drive home, I found myself throwing out names and thinking about the wonders that they could do with this material. Think of what Julia Murney could bring to it. Think of the possibility of Sara Ramirez. What could Sherie Scott do with it? Alice Ripley? Any of these ladies – and many more who haven’t come to mind yet – would be a vast improvement on Eder, and perhaps brilliant in the role; it’s unfortunate that we’ll never find out.
As far as the text goes, there are some problems as well. There are two devices that are used, but not used enough. The first is the presence of a young girl (Antonia Kitsopoulos) who plays Camille as a child. She is barely present, and the character should either be eliminated entirely (which would be my suggestion – she doesn’t really add much) or expanded. The second is having the company act as a Greek chorus and talk directly to the audience. There are times when this technique is very effective, but about a third of the time, it just feels like bad exposition. This idea works, but the problematic parts need an overhaul.
The opening of the show is very weak – there’s some underscored dialogue, and then the show launches into the first (of five) “big songs for Linda.” “In The Stone” is a terrific song, but not a good opening number. There needs to be a better establishing song, perhaps for Camille and her family, and maybe even getting Rodin in there somehow (as it is now, he doesn’t appear until about ten minutes into the show). The ending is effective, although not optimal; after Camille is committed to an insane asylum, the company takes over narrating, explaining that she died thirty years later, then rattling off the names of her most prominent surviving pieces (if I remember the numbers correctly, of the eighty works she is known to have made, she destroyed twenty) as slides of the actual works are projected on the back wall and members of the chorus contort themselves into representations of the pieces. This is followed by Camille entering and singing “Gold.” While this sequence is certainly effective, I don’t think that it’s quite as effective as it could be, although I’m not sure of what to do with it. Other than those mentioned moments, the material is generally very good.
I applaud Wildhorn and Knighton for doing Camille Claudel at Goodspeed – it leads me to believe that perhaps Wildhorn is trying to establish more legitimate theatrical credit, and this can only help that case. Ditto their willingness to do rewrites – they’ve clearly made substantial changes (at least in the show’s tunestack) since the beginning of the run, and they haven’t stopped yet – there was a scene/songlist printed in the playbill and a separate one inserted on a sheet of paper, and neither one was completely accurate.
In short: good effort, great score, superb production, not-bad book, good cast, bad Linda Eder. I’m afraid that the big problem won’t get fixed – but I can hope, right?
Seth, off to sleep
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BWW regional writer "Philadelphia/South Jersey"
Peter
Leading Actor Joined: 5/28/03
#16re: Seth's Camille Claudell preview
Posted: 8/25/03 at 9:51pm
There are many who disagree with Seth's opinion on Linda Eder's performance. Here's the response I posted to Seth on ATC:
Your review was generally very thoughtful, but I strongly disagree about your assessment of Linda Eder's performance. (I saw the show twice.)
You admit here that you've never liked Eder and try as you may to be open-minded, it appears that's easier said than done. Just as Bernadette Peters suffered from comparisons here to favorites certain fans had of performers they believe could do the role better, I'm sure this will happen with Linda too...especially since her theatrical experience has been limited. I also think people hold it against Eder that she is able to land a role like this because of her composer husband...whereas other lesser known talents and favorites face a much tougher struggle.
Theres something even more telling here that you said that also makes me believe you really can't be objective about her. You say that everything she sings sounds the same...Sorry.. but thats just wrong. You have every right to your own opinion, but I can't see this statement as justification for it. She can hit the most beautiful soprano notes and is one of the best belters ever. She can do pop, gospel, big band, country, and I hear on her next album..even an aria...and sound good doing each. I really know of no other singer with this type of range.
Also, you apparently don't appreciate the fact that she can blow the roof off the theatre when she belts..to me thats the way its suppose to sound. Too many times, I hear belting which only sounds like sustained screaming...Eder's is much more of a controlled, powerful sound that echoes throughout the theatre. In fact, I believe that the first act is begging for a showstopping Act 1 finale that would showcase her belt. (Spoiler follow..)Shes just broken up with Rodin and has had an abortion, but with her grit and determination, shes going to carry on and be a success. If that isn't the ultimate moment begging for a big showstopper, I don't know what is.
As for her acting, I believe that she's come a long way from her days in Jekyll&Hyde and becomes Camille Claudel in this show. The only problem with her I could see are the Act 1 book problems and certain costuming...hair style change limitations that are certainly fixable for broadway. Eder wears the same costume throughout most of the show and her hair style/color doesn't change. But as beautiful as she is, shes still in her 40's but is suppose to be much younger early in the show. To me, shes able to take these limitations and use them to her advantage. Without the luxury of costume changes or hair changes/coloring, she is able to age her character vocally and by showing a more playful side early on. It's still somewhat stilted, but in my opinion, its due to entirely correctable book problems and budget limitations. Her fight scenes to me were totally believable and her tearful breakdown at the end heartbreaking. In the end, I thought she created a totally believable character..which evolves from being playful, impressionable, and impulsive to the portrait of a true genius...on the one hand, tempermental, frustrated, driven, uncompromising and independent...on the other hand she is able to show the brittleness underneath all the talent. Can't get any more nuanced that that IMO.
I agree with many of your other comments however. Barre's direction is just outstanding and Wildhorn has done some of his best work yet. Theres an understated elegance to the whole production that I'm hoping they won't lose on its trip to broadway.
theatrediva10086
Stand-by Joined: 7/19/03
#17re: Matt Bogart
Posted: 8/25/03 at 9:52pm
I saw him in A Civil War...Not too shabby at all...
Look forward to seeing him again on stage...
I had a dream...
I dreamed it for you June...
It wasn't for me Herbie...
And if it wasn't for me, then where would you be,
Miss. Gypsy Rose Lee?
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