Subject: RE: A Most Heartwarming Performance-Susan Boyle
From: Genie - PM
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 12:46 PM

"Piers, I think you may be right about Susan going along with a partially staged episode on BGT. And I don't fault them, or her, for that."

No, I don't fault them, either. That's show biz. It's not a show I would watch. I don't know about the versions in other countries, but the German one ("Deutschland sucht das Superstar" == "Germany Seeks the Superstar") is based on the "Gong Show" premise and it involves the judges insulting the "bad" performers. I whole idea of it makes my skin crawl.

"PS,
Leo, you're so right. Susan Boyle isn't anywhere near the grotesque that some reviews are making her out to be. She's a rather average-looking 40-something woman in an entertainment world [...]"

I agree. Besides, who cares what a singer looks like? Not everyone can be gorgeous like me. (I don't like to boast, but I've been told I have the perfect face for radio.)

"Walter Mathau can be paired with Sophia Loren as a romantic couple, for instance, but not Bea Arthur with Paul Newman."

Oh, I thought Bea Arthur was a very attractive and impressive-looking woman.

I also like the way Peter Pears sang Benjamin Britten's folksong settings and I love Kathleen Ferrier's recordings of folksongs. There's not just one right way to sing folksongs. And I like Ethel Merman, though not so much when she's belting out songs. She didn't only sing like that.