As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been a massive fan of Jessie Buckley since before she started to get known here (and probably still isn’t hugely well-known, though much better known). That was when she had a tiny role in Chernobyl, and she leaped out to me from her few scenes, since I thought she’d be perfect for a film project I was working on. When I initially brought her up, the response was understandably, “Who’s she?” Over time, her talent became evident, though she still wasn't well-known. Now, it's "Yes, she's great.” What most people here probably aren’t aware of is that last year she appeared in a limited-run production in London of Cabaret, with Eddie Redmayne as the Emcee. (For accuracy sake, it opened in mid-December 2021.) I dearly wanted to go when I first read about it – probably six months before it was set to open -- but then the pandemic hit, it got delayed, eventually opened during still-difficult travel, and because of the limited run (which subsequently got extended with other actors, because it became a huge hit) and because it was done in a small venue made to look like the Kit Kat Klub, tickets were massively expensive, maybe as much as $500. Both actors won the Olivier Award. Here's her enthusiastic, emotional acceptance speech – I’ve been trying to find video of anything from her performance in Cabaret, but so far nothing. However, there are some selections from the cast album available online – and not shockingly they’re amazing. I get the sense that it was recorded during a performance. This is her rendition of the title song – and it’s remarkable. In part for the purity of her voice, in part for her range, in part for the interpretation of a quality actress, in part for how it builds. Or to put it this way: it’s the performance you’d expect from Jessie Buckley. By the way, lest anyone be surprised how good she is in this, she actually sort of began because of her singing. She was on a reality TV show called I’d Do Anything, a great title for a competition show auditioning for the roles of Nancy and Oliver in an upcoming London production of Oliver! She was 18 at the time and finished second. (And beat out the third-place finisher Samantha Banks, who later played Epinine in the movie of Les Miserables.) So, people shouldn’t be too surprised that she’s got good pipes. (She sings a lot in one of her earlier movies, about a rough, working-class girl who wants to be a country music singer.) But man, does she have amazingly good pipes.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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