Susan Boyle, a Scottish woman closer to fifty than forty, exploded onto the entertainment scene by appearing on the show Britain's Got Talent - the United Kingdom equivalent of American Idol.
Onto the stage stepped a stocky, unpolished woman with the antithesis of an entertainer's face, complete with bushy eyebrows and a washer woman's demeanor. This was a woman unaccustomed to make-up as she was to dating. Here mini bio said that she had never been kissed.
The audience hooted, winced, and openly mocked her when she said straight faced that she's looking for her big break. Why were people so condescending? Because she wasn't beautiful. They expected a woman who looked like her to massacre a song like William Hung. They expected a court jester. They didn't get it.
Instead, IN PERFECT PITCH - THE CROWED HEARD A BROADWAY CALIBER voice sing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mis, dazzling the house and the judges.
Watch it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
What's the deal!??? Why is it such a shocker to people that vocal cords aren't molded by their owner's looks?
Why do we give the so called "beautiful people" all the chances and all the benefits of the doubts? Alas, typecasting pervades the business, and always has. Susan would never be cast as Fantine, but rather as Madame Thenardier, the monstrous wife of the swindler/money grabber Thenardier.
What if somebody had the guts to cast a show using so-called "plain" people with gorgeous voices.?
Onto the stage stepped a stocky, unpolished woman with the antithesis of an entertainer's face, complete with bushy eyebrows and a washer woman's demeanor. This was a woman unaccustomed to make-up as she was to dating. Here mini bio said that she had never been kissed.
The audience hooted, winced, and openly mocked her when she said straight faced that she's looking for her big break. Why were people so condescending? Because she wasn't beautiful. They expected a woman who looked like her to massacre a song like William Hung. They expected a court jester. They didn't get it.
Instead, IN PERFECT PITCH - THE CROWED HEARD A BROADWAY CALIBER voice sing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mis, dazzling the house and the judges.
Watch it for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
What's the deal!??? Why is it such a shocker to people that vocal cords aren't molded by their owner's looks?
Why do we give the so called "beautiful people" all the chances and all the benefits of the doubts? Alas, typecasting pervades the business, and always has. Susan would never be cast as Fantine, but rather as Madame Thenardier, the monstrous wife of the swindler/money grabber Thenardier.
What if somebody had the guts to cast a show using so-called "plain" people with gorgeous voices.?
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