Favourite Christines

So, any new favourites? Old favourites rediscovered? Here's my ever-changing list...

Of people I've seen live:
Mia Karlsson, Rachel Barrell, Viktoria Krantz, Anne Görner, Teresia Bokor, Colby Thomas

Others:
Elisabeth Berg, Sarah Brightman, Claire Moore, Jill Washington, Elizabeth Loyacano, Inger Olsson Moberg

I'm sure I've forgotten several...

The Christines who stand out for me are Sarah Brightman, Rachel Barrell and Gina Beck.

Kris Koop!!!!!!!



Seen live:

Kris Koop
Susan Owen
Julie Hanson
Elizabeth Southard
Rebecca Pitcher
Sandra Joseph

Heard:

Elisabeth Berg
Lisa Vroman
Tracy Shayne
Rebecca Caine
Patti Cohenour

Robyn North and Gina Beck probably tie. However, Robyn was always more "consistent."

Of those I've seen live, Gina Beck and Rachel Barrell, they are both perfect as Christine.

My favourite Christine, of those i have seen so far, is Robyn North really loved her in the role, and such a lovely voice

I have no absolute favorite since I like particular Christines for different reasons. But here's my list:

Sarah Brightman
Lisa Vroman
Elizabeth Loyacano

R.

My official top two are Lisa Vroman and Trista Moldovan, and I've been lucky enough to never have seen a Christine live that I disliked.

Marni Raab
Sarah Lawrence
Julie Hanson
Sandra Joseph
Rebecca Caine
Sarah Brightman
Sierra Boggess

#1 Sarah Brightman
(perfect vocals, perfect appearance, unique acting)

#2 Julie Goodwin
(incredible vocals, gorgeous appearance, beautiful acting)

#3 Teri Bibb and Ana Marina
(Teri: seraphic vocals, porcelain doll appearance, beautiful acting)
(Ana: fabulous vocals, beautiful appearance, gutsy, sophisticated acting)

I also have a list of about 25 other women I love in the role, but I won't take up space and post them all!

Sarah Brightman will always be my favorite Christine by a significant margin. In the elite echelon below her, though, are Glenda Balkan, Mary D'Arcy, and Tracy Shayne. Other favorites include Kimilee Bryant, Lisa Vroman, Claire Louise Hammacott, Dale Kristien, Karen Culliver, Sylvia Rhyne, and Ana Marina.

My top 3 favorites

1. Lisa Vroman
2. Trista Moldovan
3. Kristi Holden


My number one that i can not stand and i was bored to tears watching was Marni Raab

I should also mention that the three Christines I've seen are Susan Facer, Marni Raab, and Sandra Joseph. Of those, I definitely liked Joseph the best for her acting and youthfulness, though I'm not a huge fan of her voice. I can't remember Facer hardly at all because I was only 10 and was far away from the stage, though.

Wow! Everyone has such good lists. Lots of wonderful performers.

My favorites I've seen:
Charlotte Page: I remember her as being more operatic than any other Christine I've seen. Her "WYWSHA" totally blew me away. Lots of believable emotion. She also had the look of what I always imagined Christine to be.

Erin Stewart: Got to see her twice in Vegas and thought she was awesome in acting/voice/looks. She really seems to have the character figured out and I loved her acting choices. To me her voice is a bit more operatic than the other Vegas Christines.

Kristen Hertzenberg: Love her voice. Her face just beams when she smiles and she makes her emotions come across so well. I like her choice of acting.

Honorable Mention:
I saw Rebecca Pitcher and while she's far from my favorite Christine I have to admit that her "Think of Me" cadenza was the best I've heard live in the show. (Most amazing was Dale Kristien but that was in concert)

I haven't seen them live but I've heard them on TV spots/albums/promos
Sarah Brightman - My favorite female vocalist - don't hate me
Rachel Barrell
Elizabeth Loyacano

Sarah Lawrence and Susan Owen are tied for first

Hmmm. I'll have to take everyone's word for it that Rachel Barrell's voice is better live than on YouTube, which unfortunately IMHO tends to bring out the nazality of her accent and make her voice a bit stridant for my tastes. I do love her TOM cadenza and high part of the Title Song though, as well as her acting!

As for top favourites:

Well, SB will always hold a special place for me because she was the first Christine I ever heard (OLC), and her voice there really is beautiful! Other than her though, Glenda Balkan for her gorgeous voice, and Melissa Dye for her acting, especially in the Title Song and Final Lair! Vocally I must say that I also love Anna Maria Kofman and the chick on the Tokyo cast recording, although I can't comment on their acting. And, don't shoot me, but I really like Emma Rossem. She has a sweet little voice that I suspect will develop into a h€ll of a mezzo sopranno, and I actually really do like her acting, again, esp in the Final Lair.

Anyway, yeah. My lengthy two cents worth!

I like Rachel Barrell's acting (though, like JOJ and plenty of other performers, she tended to go a little over-the-top at times), and even her voice sometimes, and I used to really love her Christine, but I've soured on her performance after more exposures.

Gina Beck is the best I've seen in London, I also like Celia Graham. Robyn North was good as the u/s but hated her performance later, her slight speech impediment was awful! Elizabeth Loyacano was great on Broadway with a superb voice we just don't breed in the UK anymore.

I'm sure Sierra Boggess will be amazing as she has a truly beautiful voice, saw her in TLM and she was very good.

I also LOVE Sarah Brightman in the role and feel untimately she is the best. No one else has sang it like her (for good or bad, lol) and the role, after all, was created for her.

Phantom Shadowwalker wrote:Hmmm. I'll have to take everyone's word for it that Rachel Barrell's voice is better live than on YouTube, which unfortunately IMHO tends to bring out the nazality of her accent and make her voice a bit stridant for my tastes. I do love her TOM cadenza and high part of the Title Song though, as well as her acting!

Her voice WAS a bit special, not just recorded but also live. But recorded it sounds different than how I experienced it live, being a bit sharp in timbre/sound. It seemed to be smoothed out, in a way, in the auditorium (I saw her live multiple times). I must admit, though, that although she's still one of my favourite Christines, her voice has started annoy me more now than in the past. Probably because I can no longer experience her live...

Still, what impressed me the most about her was her acting and interpretation of the role. That, combined with solid pipes and good dancing skills, will keep her in my top 10 list for a long, long time.

operafantomet wrote:

Phantom Shadowwalker wrote:Hmmm. I'll have to take everyone's word for it that Rachel Barrell's voice is better live than on YouTube, which unfortunately IMHO tends to bring out the nazality of her accent and make her voice a bit stridant for my tastes. I do love her TOM cadenza and high part of the Title Song though, as well as her acting!

Her voice WAS a bit special, not just recorded but also live. But recorded it sounds different than how I experienced it live, being a bit sharp in timbre/sound. It seemed to be smoothed out, in a way, in the auditorium (I saw her live multiple times). I must admit, though, that although she's still one of my favourite Christines, her voice has started annoy me more now than in the past. Probably because I can no longer experience her live...

Still, what impressed me the most about her was her acting and interpretation of the role. That, combined with solid pipes and good dancing skills, will keep her in my top 10 list for a long, long time.

Have you seen Gina Beck Anea? I think you would be very impressed. She's the best London has had for a very long time.

Gina whilst she does have a lovely voice sometimes has a tendancy to overact therefore she sometimes doesn't impress me. Lately she has been back to her best though!

Personally I've not seen her overacting so can't comment but to me the voice is paramount. For far too long they've been casting sub-standard singers as Christine in London, even Rachel Barrell who had a very good voice only just made the grade IMO. It's about time they realised they can't get away with it.

Of course the voice is what really counts. I would hate to have a brilliant actress who couldn't sing because really it would be pointless, you'd want to not have to listen to them. Only a few times I've seen her she has seemed to really, really shake Simon at points and it just bugged me but 2 other times I have seen her I thought her acting was on fire. No one can be perfect all the time I would class her as my joint favourite with Robyn.

I like Robyn when she was understudy but hated her performance more recently, I'm so glad she's left the cast.

HerMajesty wrote:Have you seen Gina Beck Anea? I think you would be very impressed. She's the best London has had for a very long time.

I've loved most of what I've heard of her online, but have yet to see her live (haven't been in London for three years). I have serious plans of taking a trip before 2010, though!

OK, I'm going to be brutally honest now.... I agree with you about London having a tendency to cast Christines with less impressive pipes than before. Sure, they hit the notes, but I often find them lacking a bit in technique and brilliance. Can't pin-point exactly what irks me, but it has sounded too much "musical singer attempting opera". Rachel Barrell was partly guilty of this, but on the other hand she had some serious pipes which I couldn't but like.

The rather superb Christines in Copenhagen made me realize I MISS the grand voices, the classic-but-not-necessarily-operatic approach. That, or the unique sound (think Brightman or Barrell). True, the US productions has been better in casting classic-sounding Christines, but here I find their vibrato driving me nuts after a while... I don't mind a vibrato per se, don't misunderstand, but it's the kind of taught, culturally-dependent vibrato which seems generic for American musical singers, and I'm just not fond of it.

So... Yes please, more operatic and well trained Christines for London, but not as vibrato heavy as those over the pond. A mixture. Si?

operafantomet wrote:

HerMajesty wrote:Have you seen Gina Beck Anea? I think you would be very impressed. She's the best London has had for a very long time.

I've loved most of what I've heard of her online, but have yet to see her live (haven't been in London for three years). I have serious plans of taking a trip before 2010, though!

OK, I'm going to be brutally honest now.... I agree with you about London having a tendency to cast Christines with less impressive pipes than before. Sure, they hit the notes, but I often find them lacking a bit in technique and brilliance. Can't pin-point exactly what irks me, but it has sounded too much "musical singer attempting opera". Rachel Barrell was partly guilty of this, but on the other hand she had some serious pipes which I couldn't but like.

The rather superb Christines in Copenhagen made me realize I MISS the grand voices, the classic-but-not-necessarily-operatic approach. That, or the unique sound (think Brightman or Barrell). True, the US productions has been better in casting classic-sounding Christines, but here I find their vibrato driving me nuts after a while... I don't mind a vibrato per se, don't misunderstand, but it's the kind of taught, culturally-dependent vibrato which seems generic for American musical singers, and I'm just not fond of it.

So... Yes please, more operatic and well trained Christines for London, but not as vibrato heavy as those over the pond. A mixture. Si?

YES! Exactly! Although I don't agree Rachel Barrell had a unique sound, just a decent voice for a nice change.

Robyn North and the lovely Sofia Escobar.

I personally like the more dramatic voices like Sarah, Sandra, and Lisa. The West End Christines used to annoy me because I thought that they were too nasual, but they're begining to grown on me more and more.

My overall favorite would have to be Sandra Joesph though.

Trying to keep this as short as possible and restricting myself to those I've seen live:

Leila Benn Harris (singing, acting and dancing all great)
Sofia Escobar (absolute BEST acting I've seen in a Christine, fantastic voice)
Robyn North (probably my favourite vocally, but a bit bland on the acting, at least when I saw her)