Michelle's singing was mediocre

I thought Michelle's singing voice was perfectly appropriate for the era and the style of music. She doesn't have a belt or an out-of-this-world range, but either one of those factors would sound off when delivering a torch song. I thought she was great. She knows how to work an audience, whether it's an audience of ten or ten million. She acts out the songs like no one else, because, frankly, she's an actress before she's a singer. But she's beyond proficient in both crafts.

just want to compliment erikthomas's post in answer to
pfieffer's (sp) / susie's singing

every occasionally i get the need to visit imdb/s fab baker boys' msg board

nice to read this comment ...

You must be kidding, imbluzclooby!! Obviously NOT a jazz fan ... I agree w/ erikthomas on all points. The dweebs on American Idol all sound alike and DO oversing/overwork the tunes, i.e., like Madonna or Mariah Carey wannabes. That's neither appropriate nor valued in jazz, where less is more unless you're scatting like Ella Fitzgerald or Mel Torme. The role of Suzie Diamond was NOT about an undiscovered young Sarah Vaughan but about an overlooked and comparatively good local jazz singer who brought some oomph and pizzazz to a failing lounge act and a badly needed reality check to the brother who was a closet jazz pianist, challenging him to faces his demons and follow his talent in the right direction instead of staying with the safe (and failing) same old stuff. For that, Michelle Pfeiffer had the perfect voice, and YES SHE WAS on key (those who don't think so either a) have a tin ear, or b) don't know how to listen to jazz singers; I say this as someone who has perfect pitch). And yes: DAMN, but Michelle carried it off perfectly. I still love to her take on Makin' Whoopee and surprise people every so often with it; those who have never seen the film or heard that number refuse to believe who it is until they see the credits. Ha!

She had the look and act down, no doubt! But her singing was "blah"... she couldn't sing her way out of an open box. She didn't hit a note once.




*Put the blame on mame!*

saying "she's only supposed to be a lounge singer" is no excuse

i agree that her singing is very mediocre, and for me, hurts the movie. they should have either dubbed her w/someone great, or cast someone great

they expect us to believe that when she starts singing, people stop and are awed. she sounds, honestly, like a fairly good amateur, but no better

for believability's sake, they should've had her sound better, but hey, i didn't make the movie

I don't think Susie was supposed to be the best singer, it's obvious in her first audition she doesn't quite know what she's doing and is relying totally on intuition. She may not technically be great, but she has a quality. I think that's what Pfiffer was going for. Because there's a difference between being a good singer and having a good voice.

For me, Pfiffer and Suzy fall into the second bracket. They're competent singers, they can reach the right notes in the right key within their limits, but they have a distinct "quality" to their voices which makes you sit up and take notice.

A lot of people today still talk about the Makin Whoopee scene and about how she looked in that red dress, but people also talk about how she sang it. It wasn't technically brilliant, but it was scorching anyway.

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"WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB!!!!"

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