Lady Gaga on the Oscars sings Musical Theater

Hey all you MT diehards…
Did you just see Lady Gaga singing a medley from Sound of Music on the Oscar telecast? It was a tribute to 50 years since the Soundof Music movie. I thought she was fantastic. Lady Gaga started in MT. She went to NYU/Tisch/CAP21 (though didn’t finish). Then, Julie Andrews came on and both women were quite moved. This was my favorite part of tonight’s telecast (so far anyway). Also, SOM was my favorite movie as a young girl. I’m feeling sorta old that it is 50 years old! Anyway, it was very cool to see a pop artist singing legit MT, which is where she began.

A fabulous performance! She and John Legend are the two highlights of this otherwise boring show.

Wow. Doing justice to Julie Andrews iconic role was gutsy…and boy did she NAIL IT!

^^^Agree with both of you! I don’t think many people realize what a beautiful voice Lady Ga Ga has -it was fun to see her come out and blow everyone away!

^^Agree that John Legend was the other highlight. But I do have a soft spot for Sound of Music! And having Julie Andrew come out at the end was very cool.

Those 2 singers, and several of the acceptance speeches, were the highlights of the show.

Yes, Patricia Arquette’s speech and the speech about calling your mother…and some others.

My post on the MT Forum was mostly to feature the fact that Lady Gaga sang legit MT on the Oscars! :-bd

soozievt, I too appreciated that Lady Gaga showed us another side of herself other than flamboyant pop star but also a legit MT singer. She looked and sang beautifully. I was also surprised when I googled her to find that she attended Tisch Cap 21 MT program. She was lovely on the Oscars. This was also a highpoint for me.

Her performance blew me away!

Many people don’t realize that she started in MT. When I discovered that fact years ago, her dramatic ways made so much sense. I got her!

I thought she was incredible. BRAVO

LOVED HER! She is such a talent. I also loved the speech from Graham Moore about going from suicidal teen to Oscar winner. What an inspiration for kids who get bullied for being “different”.

I thought the Oscars were so boring, so I didn’t stay to watch, but did click on Lady Gaga’s performance on youtube. I have to say that I thought while her voice itself was good, her diction and presentation seemed pretentious. IMO, she clearly needs to practice her MT style more to make it sound more natural. I shut her off, too, so I didn’t get to the end where Julie Andrews came on.

I think Lady Gaga was even a little shocked she did so well. Her choreography was a little clunky, but her voice was outstanding and gave a beautiful tribute.

SDonCC…at least fast forward it to see the part with Julie Andrews!

I thought it was great to hear someone with solid vocal and acting training sing Musical Theatre. It has been great over the past few years to see increased attention on Musical Theatre in movies and TV, but there have many cringe-worthy moments (IMHO) where performers who obviously lack MT training have been showcased. She and/or the director made some choices that were outside my personal preference zone, but I thought the overall performance was worth watching. Unlike Anna Kendrick, at least she had all the notes (although they had to really drop the key for “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”).

While, in my opinion, Carrie Underwood set the bar low and Lady Gaga (who I generally really admire) was much better if a bit stilted, I still found myself wishing that stunt casting wasn’t so common and that we could have been watching one of the current MT greats instead.

I saw an interview with her years ago about her NYU days. She was constantly being told, "you have the voice, but you are not a leading lady, you don’t look the part and you won’t find work in MT…look whose laughing now!! She sounded great!!

That was one of my favorite moments. I thought she was great. Soprano daughter would have preferred a Laura Benanti, Kelli O’Hara, Sierra Boggess or Audra McDonald, but she was pleased to see Lady Gaga drawing on her MT background and singing so beautifully even without the high notes!

^^We did get Audra in the Live TV movie of SOM at least! Same with Laura Benanti.