MovieChat Forums > A Prairie Home Companion (2006) Discussion > Lily Tomlin

Lily Tomlin

posted 9 years ago by anne0
2 replies | jump to latest

Wow - couldn't get over Lily's terrible effort in the singing. I've always been a huge fan - but... She's a veteran stage actor, and CAN sing, however just phones this in. She talks thru the duets with Meryl, not extending words, not syncing, and ending flat with no expression.

I thought maybe this was in her characeter, being washed out and fed up. But if you follow the story, Rhonda is very much an enthusiastic performer, loving to sing and loving this radio show.

So were they afraid to offer vocal arranging and direction to her? When you're performing it can be hard to hear and adjust singing in a live production. I think I'm giving her too much credit - that was just a really bad effort at vocalizing with the clipped, flat lyrics.

[–] Ithilfaen 9 years ago

What are you on about? They're not supposed to be good. Or did you think Meryl Streep was overdoing it by accident?

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

[–] anne0 9 years ago

To clarify for the adult participants who can read:
Yes, they could be bad singers, that would fit the story well.

Meryl Streep sang, Lily did not. She did not even try. If Rhonda made an exaggerated effort to sing, or any effort at all, and it was bad – that would work just fine.

But it seems like Lily could not hear the audio and thought there would be over-dubbing later. Altman seemed very clear that there would not – so it is really surprising. Lily Tomlin either just passed on this performance, or needed some direction or audio feed so she could hear the music and her vocals.