Time Out New York took on a monumental task that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. They decided to rank the top 25 divas to ever step foot on Broadway. The first problem? There have been many more than 25 divas–in this usage; fewer if you stick to the true operatic origins–on Broadway.
How do you handle the variety of experience? Do you weight the list for recurring leading ladies or performances you’ll never forget? Do you toss the names in a hat and choose whoever comes up so long as Ethel Merman is listed as the number one diva?
Ethel Merman is the obvious winner. She was the queen of theater. Composers wrote shows for her that didn’t sit right on many other performers. She refused to play scenes facing another actor because the audience paid to see the show, not the side/back of her head. Her voice was strong enough to fill any theater and she had a fantastic understanding of how her body worked to manipulate this sound.
The top twelve, actually, make a whole lot of sense. The ranking isn’t as important among them because they’re all clearly iconic theater performers. These talented women are either known for one massive role–Carol Channing is the Dolly and no one will ever be able to take that away from her–or a varied body of headlining work that demonstrates immense skill–Bernadette Peters has done everything from the only woman on stage for the entire act of a dance musical to being the central figure of a large ensemble show. Actresses like Chita Rivera, Gwen Verdon, and Audra McDonald are known for their theater work because it’s the work they love and excel at.
From there, the list becomes a bit more adventurous. Kristin Chenoweth ranks nine slots higher than her Wicked costar Idina Menzel presumably because she worked more on Broadway (even if they have the same number of show-stopping memorable roles). Tonya Pinkins gets in for her incredible turn as Caroline Thibedeux in Caroline, or Change with special mention of all her Broadway roles, but Christine Ebersole outranks her by one slot solely for her work in Grey Gardens. Barbara Streisand and Carol Burnett get in with minimal stage work but large musical experience on camera.
Any ranked list of art is a challenge. There is no right answer (other than Ethel Merman at the top of a list of best Broadway performers, or Bach on the list of best counterpoint writers (he made the rules we still follow)). For every person who says “great list,” you’ll get many more who say “how could you…” about some minor quibble and even more attacking the list for not including their “best.”
I think Time Out New York took on a big task and did a great job. There list is nicely formatted with information about the performer and why they’re one of the all time greats. It’s definitely worth checking out.
Thoughts? Love to hear them.
