Comments on: Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night

By: Mimi Kramer-Bryk

Mimi Kramer-Bryk — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:47:13 +0000

Many thanks, Abra. I’m working on it!

By: Abra Bigham

Abra Bigham — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:51:03 +0000

Mimi, how nice to come across this – wonderful insights. So very very nice to read you again. More, please!

By: Mimi Kramer-Bryk

Mimi Kramer-Bryk — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:48:39 +0000

A thousand thanks, Alberta! You northerners are giving our site a very sophisticated, bloggers-without-borders flavor!

By: Alberta Nokes

Alberta Nokes — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:34:01 +0000

Dear Mimi,
This piece just brought home just how much I miss reading you. You completely nail what it is in that combination of performer, material and performance that can leave us devastated in the best way. This is the best thing I’ve read on Susan Boyle and the extraordinary resonance of her performance in that particular clip that had us all crying and cheering. Keep writing! Thank you.

By: Boyled « Slow Muse

Boyled « Slow Muse — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:53:41 +0000

[...] what she does with Susan Boyle in this essay, Susan Boyle and the Tigers of the Night on the blog she writes with her husband and writer William Bryk called City of Smoke. It was a pure [...]

By: Mimi Kramer-Bryk

Mimi Kramer-Bryk — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:12:05 +0000

Marion: Thank you so much for your comments and for bringing up “Nessun Dorma” and the Welshman. That’s what everyone was comparing the Boyle business to, but the two incidents seemed very different to me. For one thing, I thought the behavior of the judges in that first instance very stagey; for another, the Welshman wasn’t any good–or no, that’s overstating the case, but certainly he wasn’t as good at what he was trying to do. And I couldn’t understand why people didn’t see the difference, or why they thought the two incidents were so alike–but I think you’ve hit it; the song transformed him, just as you say. And maybe the aspiration behind his overreaching moved people as well.

By: marion adler

marion adler — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:45:04 +0000

Mimi! I absolutely agree with Ms Barlow – this piece is unique in its perspective on the Boyle bruhaha. It got me thinking about last season’s performance of Nessun Dorma by the little Welshman. In this case could there have been an opposite reason for the excitement? Was the aria so gorgeous, so transcendant that it grabbed him and embued him with gifts he did not possess? Did the beauty of the song endow the Welshman’s performance with truth and meaning the way Susan Boyle’s performance endowed the trite and vacuous lyrics with truth and meaning?
My younger sister loved the Nessun Dorma as performed by the Welshman – but was less moved by Pavaroti and Placido Domingo when I insisted she listen to their versions. Was it the stadium-like cheers of the audience that made her tear up? She says it was her nervous concern for the little guy – and her relief and delight when he managed to succeed.
I love that you are doing this! Keep it up – I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to read your stuff again!

By: Mimi Kramer-Bryk

Mimi Kramer-Bryk — Mon, 04 May 2009 02:19:29 +0000

Deborah,

Thank you for your kind and inspiring words! How amazing to hear from you! And to have my first-ever comment be from someone who had such a tremendous influence on me!

By: Deborah Barlow

Deborah Barlow — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:43:32 +0000

Mimi,

This is brilliant. You hit every nuance of what that moment came to mean. It’s the best response to the Boyle phenom I’ve read.