| One of the actresses who is going to perform in the musical review Putting it Together with Ruthie Henshall. Kathie is going to do the songs of Stephen Sondheim!?
February 13, 2000
While some of the folks in the Barrymore Theatre requested refunds for their tickets (they wanted to see Carol Burnett, but she was injured). Anyways, Kathie Lee Gifford performed for the whole week with the cast of Putting it Together. Kathie's entrance in the beginning of the show still received the applause not unlike that of Carol's entrance. Not even the spotlight gag in the title song fazed her presence. The kind of singing done by Kathie Lee belongs to a cabaret, but it's not very well for the stage. The intimacy and softness that she would use in a cabaret wasn't "abrasive" or can reach as far to the audience as with Carol's voice. One will hear the diffence of her strengths in "Every Day a Little Death" with Ruthie Henshall. However, in "Not Getting Married Today," Ms. Gifford kept the proper pace as established by Burnett (though not as fast as Julie Andrews for the MTC cast recording from 1993). Ms. Gifford overacted a little, and a little less subtle when she was in front of Ruthie's choir singer character and waved and jumped to get her attention.
All in all, Ms. Gifford did an adequate job in performing Sondheim's works. She still needs a lot of work in making her voice ready for a wider stage than in some little club somewhere in Vegas. | 
