The song really hits me in the feelings, regardless of who sings it, but his interpretation is so soft and vulnerable you really feel for this version of Bobby
No, it's pretty weak. A female should have performed this, not him. Hardly any passion in this performance. Compare this rendition to Barbara Streisand's rendition. Streisand would blow him off of the stage and put him to shame.
@@iluvfirenze89 Streisand is great, but I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. In the context of the show, this is Bobby's song, and I think it makes sense to have the softness and vulnerability. People show passion and desperation in different ways, and though more understated, I think his performance is still very honest.
It's funny because Groff seems to be SO IN LOVE with the ideal of falling in love here. Desperate to love, even. While others performers seemed to take this song as a painful experience. Or maybe it's just me.
I don’t think most people associate Groff with his belt, more his soft tones and falsetto but WOW. Also the transition out of the belt in the middle there?!?! Textbook breath control
This rendition is so lovely! Each interpretation of this song has been touching in its own way. It’s one of the most amazing aspects of Sondheim’s talent that the songs challenge each performer to give a unique piece of themselves to the audience. Wonderful!
Thank you SO much for recording and uploading this! I was also there for this show, and was moved to tears by his performance. It's so wonderful getting to hear and see it again.
I grew up listening to Michael Crawford's cover of this on his 1998 In Concert CD. I shouldn't be so surprised to find out it's another showtune :0 I'm so glad I get to find out through Jonathan Groff ^_^
I follow Harvey Fierstein his post said i should watch this. WOW glad i tuned in this was wonderful. Very powerful Thank u for sharing. and greetings from the U.K. Mark Dunn
I can't believe some of y'all are so mean about this performance in the comments. different doesn't mean bad and having a soft/gentle voice is Jonathan Groff's signature
Someone to hold you too close Someone to hurt you too deep Someone to sit in your chair And ruin your sleep Someone to need you too much Someone to know you too well Someone to pull you up short To put you through hell Someone you have to let in Someone whose feelings you spare Someone who, like it or not Will want you to share A little a lot Someone to crowd you with love Someone to force you to care Someone to make you come through Who'll always be there As frightened as you Of being alive Being alive Being alive Being alive Somebody hold me too close Somebody hurt me too deep Somebody sit in my chair And ruin my sleep And make me aware Of being alive Being alive Somebody need me too much Somebody know me too well Somebody pull me up short And put me through hell And give me support For being alive Make me alive Make me alive
I adore Jonathan Groff in everything I've seen him do. But... No one will ever top Dean Jones's tenuous fragility, doubt, and hopefulness in his recording of this song for the original cast album (1970). It breaks my heart and brings me near to tears (ok, tears) every time I watch it. It's such a raw, honest performance ( he was going through a messy divorce at the time he recorded it and very soon after dropped out of the show) that everyone I've seen sing it since then, it's awkwardly obvious acting. The only performer I've heard carry it off is Barbra Streisand on her Broadway album, where it is a most joyful and enthusiastic delivery--quite different from Jones, but she works it. And of course, there's Sondheim, who leaves me filled with wonder that I'm fortunate enough to be on the same planet at the same time and hear his genius contemporaneously.
This has turned into one of those songs where, if you know it, you have a strong, almost religious opinion about whose version is the best. It's not Groff's fault.
Call me crazy but I don’t think attractive people should play this role. It’s a never seen mans song, someone desperately alone, a living ghost. Sorry but I don’t believe they actually get the anguish. So they perform it. The key word here is somebody. Because when you’re that lonely, you just want anyone to see you.
Groff can be good, but THIS song is not a good fit for him! He misses 90% of the song's emotion -and his Big Finish is no match for the power its originator, Dean Jones, brought to the number.
I think it's a mixed bag. Personally, I think he does the quieter moments of the song really well. But, yeah, the crescendo at the end is pretty lack luster. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He really really doesn't seem grounded in this performance. I love Jonathan Groff, he does some amazing work, but here? In this song? I'm severely underwhelmed. There is a ton of emotion in what he's doing (physically, you can see him tearing up), but his voice just doesn't do the same thing. In musical theatre the way you present the text musically is just as important, if not more so, than your raw acting chops. There's too much sameness in his singing, I don't hear the journey of the song. This song (in the text) starts off a bitter and almost petulant decrying of the woes of marriage (excuses not to commit), then moves to lonely recognition before becoming a desperate plea for someone to please relieve the grief of his loneliness. I don't hear that. Instead all I think listening to him in this song is "wow his voice is nice". He's very gentle and I can see where he's trying to come from but it leaves the song feeling like a boring wash of melancholy.
Surely &^%$#@ You must be Kidding! Who Died and left you Master Voice Coach? OMG !! Your Loneliness is not HIS Loneliness... The Art of Delivery, is Making It Your Own Story! HELLO!!! Which is Exactly What Jonathan Did .. Please ….If you have a video of yourself performing this song , let me know and I will critique it...
robert parks woah woah calm down. What this person said was reasonable and not an insult. Even tho I don't agree 100%. I actually think this performance was great in all ways. If u want a comparison, you could listen to Chris Colfers version on glee. Both are equal to me tho.
I would rather view Streisand's version! Her take on this tune is the Definitive ! of course that's my humble opinion... as a musician , voice coach, accomplished pianist , and recording artist ,my level of expertise is 38 years in the business, Barbra rules... check it out !
the poor makeup job made him look more like an ompah loompah, instead of himself. I think they went with this mellower arrangement, because either his pipes aren't used to such a roller coster wallop of a song, or he wanted to "act" more instead of being in the moment. I felt sometimes he was "acting" as we used to call what musical theater performers would do, but there were times he was in the moment of the song, he kept going back and forth, part of the problem was the arrangement, it would give him gaps of space to musical theater act as opposed to being in the moment. He look very rehearsed, with little spontaneity. The best performers are very spontaneus looking, even though they are very well rehearsed. Instead of this being a show, it felt more like a musical theater class.
