Accents

I suppose in the English-speaking productions of Annie outside the USA, the actors are supposed to speak and sing in an American accent and I was wondering if, from the videos and audio you've heard, they are successful in doing so. If you didn't know, would you hear the difference between an American, an English and an Australian production?

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Permalink Reply by old fan on March 15, 2010 at 5:58pm: I think sometimes the actors try to sound American, but not always... you can def tell if it's British, American, or Australian if they don't use an American accent. Otherwise I can't always tell, if they're good at it. Can you tell? (OT: I always wondered if you can tell where someone is from from the French accent?); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Cecile Greard on March 16, 2010 at 4:08pm: Most of the time, I have problems recognizing British, Scottish, Welsch, Irish, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand accents. Sometimes, I can tell right away where the person is from and sometimes, I have no idea.
As for French, lots of regions have different accents, especially in the South, plus there're the French Canadian, Belgian and Swiss accents. I can mostly tell them, except some accents from close regions which aren't that different.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by defy_gravity on March 17, 2010 at 12:02pm: I can almost always tell. It can be pretty hard (especially singing) for them to make the vowels sound American without going too "wide" or twangy with it (if you know what I mean..?)
that excludes the Australians, who have to actually make their vowels LESS wide and twangy.
I have yet to hear an Australian or British production with a dead-on American accent -- they all slip up a bit, or don't have it quite right.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Laura on March 18, 2010 at 8:58am: I can tell the difference between American and English accents. But the other I could not recognize. The Canadian, Irish, Scottish and Australian ones are hard to tell. It's pretty hard.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Abby M. on March 27, 2010 at 9:52am: And what about WITHIN the USA or Canada- has anyone heard anything like "JustThinking A-BOOT Tomorrow." or "Y'all Never Fully Dressed Without A Smille?" I love hearing different accents myself, sometimes even when they are out of character, but I'm guessing that maybe a very talented girl with a very strong regional accent other than a NY or NJ one and who can not mimic a NY or NJ one might not be cast in a U.S. professional production of Annie because of that?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by old fan on March 27, 2010 at 11:03am: I'm from Canada, and not many people actually say "aboot" or even "eh !" ( Just like until 1994, lacrosse was the official sport of Canada, not hockey! Lots of misconceptions that stick, lol) The word "tomorrow" is pronounced differently, though, more like "too-more-ow" rather than "too-mah-row." I saw a few productions of Annie with Canadian casts and it was no big deal.....but I think the directors in a US production would specify how words were to be pronounced, to his/her liking. I like different accents too, and find it fun to guess where someone is from . There are SO many even within the US. I thought Amanda B had a very strong regional accent.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Abby M. on March 27, 2010 at 3:29pm: Actually I was thinking more about Midwesterners regarding the "a-boot." However, I do tend to notice when Canadian accents are heard out of character in movies. I don't mind it there either. I know a lot of movies are filmed up there, and ALL of the Lifetime movies are, it seems, so everybody BUT the lead actress* tends to have one.

*someone we (Americans) would know of. I personally do not mind at all when I've never heard of anyone I've seen in a film though, as long as it's a good film.
P.S. Almost no actor who didn't grow up in New England can do a Boston accent convincingly, in my humble opinion. Well, maybe Tom Hanks, I think he managed at least a Rhode Island accent in "Catch Me If You Can."As for me, I DID grow up in the Boston area but am completely dialect-challenged, I can't even fake one!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Abby M. on March 27, 2010 at 7:26pm: Matt Damon grew up in the Boston area, and so did Ben Affleck. Can you also hear out-of-character Canadian accents here and there from the supporting cast in these tv movies? Like I said, I don't mind this kind of stuff at all, and I'm actually surprised when a teen-in-trouble character is NOT played by a Canadian, for example, a young American actress played Natalee Holloway.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lucy on March 27, 2010 at 7:48pm: I watched The Natalee Holloway movie today on Lifetime!!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by old fan on March 28, 2010 at 6:50am: I can very occasionally with certain words ( tomorrow, lol, sorry etc)...I think they tend to hire people with "generic" type voices, but not always...as I mentioned, I don't think you can tell too much if the person is from a larger city as opposed to a small town down East, or Ottawa Valley etc where there is a stronger accent and words pronounced differently...Matt Damon I think is from Cambridge and the character In GWH was from South Boston where a VERY strong accent prevails ! Can you tell in the TV films if it is a Canadian actor? If so, specific words, or the accent as a whole?

Yes, "Natalee Holloway" is a perfect example...I noticed it was on last night too, Abby & Lucy. :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Abby M. on March 28, 2010 at 10:33am: The accent kind of pops out here and there, as far as I can hear, with some of the Canadian actors, and speaking of Canadian actors, I know Nia Vardalos of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is from Winnipeg, and I've heard no accent I can identify from her- has anyone? I would like to see her in Annie though, since she can sing and dance and does have a theater background, unlike a lot of the "stuntcasted" actors. Actually, I saw her sing a couple lines of "Tomorrow*" on tv once and wanted to go, "Nia, Nia, n-n-no. Learn THIS!" and then hand her the lyrics to "Little Girls." She could probably play any of the adult female roles, but Miss Hannigan is considered the funniest one by most I think.
*Tomorrow is probably something she just knew off the top of her head, of course.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Abby M. on March 30, 2010 at 7:25am: P.S. I had no problem with this girl by the way, I was just surprised that she was American. And as for Tracy Pollan who played Beth Holloway Twitty, at first I was like, "No way. Tracy Pollan is too young for this part!" lol, um, no she is not, I found out she and hubby (Michael J. Fox) have a son in college. Beth Twitty doesn't look that old either in my opinion, but I didn't know of her when she was in her 20's of course.
and of course: JUSTICE FOR NATALEE!; ▶ Reply to This