Tragic Heroine Throwdown: Meet Your Final Four!

I can’t believe it.

I seriously cannot believe it.

So, you guys remember how Team Carmen utterly DESTROYED Team Giselle in the first few rounds – Esther was the only good girl left standing on the whole right side of the bracket, and even she couldn’t hold out very long against the machinations of Lady Macbeth. I mean, only four of the sixteen Giselles even made it out of Round One. I’ve been tracking Giselle wins in blue, and Carmen in red, and my bracket was like a SEA of red names, you guys. I was convinced we were going to end up with a straight Carmen sweep, and a thoroughly unexciting Carmen vs. Carmen playoff game.

But NO! Team Giselle rallies to victory and the Final Four are evenly split. UN. BE. LIEVABLE. I couldn’t have picked it better myself – we have two Giselles (left brackets) going up against two Carmens (right brackets), which means our final playoff match is guaranteed to be Team Carmen vs. Team Giselle. You guys. It is ON.

Giselle has led her team to a spectacular comeback at the final hour (thanks largely to the Herculean efforts of Emma Thompson & Audrey Hepburn), so we’ll be giving her a chance on Monday to introduce herself, represented by School of OBT Director Damara Bennett (click here for this Monday’s post where Executive Director Diane Syrcle introduced Carmen). Then on Tuesday the Final 4 will face off, with your votes determining which Team Giselle and Team Carmen heroines will meet in battle to win the crown of Ultimate Tragic Heroine. I strongly encourage you to rally support behind your girl for next Tuesday’s Final 4 contest, and the Playoffs on Thursday. Feel free to use any means to bully, browbeat or coerce your friends and loved ones to vote your way – we encourage changing your Facebook profile picture (you can click on the images below for a bigger version), light blackmail, and heated arguments at the dinner table.

Without further ado, here are the fair maidens who have knocked out twenty-eight other tough competitors to emerge victorious as the undisputed ruler of their brackets. I asked some of the Tragic Heroine Throwdown players who submitted brackets and picked these ladies to win for their thoughts on why their girl deserves the crown. Read on!

Film Bracket

“I picked her because she’s everything I strive to be in a woman. She’s smart and graceful and funny. She’s incredibly multifaceted. She’s overwhelmingly and ridiculously charming. She’s friends with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, which means she’s bawdy, funny, and quick-witted. (I said ‘funny’ twice because it’s so often overlooked.)” –Mary Kreta

(Emma Thompson accepts her 1995 screenwriting award for Sense & Sensibility with a hilarious impression of Jane Austen at the Golden Globes)

Pop Culture Bracket

“I chose Audrey Hepburn to win because, well . . . she’s Audrey Hepburn. Yes, she’s sweet and oftentimes vulnerable, but don’t let the doe-eyes and pixie cut fool you. She’s got the chops and the spunk to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Rex Harrison, Carey Grant, Bogey, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire and Cat (who doesn’t love Breakfast at Tiffany’s?!), and have things work out in her favor. ALWAYS. I love Emma Thompson dearly, but I think Audrey’s sass will carry her through to victory over Emma and anyone Team Carmen throws at her.” –Jaime Mitchell

(Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly sings “Moon River” on the fire escape, drawing the attention of her smitten upstairs neighbor George Peppard in one of the best scenes from Breakfast at Tiffany’s)

History Bracket

“Lady Macbeth is the ultimate bad girl. She 1) comes up with the murder plot, 2) coaches her weak husband in how to successfully carry it out AND get away with it, and 3) when he chickens out she takes matters (and daggers) into her own hands. There’s a reason why she’s still the villainess all others are compared to — who else would still seem dangerous even when going crazy? Audrey Hepburn is elegant. Emma Thompson is whip-smart. Tosca is a diva. But Lady Macbeth would stab them all in the back without a second thought to win this tournament. She always plays to win.” –Evan Lewis

“She’s a stone-cold badass without scruples.” –Ross McKeen

(Dame Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth in the famous Act 5 “sleepwalking scene” from Trevor Nunn’s 1975 Royal Shakespeare Company production; the scream around 4:10 is where the magic really happens.)

Literature Bracket

“I’m an opera nut. It would have taken a lot for me not to pick an opera femme fatale to win. Floria Tosca is no weak flibbertigibbet. She’s one of the strongest women in all of opera, willing to see her own hands bloodied for the sake of her goal. And she’s savvy — getting Scarpia’s promise in writing before providing the illicit consideration. A woman after this lawyer’s heart — let’s hope not literally with that table knife. Tosca will take Lady Macbeth easily. The demons haunting Lady Macbeth will distract her, and the countess’s constant self-muttering will drown out the the opera singer self-narrated approach. Tosca has no problem getting in close for the kill, and she might use her sexual allure to gain a final upper hand. As for the final matchup . . . there can be little doubt that Tosca will rout either Ms. Hepburn or Ms. Thompson. I adore the former, but she’s not deadly, and the latter is just too proper. At the end of it all, Tosca will get the victor’s wreath.” –Joshua Dorothy

(The murder scene! Maria Callas as Tosca in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1965 production at Covent Garden; the knife comes out at around 5:52 and then things get GOOD.)