The Young and the Restless viewers know that Phyllis Summers will do whatever she can for her daughter, Summer Newman Abbott — up to, and including, ridding Genoa City of her evil mother-in-law. For her gutsy portrayal of a woman pushed to the edge, Soap Hub’s Performer of the Week honor for Y&R is presented to Phyllis’s portrayer, Michelle Stafford.
Michelle Stafford — Y&R Performer of the Week
This week, Phyllis tried her hardest to get rid of Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters) while staying on the good sides of Summer (Allison Lanier) and Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor). Many times throughout the week, the words she said didn’t quite match the expressions on Stafford’s face, which is how she conveyed Phyllis’s frustration at dealing with Diane while performing their respective jobs at Marchetti.
Of course, when Diane totally went off the rails, the look of triumph that Michelle Stafford gave Phyllis really showed a bit of what Phyllis felt inside, even though she managed to keep things mostly reasonable with her arch-nemesis. Sure, Phyllis said some catty things, but she kept her wits about her, unlike Diane.
When Diane confessed what she’d done to Kyle and Summer, Stafford’s barely contained happy body language and careful looks showed that Phyllis felt triumphant even though she tried to keep a lid on things in front of Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman), Summer, and Kyle.
Of course, that all went sideways really quickly when Kyle and Summer announced Phyllis was out alongside Diane. The air literally went out of Phyllis, and the actress conveyed how disappointed, frustrated, and upset her on-screen alter ego was at the unexpected turn of events.
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However, Michelle Stafford hit the true high note of this week’s performance when Phyllis crashed Summer and Kyle’s re-engagement party at the Glam club atop The Grand Phoenix. The actress showed Phyllis’s hurt and pain both with her tone of voice and slumping shoulders and hands that didn’t know what to do with themselves. Phyllis conveyed to Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) that she was losing it, and he managed to talk her off the ledge.
However, even though Phyllis said and did the right things, her pain still showed through as Stafford gave her a warbling voice when she gave her toast to the bride and groom. Congratulations on an excellent performance this week! Bravo.
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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