Lani Kazan being fired out of town and replaced by her best friend Michele Lee for "Seesaw."
Big film star, Jean Arthur, being fired out of town as Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday" and being replaced by newcomer Judy Holliday.
All the Ethel Merman stage-door experiences. And how she stopped a show and threw a guy out of the theatre during "Call Me Madam."
When the two leading actors in the original Broadway production of "The Crucible" switched roles after the show had already opened.
Show Boat's casting of a white woman as Julie Laverne, in a role that is all about mixed race. The use of the "N" word in the original opening number lyrics, which has never been used since.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
for some reason the only thing I can think of is The Baker's Wife debacle. For some reason I can imagine that being a show people would follow, saying it was going to be such a big hit.
oh, and when Audrey Hepburn was cast in My Fair Lady over Julie Andrews. I think there would've been some massive multi-page threads on that.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
I'll bet we would have found out who was dubbed and who wasn't, back in the day. We all would have heard the name "Marni Nixon" a lot sooner.
How about when the Broadway hit Brigadoon was bought by MGM and cast with dancing stars Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse (dubbed) in the singing roles of Tommy and Fiona?
Or when Channing beat out Streisand for the Best Actress Tony?
Or when ALL of the songs were dropped except "Night and Day" from Cole Porter's film version of "The Gay Divorce" and the name was changed to "The Gay Divorcee?"
Or when ALL of the songs were stripped away and used only as underscoring in the non-musical film adaptation of the musical "Fanny?"
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
The first one that came to mind was the Sunset Boulevard debacle when Patti LuPone and Faye Dunaway were fired from their respective productions and sued Andrew Lloyd Webber.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
When Madeline Kahn was replaced by understudy Judy Kaye in On the Twentieth Century.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
La Cage beating Sunday in the Park with George for several Tonys. Especially Jerry Herman's comment about the hummable showtune.
Patti LuPone's alleged reaction to Joanna Gleason winning the Tony for Into the Woods.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
I'd forgotten about Carrie... wow. The boards would have been aflame. Probably would have helped grosses too!
Can you imagine the stink if someone "leaked" the info about vocal dubbing for major actresses in big Hollywood adaptations? From what I gather, the general public really wasn't aware of the goings on with My Fair Lady, West Side Story, etc.
When Moose Murders opened and closed in one night.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
All of these topics have been discussed ad nauseum anyway...bww has us catching up on our old arguments all the time.
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
...Ethel Merman and Carol Channing were not cast in the film versions of their most famous roles.
...Jennifer Holliday started missing all of those performances of Dreamirls.
...Liza filled in for Gwen Verdon in Chicago.
And not necessarily BWW, but BwaySecrets: if it were around back i the 50's/60's, Mary Martin would have been the Kendra Kassebaum of the day.
"Who says you can't bend over backwards and eat bugs if you want to? I guess the bugs would probably say you can't do that that, but assuming that they are willing and consenting bugs, then there's no problem. Let's wig out eating bugs."
-RuPaul
Best 12 Bars, just a niggling point, but Cole Porter's show on Broadway was called "Gay Divorce," not "The Gay Divorce," as has often been assumed. By putting the word "The" in the title, it makes it sound like a modified noun; without the "The," "Gay" seems to connate an adjectival interpretation, which, knowing Mr. Porter's wicked sense of humor, is more in keeping. IMO. And, of course, Hollywood really took the punch out of it by renaming in "The Gay Divorcee." Nothing earthshattering. I'd love to see Encores! do the Broadway version
Streetcar Named Desire lost the Tony to Mister Roberts for Best Play; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof lost the Tony to The Deperate Hours for Best Play; Elizabeth Taylor was cast in Virginia Woolf; The Iceman Commeth lost the Best Revival Tony to Death of a Salesman; Sweet Bird of Youth and/or Raisin in the Sun lost out Best Tony to J.B.; Ethel Merman lost Best Musical Actress for Gypsy to Mary Martin for Sound of Music (40 years later, it's still being discussed); The dreadful movie versions of Paint Your Wagon; Chorus Line, Rent, The Producers and Phantom of the Opera; Bette Davis walked out of Night of the Iguana; Tallulah Bankhead did revival of Streetcar Named Desire; Anything about Carrie or Moose Murders; and Dolores Gray slugged Michael Kidd during rehearsals of Destry Rides Again.