I might see Les Miserables on the 4th of July. I am not seeing it specifically for Lea, but I really want to see her in the role. Does anyone know how her attendance is usually with the show? Does she have any scheduled vacations? Do understudies usually go on during holidays? And when is she in the show until?
Also, off-topic from the thread, what are the dates this summer Megan McGinnis is scheduled to go on?
Sorry for all the questions!
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Even if you miss Lea, the role still will be in capable hands, but Lea is just amazing with the role of Fantine. However, I don't believe Lea has any scheduled outdates. You can check on her blog, which I can never remember the URL to...
Her attendance with this show has been pretty great so far. According to her blog, in three months, she's only missed seven shows and all of them were due to illness. She really seems concerned about missing shows and fans who travelled specifically to see her, so I doubt she will take time off during the holiday weekend. I'm fairly certain the only time she'll be missing shows if she can't give the audience 100%.
Cosette: Roses are red.
Marius: Violets are blue.
Eponine: You're so in love!
Marius: And so not with you.
I've seen Lea several times and expect that she will do both July 4th performances. I'll be at the 8:00 pm show. Can we expect fireworks afterwards? Or do we have to return on Bastille Day?
p.s. Holiday week, not weekend. July 4th is on Wednesday.
That's because most of those absenses happened while she had the flu, or some other respiratory illness that lasted more than one show.
If she calls out on a Weds or Sat, that's already 2/7 shows missed, and if she missed ONE WEEKEND, that's 4/7 shows. It's really not that bad.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
im so glad she's in until october! i bet she makes the show better. for absenses, we can't forget that harvey didn't miss one show through his run of hairspray.
"I mean, sitting side by side with another man watching Patti LuPone play Rose in GYPSY on Broadway is essentially the equivalent of having hardcore sex." -Wanna Be A Foster.
"Say 'Goody.' Say 'Bubbi.'" ... "That's it. Exactly as if it were 'Goody.' Now I know you're gonna sing 'Goody' this time, but nevertheless..."
Lea, as has been said above, only misses shows when she's sick, which unfortunately is a possibility since there's been a nasty flu going around the cast since March or April. There are a lot of scheduled vacations in June and July, but I don't think she's one of the people taking time off.
I wouldn't worry too much if she's out; Nikki Renée Daniels is fantastic as Fantine--vocally superior to Lea, even--and second cover Haviland Stillwell is also good.
i went to see les miz in april and she was sick..nikki renee daniels was on..i saw her when she was full time fantine in between daphne and lea..she is great..just not lea
I went to the stage door after a performance in late May to get lea salonga's signature...
She was sooo sick! I was amazed that I couldn't tell that she wasn't feeling well when she was performing. She was coughing and sneezing, she had a tissue in one hand and was signing playbills with the other.
Lea's attendance is great. As mentioned before she did miss a few shows but she was VERY sick. I saw her about 1 or 2 days before she called in sick and she sounded terrible at the stage door. She came out all bundled up, signed everyones playbills then left right away.
I am just curious. Why hasn't Lea salonga originated a role for a long time (aside from FDS of course), which would make her eligible for the Tony? Are these casting directors blind for not seeing this great talent and a temendous crowd-drawer?
Anyway, I saw from her blog this message from a scriptwriter offering her the role of a Hawaiian for a $30M worth Sci-Fi movie. The script according to this person is already in the hands of Warner Brothers and the agent of Steven Spielberg. But it's kinda odd that this casting manager or scriptwriter would contact Lea through her multiply, though he left the email addresses of his agents and the people that Lea's agents can communicate to. I checked it this afternoon, the message was already deleted from the site. Was it proven to be fraud? Or it is already at works, that they want it discreet at this time until everything is finalized?
I think she is scheduled to perform for Broadway Asia in Cinderella after the Broadway engagement....so any movie plans might be in conflict unless she cancels the tour or do something after that.
She hasn't been in the US for a while actually. There's a video on broadway.com I believe when she was in rehearsals for Les Mis and she talks about all the time she spent out of the country.
On Cinderella - Salonga will play the title role in the summer of 2008 commencing in her homeland of the Philippines. Broadway Asia Entertainment will produce the tour, which will also play mainland China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. No other details about the tour have been announced.
"I love acting. It is so much more real than life." Oscar Wilde "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley