Oh, she was as welcomed in the Big Apple during "Phantom" as Typhoid Mary.
It was also known (or at least I knew, and so did all my friends) that Patti Cohenour had auditioned for and won the role of Christine in the OBC. It might have even been announced in the media. Then a few weeks later, Andrew said that "Mrs. Lloyd Webber" would come to the U.S. to play the part. And for a brief moment, there was a stink with Actors' Equity, where finally Webber said that if they didn't approve her for the work, he would pull the entire production out of America. They quickly changed their minds.
But there was a lot of bitterness after that. Patti agreed to stay on as Sarah's "alternate," and do Thursday nights and Sunday matinees. She was also guaranteed to replace Sarah, once she left. Still, it felt like a giant act of nepotism, and most of the heat landed on Ms. Brightman. It was pretty awful.
I remember one of the major reviews (maybe even the NY Times) actually saying of her acting ability, "Sarah Brightman couldn't act scared on a subway at 3 o'clock in the morning."
Ouch.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 10/17/08 at 09:30 AM