I've never joined in on any of those stunt casting/star casting threads -- in my opinion you always evaluate these things on a case by case basis and in the cases of Hugh Jackman and Antonio Banderas the casting choice was brilliant (and the cases of Ashley Judd and Melanie Griffith, less so -- I haven't seen any of these boy band people). Besides, in this particular case, this is all about business (or lack thereof) and has nothing to do with giving a "non-star a chance," which is a great thing to do when you're a huge hit (e.g. Brad Oscar in "The Producers"; countless performers in "Chicago") but, not terribly wise when you've been struggling a long time and are in danger of closing.
Right now, "Little Shop" is barely holding on by a thread. Getting snubbed by the Tonys was a major blow to its chances of survival in a couple of ways -- it doesn't get the free national TV exposure it dearly needs right now to survive and add to that it's going to lose summer business to the shows that do get to perform (even if they lose). Most folks out there in the country don't even know Little Shop is even running right now and when they start booking their NY summer vacations and buying their theatre tickets, they are going to first try for the shows they see on Sunday's telecast. So what do they producers of Little Shop do? Elevate a completely unknown understudy to take over the lead role??????
Right now, the eyes of the entertainment world shift ever so slightly to the NY theatre scene, and the Chenoweths and the Murphys and Pinkins and the Kushners and the Avenue Q puppets are everywhere (network morning shows, national magazines, Charlie Rose), talking to everybody, drumming up business for their shows and themselves and getting as much attention from the national press as they can muster (and in turn selling tickets up the wazoo). This is the ONLY time of the year that the likes of Entertainment Tonight and E! and Extra even mention Broadway, so if you had a show that was struggling (and you weren't going to be on the Tony telecast) wouldn't you take this opportunity to steal a little bit of the attention and buzz swirling around Wicked and Avenue Q and Raisin in the Sun and make a major announcement of your own, like, say (assuming you couldn't get Cyndi Lauper) "The original Audrey, Ellen Greene is returning to Little Shop!!" Trust me, you'd get a mention on ET and the rest of those national shows who'd include it along with their little Tony segments, the phones would start ringing off the hook and you wouldn't even NEED the three minute Tony number.
Instead, the producers of Little Shop of Horrors take this opportunity to announce that Jessica-Snow Wilson is taking over the role of Audrey. WHO? Not only will that little bit of info not be picked up in the national press, but with all the Tony coverage going on right now, it may not even merit a mention in some of the local theatre columns. Way to go, guys! Way to try and save a show! Not only is the move an odd one, but to time the announcement in the middle of Tony time? Just who the heck is in charge of their marketing?
This is not any knock whatsoever on Ms. Wilson who for all I know is the greatest Audrey since Greene. But, even if she is, who's going to see it, given what the box office has been as of late? (we'll see how much Fatone helps) Not to mention, being an unknown, there will be few, if any, reviews of her performance (shows typically only get re-reviewed if the cast replacement is a major name), so even if she's brilliant, save for word of mouth, she'll have no effect on box office.
So fine, the producers have apparently decided to cut expenses (one would assume Wilson will be given minimum principal's contract, which would likely be much smaller than the one Butler has) and cast their lot with Fatone. We'll see how that goes, but this show cost $10 million and if the producers want to even get close to recouping that money, considering their mixed reviews, barely break-even box office numbers and no Tony appearance, they're going to need a higher profile Audrey and to start generating some strong positive buzz around this production or they'll be closed by the end of summer.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 6/4/04 at 07:51 PM
