Actors being fired / replaced

[Burke4]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 2:48pm

Last night I had the chance to see The Standby's. One of the things that stuck out the most to me was (spoiler) Alena Watters being replaced in Bette Midler's Las Vegas show and being offered the swing position, thus firing the current swing, only for them to get rid of her (and the swing position) completely a short time later. What are some other instances where someone has been completely fired from a show or 'down graded' to a lesser role or position that you know of?

[LarryD2]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 2:54pm

There are many instances of people being fired/replaced in previews or in rehearsals, but speaking specifically to your question of someone being demoted, one that comes to my mind immediately is Kecia Lewis in SHREK. She was played the role of The Dragon in the musical's out-of-town tryout; between the tryout and Broadway, it was decided that The Dragon would no longer be played by a single actor but would rather be a puppet voiced by the chorus. Lewis was offered a spot in the chorus, but she declined.

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 2:59pm

Jeremy Jordan in Finding Neverland.

[ChrisTyler12882]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:08pm

Jeffrey Tambor in the most recent revival of La Cage.

[evic]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:09pm

Natascia Diaz And Solange Sandy in Christina Applegate Sweet Charity revival.

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:14pm

"Jeremy Jordan in Finding Neverland."

Umm, he was hired to do the out of town preview, and was never fired or replaced the entire time.

[HighFlyingAdored97]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:16pm

Samantha Hill replacing Charlotte Maltby as Cosette in Les Mis

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:23pm

- Lupone in Sunset Boulevard.
- Ellen Foley as The witch in Into The Woods
- Kristen Virgard as Annie in Annie
- Jeffrey Tambor in La Cage aux folles
- Erin Dilly in Thoroughly modern Millie.

Updated On: 12/11/14 at 03:23 PM

[evic]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:26pm

Roger Rees-The Red Shoes
Joanna Pacitti-Annie

[Johnnycantdecide]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:33pm

Pat Caroll, Erin Dilly. Tony Pinkins, and Jim Stanek all vanished from Throughly Modern Mille.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:39pm

Carolyn Mignini - GUYS AND DOLLS ('92 revival)
Dorothy Loudon - DINNER AT EIGHT
Jack Noseworthy - LESTAT
Jasmine Guy - THE VIOLET HOUR
Mary Tyler Moore - ROSE'S DILEMMA
Annabelle Gurwitch - WRITERS' BLOCK (which inspired her book and documentary FIRED)

[Burke4]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:42pm

Here's a link to a Barbara Walters episode of Turning Point regarding the firing of Joanna Pacitti from Annie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEp-wtqpwCU

[Burke4]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:43pm

If memory serves me correctly, wasn't someone fired and replaced by Tory Ross in Cry-Baby?

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:44pm

Matt Caplan was replaced by Stark Sands when American Idiot went to Broadway.

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:45pm

I never saw Stark, but Matt was so good. I saw him three times.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:47pm

I missed American Idiot completely, wished I could have seen it.

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:50pm

Check out the Broadway Idiot documentary, you get to see a lot of what it was like... plus, it's a really good doc.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 3:58pm

Pat Caroll, Erin Dilly. Tony Pinkins, and Jim Stanek all vanished from Throughly Modern Mille.


Yeah, but 3 out of the 4 actually made it on stage before an audience in La Jolla.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 4:10pm

The infamous case of Steve Harley being cast as the title role in Phantom of the Opera, only to have the producers realize that his rocker voice just wasn't working and deciding to cast Michael Crawford instead.

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 4:48pm

haterobics: oops, sorry. Should I delete that post?

Also, how about Craig Bierko in Matilda? Wasn't he fired/replaced?

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 4:50pm

No. He got injured.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 4:59pm

Larry Kert replacing Dean Jones who walked away from the original Company.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 5:15pm

The infamous Faye Dunaway firing of the LA production of SUNSET BOULEVARD is more infuriating and sad than the Patti LuPone scandal.

[loliveve]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 5:24pm

"Jeremy Jordan in Finding Neverland."

"Umm, he was hired to do the out of town preview, and was never fired or replaced the entire time."

Actually, apparently he was replaced. Jeremy Jordan was offered the role for the FN workshop "but then they reneged and informed [him] that Matthew Morrison would be doing it. Afterwards, he was offered the out-of-town production at A.R.T. but wasn't guaranteed the Broadway production."


Jordan replaced by Morrison

[LarryD2]

Posted: 12/11/14 at 5:27pm

Dunaway never should have been hired in the first place. They set her up for failure, then blamed her when she failed. As it was with Patti's firing, it was a very poorly handled situation.

(The first person who was approached to replace Glenn Close in LA was also a non-singing film star, like Dunaway. She wisely turned down the part, knowing that vocally she couldn't do the role justice. Perhaps Dunaway should have done the same--but the fact remains that neither should have been offered the role in the first place.)