Actors being fired / replaced- Page 3

[Fantod]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 10:36am

What about that whole mess with Silk Stockings where the understudy's understudy ended up with the role.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 11:00am

"Ellen Foley as The witch in Into The Woods"

Well, she *was* replaced but she did come back to do the role on Broadway.

[daredevil]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 11:34am

here is an interesting story of a replacement from a golden age musical.The musical was The Most Happy Fella, and the creative team cast the role of Joey with an up and coming operatic baritone. He opened the show in Philidephia, and apparently he was not what the creators had imagined. Someone found a singer who had performed mostly jazz, his name was Art Lund, and he looked just like a farm foreman would look like. He got to Philidelphia for the show's last weekend, learned the role in three days, and opened in Boston. Of course Joey is the role he is now most remembered for, he played it for all of the New York run, the tour, and several City Center revivals. He was brilliant in it, by the way, hard to forget this final scene from Act I, where he and Jo Sullivan engaged in a brutal embrace that ended the act.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 4:41pm

Toward the end of the Golden Age:
Poor Carole Demas was replaced in two major productions. (She did open Grease.)
The revival of No, No Nanette, she was replaced in rehearsals by Susan Watson
and In The Baker's Wife she was replaced during the show's long tumultuous "pre-Broadway" tour by Patti Lupone.The ubiquitous Betty Buckley still lays claim to the role but she never played it.
Also in that show Topol was fired (although they had to continue to pay him 10%) and replaced by Paul Sorvino. The show never played NY and closed in DC.

Another Merrick show, a flop called Four on a Garden, co-star Barry Nelson was fired out of town and replaced by Sid Caesar. They had to pay Nelson his full salary for as long as the show ran. He didn't get any of that money until long after the show closed (rather quickly) because Merrick took it to arbitration and lost.

There's lots more from that era.

[The Other One]

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

Does Robert Stack in La Cage Aux Folles count? He was to be a replacement George(?) but was fired before opening.

Jenna Elfman was announced as Jane Krakowski's replacement in Nine but never went on.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 9:47pm

Does Robert Stack in La Cage Aux Folles count? He was to be a replacement George(?) but was fired before opening.

The Unsolved Mysteries guy? Really?

Updated On: 12/14/14 at 09:47 PM

[The Other One]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 10:55pm

Yes, the one and only.

Bear in mind that long before he did "Unsolved Mysteries" he had been nominated for an Oscar for "Written On The Wind" and won an Emmy for "The Untouchables." He had not done theater, though, and apparently he could not sing.





Updated On: 12/13/14 at 10:55 PM

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 12/12/14 at 11:49pm

Re: Alice Ripley fired from Little Shop

... And I'm still bitter about it. Here's why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8palBQwOHi8

Yeah, she would have just killed it in NYC.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 12/13/14 at 8:44am

Re: Robert Stack. Arthur Laurents wrote about the incident in the last book he published before his death. He wrote that he used passive-aggressive tactics to get Stack to withdraw rather than firing him. I don't have the book in front of me so I can't quote the exact passage, but he writes pretty clearly that he wanted Stack gone (because he was tanking in rehearsals) but wanted him to quit rather than be fired. I think it had something to do with Stack's contract, which would have to be paid in full if he was fired but not if he quit.

Then again, it's Arthur Laurents. That's the story he told, which doesn't necessarily mean that's how it happened.

[haterobics]

Posted: 12/14/14 at 12:56am

"Re: Alice Ripley fired from Little Shop

... And I'm still bitter about it. Here's why:"

Well, a lot of people fired/replaced would have done an amazing job. That is rarely the issue.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/17/15 at 10:09pm

That guy who was hired for the producers in London and was replaced by Nathan Lane during rehearsals.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/17/15 at 10:12pm

"That guy," Richard Dreyfuss? (Who was mentioned last year in this thread?)

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jan/21/theatre

Updated On: 8/17/15 at 10:12 PM

[wish i were here2]

Posted: 8/17/15 at 10:23pm

Barrett Wilbert Weed apparently being fired from Heathers and replaced by Charissa Hogeland.
Todd Buonopane disappearing from the First National Tour of Shrek and replaced by David F.M. Vaughn.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/17/15 at 11:04pm

Judi Dench was to be the original Grizabella but was replaced by Elaine Paige during rehearsals due to a leg injury.

[IslandBoy27]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 3:05am

Gregory Treco who created the role of Zanna in ZANNA DON'T back in 2003 and who I thought was unbelievable and got great reviews, was replaced by Jai Rodriguez for the commercial off-Broadway run. He became the swing when they opted for the bigger star Jai who was Angel in Rent and unavailable during the initial workshops of the show. Jai went on to get Queer Eye for a Straight Guy a week after the opening and Greg did 4 out of the 8 shows a week until the closing due to Jai's filming. He's since quit the business I think.  

Also. No on has mentioned the Sutton Foster upgrade from chorus girl to leading lady in Millie. But I could have missed that. 

[LarryD2]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 7:44am

Daphne Rubin-Vega was fired from the first Les Miserables revival. She took a leave of absence to appear in Jack Goes Boating at the Public, always intending to return, but the producers bought her out of her contract in the interim and kept Lea Salonga on as Fantine. Later on in the same production, Mandy Bruno and Ben Davis -- the first replacements for Eponine and Javert -- were also fired very shortly after taking over their roles.

Other instances I don't remember seeing mentioned here yet:

--Barbara Barrie as Yente in the 2004 revival of FIDDLER (replaced by Nancy Opel in previews)

--Carolyn Migrini as Sarah Brown in the 1992 GUYS AND DOLLS (replaced by Josie de Guzman in previews)

--Dorothy Loudon as Carlotta in DINNER AT EIGHT (replaced after one performance by Marian Seldes)

--Caryn Lyn Manuel in THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' (replaced in previews by Lisa Brescia)

--Lee Remick in as Martha Livingstone in AGNES OF GOD (replaced during the pre-Broadway run by Liz Ashley)

--Garn Stephens as Petra in the original A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (replaced in Boston by D. Jamin Bartlett after a handful of performances, mostly because Stephens couldn't handle the role vocally)

--Melora Walters in Stephen Belber's play MATCH (replaced in rehearsals by Jane Adams)

--Santino Fontana in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (replaced by Morgan Specter after being injured in previews -- of course, some claim that he was blocked from returning from the production, but I don't have any idea if that's true or not)

[Drewski Vanderbilt]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 12:50pm

Stark Sands Played Clyde Barrow at La Jolla but then Jeremy Came in (I'm not sure if he was replaced but after watching the La Jolla performance I'm pretty sure he was replaced). I did not like Stark playing Clyde at all he did not fit the role,

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 1:20pm

"Carolyn Migrini as Sarah Brown in the 1992 GUYS AND DOLLS (replaced by Josie de Guzman in previews)"

 

Josie de Guzman was replaced in "Nick and Nora."  At the time, it was rumored she was fired.  But I often wonder if she knew how bad the show was and/or she had been offered the "Guys and Dolls" role which was a much better role than she had in "Nick and Nora."

Updated On: 8/18/15 at 01:20 PM

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 1:22pm

Stark was not fired. He was unavailable when they went to the next out of town tryout.

The fact that you watched a bootleg and formed an opinion of him in the role, leading to your assumption that he was fired, is absolutely absurd.

Updated On: 8/18/15 at 01:22 PM

[helvizz]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 2:05pm

Kyle Selig was supposed to be Pippin on tour, but a few days prior to the first preview Matthew James Thomas, who had opened the Broadway revival, flew from Malta to California to play the part for a little while, with the official news being 'Kyle is on vocal rest'. I think he even mentioned on twitter that he was indeed on vocal rest but was expected back in the show again soon. Needless to say, that never happened. MJT stayed with the tour for a few months and then was replaced by the same actor who replaced him on Broadway: Kyle Dean Massey. While I loved MJT's portrayal of Pippin, it is a shame, since I'm sure Kyle would've been a great Pippin.

 

Ally Sheedy was fired from the original Off-Broadway production of Hedwig. Apparently, the girl loved to miss performances and was taking one too many artistic liberties with the role; she ad-libbed so much that sometimes it was difficult to follow the plot and she even made Yitzhak sing one of her songs once, according to what people have said (and if memory serves, of course). It has been discussed many times here and it's quite easy to find info online, it all got somewhat famous.

Updated On: 8/18/15 at 02:05 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 2:39pm

In defense of Todd Buonopane (who I went to Stagedoor Manor with, coincidentally) - the story that was reported on the board previously was that he missed a show (or a couple of shows), and his understudy went on, and it was the classic case of the producers deciding they liked the understudy better for whatever reason. It happens. Moral of the story: try not to let your understudy go on so you don't have to get compared to them! It's all subjective anyway.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/18/15 at 2:43pm

I saw Kyle Selig as Elder Price last month and he was fantastic. I'm not sure if it it was the physical (and not vocal) demands of the role of Pippin that were a problem, but I could easily envision him as a wonderful Pippin. Ah well. Hopefully he'll be a full-time Price somewhere, because that's another great role for him.

[actorsnonactors]

Posted: 8/19/15 at 12:23am

I remember seeing that Guys and Dolls revival three times...around the third time, it dawned on me that Sky and Sarah were characters in the show. WOW was it unbalanced, and totally "weaponized" in favor of Nathan and Faith...who you could tell.....adooooored....each.........other.

[boogienights]

Posted: 8/19/15 at 1:39am

Kelli O'Hara replaced Celia Keenan-Bolger in the role of Clara in the Light in the Piazza in Chicago after the show's Seattle run. Kelli then followed the role to Broadway. Apparently Celia looked too young, so they brought Kelli from her role as Franca to Clara. There were no hard feelings and Kelli and Celia are good friends to this day. Also, they both received Tony noms that year in the supporting actress category. Kelli for Piazza and Celia for Spelling Bee. They both lost to Sara Ramirez though. 

[UnwoundFantasies]

Posted: 8/19/15 at 4:50pm

Stark was already attached to American Idiot when Bonnie and Clyde did the Florida tryout.

Santino Fontana wasn't fired from A View From The Bridge. He was injured in previews and suffered an intense head injury. More specifically a contusion on his brain and wasn't able to work for a whole year. He talks about it in a few interviews.

You're correct about Kelli and Celia in Piazza, but Kelli didn't take over for Clara until it came to Broadway. Celia did the Chicago run too.