Actors that phoned in their performance — Page 4

"I adored her in Urinetown, but she was just entirely miscast as Yente."

And she replaced Barbara Barrie, who they kicked out because they thought she was miscast as Yente.

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"in fact, it kind of bothers me that Miss Gambatease is such a big star now; there are many energetic ensemble members who give their all to shows that deserve to be on the way up rather than her"

No flaming here either except to say, on what planet is Gambetese "such a big star now"? Not the case at all.

I think Ruprecht pointed out the ensembles of many shows being terribly guilty of the phoning in thing and I will concur. Chicago is one that stands out in my mind and I haven't seen it in a long time, so I can't imagine how bad it is now. My list is too long and most have already been mentioned.

It seems to be the malaise that happens when you do the same show 8 times a week and are not either gifted, or grateful enough to make it interesting for yourself and the audience each and every time. There are plently of actors that *can* and do keep it fresh no matter how long they've been with a cast. That's a pro.

I'm sad to hear Jenn's name in the category of phoned in preformances, I saw her in All Shook Up and she was so engertic and full of life, I can't believe someone would say she phoned in her preformance. Did you happen to see Jenn in HAIRSPRAY when she was a standby or U/S, usually they want the U/S or standby to be like the actor who they U/S or standby so audiences won't feel cheated out on an experience.

Jenn is a star. Yes, but a big one- perhaps not to most, but to me- she's a star, an amazing one too.

Yul Brynner in THE KING AND I in the 1977 revival that played the Uris.
He looked like he couldn't have cared less and was completely devoid of energy. I turned to my friend and said "Are we keeping him up?"

In response to those who asked; I guess 'big star' was a poor choice of words, but I meant really among BWW and the like; she's the lead in Tarzan, she had a lead in All Shook Up, and people tend to adore her. I saw her three years ago in Hairspray, when I was fifteen.

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"but to me- she's a star"

Aaaaawwwwwwww.

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Dame effing Judi Dench in "Amy's Room"
We all know certain English actors are completely technical and wouldn't dream of being "in the moment," or varying their performances one iota, BUT, the evening I saw it, there was a moment which took place in what was supposed to be Dame effing Judi's living room, which proved this rigidity truly counter productive. One of her guests dropped his drink on the floor, completely shattering the glass. Although this happened not two feet downstage from where the hostess was sitting, Dame Dench did not budge. At an opportune moment, he stooped down and picked up the shards of glass, which he held in his bleeding hand throughout the scene, and took with him upon his exit. Most American trained actors might have learned the room, been aware that there was a nice little waste paper basket by the desk, and in character, true to their role as hostess, improvised something, relieving their fellow actor of their burden. Not our Dame effing Judi, on automatic pilot, she allowed the poor bastard go fish. Ot course the entier audience was focused on the man's prediciment, sending the entire scene right down the tubes, so in her reluctance to deviate from her etched in stone performance, she shot herself in the foot.

On July 2, a little while before she left on medical leave, Laura Benanti totally phoned in her TWS performance. It was horrid, and the jokes were just...ugh.

-JP in the Hairspray tour
-The Motormouth Maybell (sp) on the Hairspray tour
-Shoshana Bean in Wicked in March 2005 (I don't know what it was--I guess she just had this really great reputation and people built her up to be so good, that I was expecting the most amazing performance EVER. Also, it was Stacie Morgain Lewis' first performance--so she may have felt it was her chance to finally phone in a performance so that Stacie could shine?)
-Saycon Sengbloh in Wicked in July 2005-Obviously as an understudy. She was so quiet, the show almost put me to sleep. The show had almost NO energy. It was actually the entire ensemble too.
-Chicago's ensemble this past March. I saw the show in July 2005, and it was AMAZING--I said it was the most energy I had ever seen on stage, but when I went back to the show in March, they were so...not into it. Not half as good.

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I wanted to bump this thread. Since the last post in 2006, have you guys seen any other performances with actors phoning in?

The entire cast of Newsies for the past year.

Sherie Rene Scott has been very hit and miss for me.

Uh, Cripple was always a limited engagement with a known closing date.

Updated On: 7/28/14 at 04:20 PM