Actors who were fired from/left roles — Page 4

Steven Pasquale had to pull out of The Light in the Piazza and South Pacific due to conflicts with his Rescue Me schedule. Interestingly both times he was replaced by Matthew Morrison.

Another small world coincidence is the departures of Craig Bierko in Matilda, and Jeffrey Tambor in La Cage. Both actors departed suddenly and were replaced by their understudy, Chris Hoch, before Christopher Sieber took over full time.

Speaking of the La Cage dismissals, here is an article about Robert Stack. http://nypost.com/2011/03/04/laurents-livid-stack-attack/

Capeguy said: "Valerie Harper replaced by Marlo Thomas in Theives -- Boston pre-NY



Yes, Valerie Harper was replaced but not because she wasn't any good. Harper walked out because Michael Bennett, the play's original director left the show. Marlo was a last minute replacement as she was dating playwright Herb Gardner. Charles Grodin replaced Michael Bennett as director.



In 1977 it became a film. Marlo reprised her role and Charles Grodin wound up playing the role originated by Richard Mulligan

Phylicia Ayers Allen (Rashad) left Dreamgirls ... While Sheryl Lee Ralph was on vacation, Phylicia was to stand in for her, however, Michael Bennett thought to bring in Linda Leilani Brown to give her some stage time before the national tour kicked off. Knowing her worth, Rashad did not stand for it and quit the show. Bye, Phylicia!

Deena Jones said: "Phylicia Ayers Allen (Rashad) left Dreamgirls ... While Sheryl Lee Ralph was on vacation, Phylicia was to stand in for her, however, Michael Bennett thought to bring in Linda Leilani Brown to give her some stage time before the national tour kicked off. Knowing her worth, Rashad did not stand for it and quit the show. Bye, Phylicia."



I never knew that. I saw her in the show and loved her. I later saw Sheryl and there was no comparison.

"Alice Ripley replacing Judy Kuhn in Sunset Blvd."

- Judy Kuhn didn't go to Broadway, I believe, because she was pregnant. She also did the voice of Pochantas at the time.



"Natalie Mendoza left Spider-Man very early in previews after both herself and fellow cast mate Christopher Tierney sustained injuries. "

- America Olivo who was Natalie's original understudy also left around the time of Tierney's injuries both for being overlooked (they let TV Carpio go on more than America) and the lack of safety



"Stark sands was replaced by Jeremy Jordan in Bonnie and Clyde."

Stark was not fired, however. He left to do American Idiot and didn't want to do the Sarasota run of B&C.



Some others:

-Nikki Snelson fired from WONDERLAND in favor of Linda Eder (to play the Mad Hatter) who wouldn't commit to the show's "pre-Broadway engagement" in Tampa.

-Hinton Battle dropped out of DRACULA, the musical about 3 weeks before previews were supposed to start delaying production. He choreographed a movie-musical by Outkast on HBO instead. I don't even remember if this was released.

-Melissa Errico was fired from Passion because she missed too many performances due to vocal strain (sadly a common trend for her)

-Brooke Shields dropped out of Leap of Faith because she didn't think the role/show was right for her, given the extensive reworking after the LA premiere.

-Jessica Rush and Derek Keeling were fired from A Tale of Two Cities after the pre-Broadway try out. Keeling went on to do Grease at the same time; they didn't even have a replacement for Rush, and James Barbour asked Frank Wildhorn to help with the score, and at that meeting met Frank's then-fiance Brandi Burkhardt who was given a last minute audition and got the part.

Updated On: 4/19/16 at 02:09 PM

Jonathon Groff left HAIR before the Public Theater engagement ended to film TAKING WOODSTOCK, and then did Craig Lucas's THE SINGING FOREST at the Public rather than go with HAIR to Broadway.

I wish he had stayed with HAIR long enough to record it.

Natascia Diaz and Solange Sandy got the boot from SWEET CHARITY back in 2005. If I'm not mistaken, Solange Sandy got a role in the ensemble in CHICAGO as severance and Nastascia Diaz got a matinee ticket in the mezzanine of CHICAGO as severance.

Ooh!!!! We're forgetting Dallas Roberts. Y'all remember he was told to "Beat it!" from THE GLASS MENAGERIE starring Jessica Lange in 2005. Christian Slater ended up being his replacement. I rather enjoyed both Lange and Slater in this production. I did not enjoy Sarah Paulson's Laura. And I have found I usually do enjoy Ms. Paulson. Go figure, sugar.

Updated On: 4/21/16 at 10:22 AM

Valentina3 said: "NJ_BroadwayGirl said: "TFMH18 said: "Stephanie J. Block in Wicked comes to mind immediately. That one's still gotta sting. "

I'm pretty sure she still gets checks from them so that probably softens the blow."

What do you mean? She was part of the workshops. I don't see why she'd be getting paid? Some creative royalties? :O"

Since she was part of the workshop, under a workshop contract she shares in 1% of the profits.

That is correct, but the producers wanted Linda Eder in a "come back to Broadway" moment to do it, but she didn't want to do the Tampa run. The role was then given to Shindle.

The Other One said: "I mentioned Dallas Roberts a few pages back. I hated Sarah in that production, too, but she has been good to great ever since.



"

Sorry, brah! Must have missed it. My friend who knew nothing about THE GLASS MENAGERIE thought Sarah Paulson's performance was weird and funny. He loved to imitate her for a long time after. He would cross his eyes and say in a strange voice "What shall I wish for, Mother?" It used to make me laugh and actually, I'm giggling as I'm typing this. He loves her on AMERICAN HORROR STORY and on AMERICAN CRIME STORY now. He was shocked when I told him it was the same person.