Best "stunt cast"?- Page 2
Best "stunt cast"?
yankeefan7
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/12
Jarethan
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
#26Best
Posted: 11/16/17 at 10:59am
To me, Stunt Casting is always about replacements. How are we going to come up with creative ways to make the show run longer. Examples to me are:
-- Zsa Zsa Gabor in 40 Carats. In what galaxy would Zsa Zsa and Julie Harris play the same role? And the grosses go up when the Tony award winning lead left (of course, she did win in one of the worst seasons for non-musicals ever).
-- Melanie Griffith in Chicago. -- Bebe Neuwirth coming back to play Roxie and Matron Mama Morton...I remember specifically that Roxie was during the winter doldrums. Clearly stunt casting.
-- Rosie O'Donnell in Suessical.
-- Richard Burton in Equus. This may not even be stunt casting, since he was a great actor who had appeared in serious productions in the past. But, it re-vitalized the show, grosses went up because they raised the prices, he was only in it for a short time, and grosses dropped drastically when he left.
-- Angela Lansbury in TKAI for three whole weeks, in an attempt to maintain the grosses when Yul Brynner was on vacation. Unfortunately, the show was so associated with Brynner that its grosses fell dramatically, even though the king is a supporting role.
-- Brendan Urie -- never heard of him until the grosses came out, but definitely. Rock star, broadway premiere, brief run, grosses up dramatically.
-- Fran Drescher in Cinderella -- even if it was a small role, they advertised the hell out of it.
-- Jackie Gleason in Sly Fox. Goal was to keep the show running after George C Scott left. Scheduled for a short run. Didn't actually work. Scott was a superstar for a small time period and this as during that time period.
-- The entire cast go the Pearl Bailey 'Hello Dolly'. So much publicity about the basic stunt. I am pretty sure that I read that it was expected to be a limited engagement; but, when the reviews came out, ...
-- Liza Minelli in Chicago. Probably the most successful example that I can think of...turned the show from a likely flop (due to the Chorus Line juggernaut)
-- Sarta Barriles in Waitress
-- Harvey and Rosie in Fiddler?????????? I would argue 'yes'.
-- Darren Criss in How to Succeed...3 weeks only, box office went up dramatically, following Daniel Radcliffe run. There are a lot of tweens with well-off parents.
-- Agree with Sting in The Last Ship, even though it didn't work. The show? the fact that he was not in the lead? Broadway audiences not interested?
-- Emma Stone in Cabaret. Limited engagement from the getgo, grosses went up, show closed shortly after she left, as I recall.
-- Ethel Merman in Hello Dolly???????? Written for her, turned it down, getting close to closing, came in with fanfare for a limited engagement after which the show would close, go out with a bang (after the mega-whimper of Phyllis Diller, I think).
Sure I could think of others if I gave it a little more time.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#28Best
Posted: 11/16/17 at 12:30pm
stunt casting = Wendy Williams as the Matron in CHICAGO. In this case, a person with a somewhat recognizable name who can neither sing, dance or act.
Others:
Sue Ane Langdon - THE APPLE TREE (brief Barbara Harris replacement)
Dorothy Lamour - OH CAPTAIN! (the show closed the week she went in)
Jarethan
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
#29Best
Posted: 11/16/17 at 1:43pm
morosco said: "I would like to have seen Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley take over the leads in War Paint if the run continued."
I don t think that would qualify as stunt casting, which is intended to sell more tickets or to sell enough tickets to get over a hump. They wouldn't sell tickets if Lupone (and Ebersole) had a problem doing so. Obviously, I don't really think Ebersole sold that many tickets. While talented, she is certainly not in Lupone's league in terms of either resume or fame.
On an earlier note, I don't see Sue Anne Langdon as stunt casting...I doubt she sold two tickets...maybe her mother bought one.
#30Best
Posted: 11/16/17 at 2:07pm
I think "stunt casting" as it is typically defined in the industry is usually a fairly derogatory statement and is used to mean a star with little or no verified talent being cast purely for their name recognition. This is not necessarily the same thing as star casting.
The best examples of 'stunt casting' are of course the bizarre names who have rotated through Chicago over the years: "Christy Brinkley" would be a perfect example of 'stunt casting' in my book.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#31Best
Posted: 11/16/17 at 2:39pm
Melissa Etheridge as St Jimmy in "American Idiot;' she only did one week to cover Billie Joe's vacation, but having a woman in that part gave it a whole other dimension. Plus, she sang the hell out of it!
"What- and quit show business?" - the guy shoveling elephant shit at the circus.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
Rumpelstiltskin
Broadway Star Joined: 4/22/07
#35Best
Posted: 11/16/17 at 10:52pmThere are many unusual-to-me interpretations of stunt casting in this thread. When they cast a famous baseball player in Damn Yankees, or the mayor of New York in a one-night-only performance of Fiorello, or a celebrity YouTuber (with no prior acting experience) in some other revival, or Wendy Williams in anything, that’s stunt casting. But, like many have said, there’s nothing stuntish about casting a seasoned performer who is appropriate for the role and also happens to be a megastar, especially when, like many of the people mentioned here, they have multiple credits on a legit stage.
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