Big Names Touring

[Ke3]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 2:32pm

Does anyone know when the last time a tour was sent out with a "star" in the lead? I was thinking about Chita going on tour with Spider Woman when Vanessa replaced her. I can't think of anything like that happening since then. Not with a name of that caliber.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 2:42pm

Betty Buckley in Hello, Dolly!

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 2:55pm

Not a Star outside of Broadway really, but Adam Pascal is out with PRETTY WOMAN. 

[MattieIce2018]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 2:55pm

JSquared2 said: "Not a Star outside of Broadway really, but Adam Pascal is out with PRETTY WOMAN."

Was thinking of Pascal too - he went out with the SOMETHING ROTTEN tour a few years ago as well.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 5:11pm

Carole Carmello played Dolly at the shutdown. A name in the theatre world. 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 5:34pm

Ralph Macchio as J Pierrepont Finch in The How to Succeed tour in the 90’s.

 

Idina Menzel toured with If/Then for a bit kind of around the height of the first frozen movie. 
 

I guess Richard Thomas touring with To Kill a Mockingbird could be considered a big deal.

 

Jason Alexander and Martin Short were both in the Producers tour, albeit only for the LA stop.

 

Then, while not touring, Ana Gasteyer was in the Chicago cast of Wicked and Wayne Brady was in the Chicago cast of Hamilton. 

 

[Tag]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 5:46pm

Topol did Fiddler through 2009.

[bowtie7]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 5:51pm

Times have changed so much--from my younger days, I saw the following in national tours:

Jean Stapleton in Arsenic and Old Lace

Peter Ustinov and Fritz Weaver in Beethoven's Tenth

Patrick Dempsey (pre-famous) in Brighton Beach Memoirs

Joel Grey in Cabaret

Chita Rivera in Can-Can

Christian Slater (pre-famous) in Copperfield (tryout)

Elizabeth Ashley and Sandy Dennis in A Couple of White Chicks Sitting Around Taking

Topol in Fidler on the Roof

Dolores Gray in 42nd Street

Louis Jourdan in Gigi

Carol Channing in Hello Dolly

Lena Horne in The Lady and Her Music

Dorothy McGuire in I Never Sang For My Father

Cleo Lane in Into the Woods

Yul Brynner in The King and I

Mary Martin and Carol Channing in Legends

Tim Curry in Me & My Girl

Tommy Tune in My One and Only

Mercedes McCambridge in 'night Mother

Liv Ullmann (and Harold Pinter) in Harold Pinter's Old Times

Imogene Coca in On the 20th Century 

Lily Tomlin in Search of Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

Carol Channing and Robert Morse in Sugar Babies

Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller in Sugar Babies

Robert Morse in Tru

Keith Carradine in Will Rogers Follies

Lauren Becall in Woman of the Year

Anthony Quinn in Zorba

and finally (but my personal favorite)

Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn in The Gin Game
 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 6:36pm

Wayne Brady did Hamilton? Missed that. 

Sally Struthers did Hello Dolly. (A name to some)

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/19/22 at 7:02pm

Didn't Carol Channing tour in HELLO, DOLLY! ?

[pg1287]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 4:25pm

Anthony Rapp toured with If/Then.

[bdboston]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 5:24pm

Some that come to mind:

Ann-Margret - Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

Elaine Stritch - Elaine Stritch at Liberty

Bruce Vilanch - Hairspray

Cherry Jones - Proof

Richard Thomas and George Wendt - Twelve Angry Men

Sally Struthers - Annie

Kaye Ballard - The Full Monty

Marie Osmond - The Sound of Music

Sandy Duncan, Hayley Mills, Stefanie Powers - The King & I

Valerie Harper - Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Looped (scheduled)

Stefanie Powers - Looped (after Harper bowed out)

Melissa Gilbert - Little House of the Prairie 

Petula Clark - Sunset Boulevard

Georgia Engel - The Drowsy Chaperone

Joan Collins and Linda Evans - Legends

Toni  Tennille - Victor Victoria



All the 'names' in Grease

Updated On: 3/20/22 at 05:24 PM

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 6:49pm

Sting going out on the tour for The Last Ship has to be the biggest recently. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 6:54pm

RippedMan said: "Wayne Brady did Hamilton? Missed that."

Updated On: 3/20/22 at 06:54 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 7:11pm

PHANTOM and the other megamusicals changed touring forever: the focus is now on the title, not the performer. Now with the subscription touring model, a good chunk of the seats can be pre-sold regardless of who's in the show (and sometimes without even knowing all the titles in advance).

It can be a hassle for stars to tour –– they cost a lot of money, which the presenters often aren't willing to pay unless there's a BIG name. Can also add headaches around accommodations...if the star comes with an assistant, a spouse, and a lengthy rider, all those ancillary expenses (on top of salary) add up quick. You also have a long history of stars who just aren't very good onstage, George Hamilton in LA CAGE being perhaps the most classic recent example. 

The rise of the non-equity tour has also been a factor. Instead of throwing a star in for the second leg of a title, you can go for the cheap and earn more money. That's "can" not "should."

It's different for plays, which still pretty much require a semi-star (like Richard Thomas & Mary Badham in TKAM) who can at least do a run of local press and generate more interest than a stage actor who nobody has heard of.

Updated On: 3/20/22 at 07:11 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 8:03pm

Wayne Brady would do an “act 3” of musical improv to raise money for BCEFA after some Hamilton shows, right?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 8:12pm

The Wayne Brady in HAMILTON situation is unique because the show was so hot. I have heard on good authority that after his great run in KINKY BOOTS in 2015/16, his team was pushing HARD to get him considered for Burr or Washington. He auditioned, and they probably didn't have to pay him a dime more than they paid Josh Henry since the run was basically sold out by the time Brady joined.

(Side note, in Harvey Fierstein's new memoir, he affectionately speaks about Wayne Brady's performance in KB being the version he envisioned in his head while writing it –– while also acknowledging Billy Porter's crucial contributions shaping the role –– since he had written Lola as a heterosexual drag performer.)

Updated On: 3/20/22 at 08:12 PM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/21/22 at 11:56am

Many of the names listed here would not be considered "big." They would considered "semi-celebrity." These are typically people who can be gotten on the cheaper and side and many of the audience won't know who they are.

Back in the day people became "stars" from the vaudeville houses. Broadway stage and television appearances. They were household names with the talent and chops to back it up. Hit songs came from Broadway musicals. It was a much more integrated trajectory. 

Now "stars" on tour are second run reality stars and often faded film or TV stars. I still haven't recovered from Molly Ringwald shuffling offstage during "Im A Brass Band" at the start of the dance break and shuffling back on at the end. Horrifying she got paid for that. 

Richard Thomas is a remarkable actor with a distinguished pedigree outside of the Waltons, so I view him as a solid "big" name. 

I typically base my feeling about how "big" the star is based on their ability to perform the role as written (all the singing, all the dancing, all the drama, all the comedy.) 

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 3/22/22 at 7:58pm

Bettyboy72 said: "Many of the names listed here would not be considered "big." They would considered "semi-celebrity." These are typically people who can be gotten on the cheaper and side and many of the audience won't know who they are.

Back in the day people became "stars" from the vaudeville houses. Broadway stage and television appearances. They were household names with the talent and chops to back it up. Hit songs came from Broadway musicals. It was a much more integrated trajectory.

Now "stars" on tour are second run reality stars and often faded film or TV stars. I still haven't recovered from Molly Ringwald shuffling offstage during "Im A Brass Band" at the start of the dance break and shuffling back on at the end. Horrifying she got paid for that.

Richard Thomas is a remarkable actor with a distinguished pedigree outside of the Waltons, so I view him as a solid "big" name.

I typically base my feeling about how "big" the star is based on their ability to perform the role as written (all the singing, all the dancing, all the drama, all the comedy.)"

with respect, what you are describing is a performer’s calibre. A ‘name’ is recognisable to some of the general public, a big name is recognisable to lots of the general public, a household name is known to almost all across the board (ie known in every household)

Name means someone has name recognition. It has nothing to do with talent 

 

Mm