qolbinau said: ""?Stars’ are human too and the American obsession, which thankfully isn’t as extreme in the West End is not healthy. "
The west end is a whole other extreme, at least in America you are sure to get a refund if a star is out. In the money-grubbing, bait-and-switch scam that is the West End, you can pay hundreds of pounds to see Glenn Close in SUNSET BOULEVARD only to catch an understudy. Appalling, appalling.
As for Buckley, I guess she has basically come out of retirement and hasn't had an extended performance schedule like this for a very, very, very long time"
Re 'money-grubbing, bait-and-switch scam that is the West End', so you are annoyed that you missed seeing someone...we all have been. Couple of observations:
-- The West End is so much more reasonably priced than Broadway that is it ridiculous. Money grubbing is not a phrase that has EVER crossed my mind to describe it.
-- I have had to sit though performances of several shows on Broadway because their Tony nominated lead wasn't billed above the title. Talk about a ridiculous technicality. Have to admit that I would be pissed if Glenn Close was out the day I went to see SB; however, it wouldn't lead me to blast the entire 'money-grubbing, bait-and-switch scam that is the West End'. If it is a standard policy -- one that I imagine all regular WE theatergoers know about -- I may not like it, but I know it.
Re Buckley, I suspect that she does not have the professionalism of the Channings, Mermans, Peters, etc., re 'the show must go on'. Based on the above data, it appears that she has missed performances in multiple cities. Posting fun doings on Facebook when you are cancelling performances on the same day seems incredibly unprofessional, downright arrogant, to me. Dolly is one of the smaller great roles IMO...hell, she doesn't even show up in Act 2 for 20 minutes and she is frequently off stage during the first act. People with far less impressive voices then her have won awards for playing Dolly...she needs to try a little harder. (I seem to remember reading on this board recently about A+ star -- I think it was Patti Lupone -- who was carrying a hankie around, and using it frequently, while giving the audience her all. Some people are troopers and some people are not).
PS -- I have to admit that I have never liked Buckley, and the key reason is that she has always been a cold performer on-stage to me and (nothing to do with her performances) I have a friend who works in a high-end store at which she shops; he said she is a bitch-on-wheels and acts like she is Norma Desmond. This seems very consistent to me with posting fun events on Facebookon the same day you are cancelling yet again a performance.