Casting Gone Wrong- Page 2

[newintown]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 9:09am

In the words of Anne Egerman, "Oh Henrik! How comical!"

The character's name is Lettice; reading your post, I was wetting myself picturing Maggie Smith and Julie Harris dressed as heads of iceberg lettuce.

[HistoryBoy2]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 9:32am

Dear sweet Linda Balgord as Madame Rose. I mean how why what I can't even.

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 9:52am

Dear sweet Linda Balgord as Queen Elizabeth in The Pirate Queen. I mean how why what I can't even.

Richard Kind in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Tovah Feldshuh in Hello Dolly (Papermill).

Christine Ebersole in Mame (Papermill).

[LoveDemBroadwayShows2]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 11:06am

Newintown, was that Totie Fields before or after the amputation? :)
Updated On: 7/21/11 at 11:06 AM

[newintown]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 11:20am

Definitely after - before, I'm sure she was another Eleanor Powell.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/21/11 at 11:35am

Going back a bit to things I didn't see but can't wrap my head around:

Michael Rennie in My Fair Lady
Nancy Dussault in Peter Pan
Barry Williams in West Side Story
Lee Remick in Annie Get Your Gun

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 2:32pm

Touche, newintown!

As familiar as I am that the role is spelled Lettice, I've made that mistake before, along with several other much more embarrasing special errors - er, spelling errors (I'm always writing too quickly on these posts, my fingers can't keep up with my addled brain) in social network writing.

Having said that, I love the idea of Julie as a lettuce. She'd make a great Endive!

[Patash]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 4:11pm

Newintown, I think you missed the point about "Lettuce". I believe the poster was referring to that show about organic farming in California during the 60's -- Lettuce in the Love Age.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 7:14pm

Barbara Cook in Carrie
The whole cast of the revival of Grease

[Overkill]

Posted: 7/22/11 at 8:38pm

If the rumors are true....Darren Criss in How to Succeed.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 11:01am

Bernadette as Annie Oakley? Ouch!

[spike3]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 11:19am

Andrea McArdle as Rose in Gypsy
Judith Ivey as Sally in Follies

[raker]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:46pm

The recording of West Side Story with Jose Contreras singing Tony with a Spanish accent.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 11:38pm

I didn't see the whole show, but the video on YouTube of Judith Ivey singing "Losing My Mind" is pretty freakin' terrific.

[Skip2]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 12:38am

Oh let's see..

Julian Ovendon in Death Takes A Holiday
Shirley Jones in 42nd Street
Will Swenson in Priscilla
Ellen Barkin in Normal Heart
Chris Rock in Mother****er
Daniel Radcliffe in How To Succeed
Victoria Clark in Sister Act
Douglas Hodge in La Cage
Joel Grey in Anything Goes (honorable mention: Sutton Foster)
Richard Griffiths in Equus
Audra McDonald in 110 In The Shade
Kelly O'Hara in South Pacific
Matthew Broderick in Odd Couple

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 10:31am

Not a stage show, but a film adaptation of one:

The casting of Daniel Day-Lewis, a fine actor and a good, solid singer. But he was still totally wrong for Guido, because he couldn't capture the charm and humor of the character. He was his usual brooding introverted self. Always fascinating to watch, but a critical misstep with Nine, which needs a central character than can understand the humor of Guido's situation, more than the gravity of it.

As a result, the movie felt way too heavy and stoic at times. As Felini said about "8 1/2" when he was filming it ... he had to tape a sign to the camera that said, "Remember, this is a comedy." Something Rob Marshall forgot when he went after Day-Lewis for the part of Guido.

Best casting choice for Guido in "Nine" on film: Robert Downey Jr.

The result was really casting gone wrong, where it sank the project. Not that it didn't have some other problems, and also other wonderful gems going for it, but by far the largest "oops" was the miscasting of the leading man.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 12:32pm

Megan Mullally in Young Frankenstein. I thought she played up the stuck-up aspect of that character so much that there was no chance for the gag to work at the end of the show. Madeline Kahn played the role in the film as a bitch, but she was a funny bitch. Megan turned it into a shrill bitch. Talented actress, wrong role.
Updated On: 7/24/11 at 12:32 PM

[PennybankBill]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 1:06pm

Skip2, how was Richard Griffiths in Equus "casting gone wrong"?

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 1:18pm

Griffiths isn't miscast on paper, really, but at the performance I attended he acted like he wanted to be anywhere else but on stage.

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 10:02pm

Gotta agree about Day-Lewis in the movie version of Nine. He's a wonderful actor and I didn't think his singing was too bad, but he was too brooding, which is not what that character needs. The rest of the cast was very well put together especially Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz who were simply breathtaking. However, who ever decided to lower the key to Unusual Way and force poor Nicole Kidman to sing it out of her range is an idiot. She could have handled the original key and sounded much better, but oh well...

[littlegreen2]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 4:01am

I haven't seen too much on Broadway, but there is something terribly wrong with Caren Lyn Tackett as Sheila in Hair. She's a great presence but her voice is grating.

Curt Hansen as Gabe in the national touring company of next to normal - it's almost as if singing is unnatural to him.

Jennifer Damiano as MJ in Spiderman: TOTD. I don't even need to see it to know that it is a complete waste of her talent.

[lemongello]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 12:32pm

John Stamos and Gina Gershon in last year's disastrous Bye Bye Birdie. I wanted to like it so much I hated it.

Harvey Fierstein and Rosie ODonnell in Fiddler on the Roof. The worst, worst, worst casting (did I say that enough times??) I had ever seen. She could not remember a line and played it as more of a Jewish characature than the actual role. He was just a hint better.

[Sauja]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 3:04pm

I'll go there: Danielle Radcliffe in How to Succeed. A wonderful actor and solid enough dancer without the voice or comic chops to pull off the role. I admire his sincerity and work ethic, butI think he's just not up to the role.

And I'll ditto Will Swenson in Priscilla. Yyyyikes! His performance runs the gamut from mortified to terrified.

[Renart]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 3:11pm

Courtney B Vance and Angela Bassett in the Guthrie's "His Girl Friday". Now I know what some actors mean when they say that comedy is harder. These two otherwise good dramatic actors had absolutely no business being in this. Granted, the entire show was an awful mess, but one would expect some chemistry between two actors who are married to each other in real life. Nope.

[Overkill]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 3:17pm

People either loved or hated Harvey as Tevye. Personally, I loved him. Thought he put a lot of thought and character into it and he gave the character heart and charm. Rosie was harmless, imo. Nothing amazing, but she could have been worse.