Chad Kimball Leaves MEMPHIS

He needs to take a medical leave, but he's not leaving for three full months?

Is this just a nice way to say his contract wasn't renewed?

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This caught my eye:

"...due to nerve damage he's suffered in his neck as a result of performing the demanding role of 'Huey Calhoun' eight nights a week."

Since WHEN has he performed eight shows per week? While I don't know what caused his injury, and that it is perfectly possible to have injured himself as a result of his performance, the implication that the role itself is what lead to such injury is almost laughable.

AC1, I was thinking the same thing. I went to look at the opening date for the show and it was in October. Maybe that has no bearing but I find it interesting that he is leaving at that time.

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I agree. It is a bit strange that he is injured now but is not leaving the show until October.
I wish him all the best though.

I saw him early on and he was even more annoying than he was in the filmed version.

something is very odd here. he's injured but will still perform with the show for 3 more months. my guess is he'll still perform only 2 shows a week and they'll have his u/s rotate(there are three Huey u/s - Bryan Fenkart, Justin Patterson, Jamison Scott).

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While it is true (and odd) that his contract is up in the sept/oct timeframe, the injury and absence timing is plausible.

He has had this 'nerve' thing for a long time now, since last winter i believe, and it is what has caused his poor attendance (and hence the show assigning him a standby). Nerve injuries are not like a broken foot or strained vocal chords; an example is in pro sports where players can tolerate a nerve injury it but may eventually have to bite the bullet and schedule a time to go on the DL or eventually have surgery during the offseason if it never heals itself.

I do remember his performances being much stronger towards the beginning of the run, and he was also much healthier looking! I imagine that being a lead-actor isn’t easy and his is role is one of the most physically taxing roles currently on bway. But like many have been saying on these boards "if he can’t handle it, then step aside and let someone else try"... there ya go!

With that said, does that mean hes pretty much done? The show is doing just fine but I cant imagine Memphis is going to run THAT much longer.

Updated On: 7/21/11 at 12:18 PM

Chad your attendance in this thread is better than the last six months in the theatre!

Looks like we may another Karen Olivo situation like in "West Side Story."

^Hunter Foster is working on The Hollow at Signature Theatre right now, I doubt he'd go on as Huey.

I thought he was good enough early on in the run, but his voice was too thin to maintain singing high Cs for too long. Montego will be playing Felicia for a while, I'm sure.

His performance in the filmed version was bizarre, I could see how maintaining that strange posture 8 shows a week could cause damage of some kind.

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massofmen: If you can understand English, you can understand what he says. I mean, you can also even make the case that black people in the south did talk differently than white people, and since the cast is actually mostly black, you can make the case that his different voice/accent is actually correct.

And if he was THAT bad, Memphis would not be still here.