Children on Broadway

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 2:00am

If I understand it correctly when a Broadway show has a little kid in it (ie Lion King or Tarzan) there are several young actors who each play a few performances a week. How, then, do they decide which kid will be recorded on the cast album?

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 2:02am

Obviously, whoever the producer thinks is the better will be on the cast recording.

[Just_John]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 2:02am

That's usually the case. But in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jeremy and Jemima, which are very big roles, did 8 shows a week. The girl lost her contract for getting too tall, but the boy only missed half a performance. Also in Mary Poppins I think the children are going to do 8 shows.
Updated On: 7/16/06 at 02:02 AM

[BJC899]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 2:04am

I don't have any information except this:

For Tarzan, the two boys who play young Tarzan each sing on the CD

Daniel Manche sings "Who Better Than Me"

and Alex Rutherford sings " I need to know" and "Everything That I am"

[greeneyed_one]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 2:06am

Tarzan was actually what inspired my question. It seemed really weird to me to have two kids singing one part on the CD and I was wondering if I was confused or if this is common practice.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 9:14am

I think the decision of whether or not to have multiple sets of children is a producer's choice. At least in America (Britain has strict labor laws). There are a lot of shows like ANNIE and THE SOUND OF MUSIC which only used one cast of children (and understudies of course).

Disney and LES MIZ always alternated their young performers. MARY POPPINS has two sets of kids listed in their cast announcement.

I think when multiple kids are involved, generally the producer makes a choice on one child. It's rare to find cast recordings where they divide the tracks; it just disrupts the continuity of the album.

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 11:10am

the mary poppins children are double cast. i know for a fact as i know one of the girls who will be jane!!

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 11:52am

If I'm not mistaken, the boy who sings all of Colin's music on the OBC of "The Secret Garden" was actually the understudy.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 11:58am

"The Boy From Oz" had only one child who played the young Peter Allen and he was fantastic! He was played by Mitchel Federan and was also on "All My Children" back then as well.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 1:18pm

SOme shows have one kid in the roles, but when theres two children i think generally theres one who does the opening niight and the recording and stuff

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 4:52pm

"If I'm not mistaken, the boy who sings all of Colin's music on the OBC of "The Secret Garden" was actually the understudy."

I read that too.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 4:54pm

"The girl lost her contract for getting too tall"

I sorta found that amusing for some reason...

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 5:09pm

THE SECRET GARDEN cast recording was made well into the Broadway run, and the original actor playing Colin had since left the show. He was brought back for the recording, but his voice had begun to break, and so his replacement sang one song: "Come to My Garden."

[myManCape]

Posted: 7/16/06 at 6:49pm

Im almost positive that for Tarzan, both kids are required to be at the show EVERYDAY even if they know their not performing that particular show. Almost like a standby. I dont know if there’s a reason behind it, other than the standby idea.