Chip Zien going into Les Miz- Page 3

[jennafan]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 3:49pm

I don't think he just went in and hated their performances and fired them.

I know that both Ben and Mandy had been sick quite a bit already. They just started the show less than 2 months ago and have missed a few performances.
I think word of mouth is poweful. It was mentioned on BWW that Daphne was bad, and she never returned. Fans also said Mandy and Harada should be replaced and now look what happened.

I think Ben is great, but I do agree that Mandy and Harada had to go.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 3:51pm

Possible, but I somehow don't think Cammack is sending a bunch of interns to read BWW all the time.

Besides, the reason given to Ben (according to his blog) had nothing to do with how sick he'd been.

Updated On: 6/17/07 at 03:51 PM

[jennafan]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 3:55pm

True, but the reason they gave him... "your voice is too heavy and classical for the new orchestrations" sounds made up to me.

[HumATune]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 4:08pm

I doubt Ben was fired for illness. Not when others have missed several shows as well due to illness and injury.

[mikem]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 4:11pm

The abruptness of the firings (Ben Davis says in his blog that he was told on Thursday that Saturday would be his last performance) seems really harsh. Morale backstage must be terrible. I assume that Davis, Bruno, and Harada all have to have their contracts paid out, which would soften the blow a little.

In terms of the reasons, I do not think that Cam Mac could say that he's firing people because they get sick too much without opening himself up to being sued. I agree that the reason about Ben's voice not fitting in with the orchestrations sounds lame -- wouldn't the producers have gained some familiarity with the qualities of his voice during the FOUR YEARS he was with Les Miserables already?

Updated On: 6/17/07 at 04:11 PM

[C is for Company]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 4:18pm

Ben said he'd been with Les Miserables for four years, how long had Max been with them during the original run? I know he was at least a part of the closing cast when I went, but how long had he been in it prior to the May closing? It surprises me that someone who had been a part of their history for four years gets the boot over others.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 4:21pm

Max was the last person hired in the "original" production in 2003. He was Jean Prouviare and Marius understudy.

Ben Davis started as Feuilly and Enjolras understudy on tour in 1998, was Enjolras on Broadway (right before 9/11) for a few months, went back to the tour as Feuilly, then left in 2002 for La Bohème.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 5:23pm

A Mass execution is no stranger, considering it's a Cammack show. Didn't he fire the entire Broadway company of the original, many years ago?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 5:26pm

In 1996 he fired...half? A third? of the cast, but that was because so many of them had been there for like 8 or 9 years and were basically sleepwalking through it.

[Marianne]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 5:48pm

Is anyone else half-expecting stunt casting for the replacement Javert? Mandy and Ann were awful and deserved to go, but I don't really see a good reason to go to the trouble of buying out Ben's contract unless it was to replace him with someone they really wanted to bring in. The excuse about his voice not fitting the reorchestrations is BS--if they wanted to avoid heavy, booming, classical voices in this one, Aaron Lazar would never have been hired and Ben Crawford would've gotten the chop instead of being promoted to understudy Valjean.

[Shawk]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 6:22pm

And Norm Lewis doesn't exactly have a non-classical voice...

[desiree armfeldt]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 6:47pm

This is so strange! I wonder who's going to take over these roles until the contracts expire in November???!!!

I agree with the firings of Harada and Bruno (as much as I adore Harada from Avenue Q)....but Davis? What is going on?

Any word on replacements? If Saturday was everyone's last performance, than wouldn't there be new people in the roles for today's matinée? Who filled in?

[mmebahorel]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 6:56pm

If we're talking about illness, then there should have been some consequences for Aaron and Celia - they both had the same thing Ben suffered from and missed a crapload of shows.

Mackintosh likes to go on random purges of US companies while ignoring London company. I remember a purge on tour several years ago where people who were better than their London counterparts at the time had their contracts bought out while people I considered tired wastes of space were kept on. If he ever gave the appearance of caring about London company, I wouldn't be upset over these things, but utter wastes of space over there get contracts renewed and I never hear about crazy mid-contract purges, therefore it certainly gives the impression that he doesn't care what goes on in London company. So why does he care about Broadway company? (the tour was in preparation for Shanghai - he didn't care before or since.)

Right now, now that I've had time to digest the news (I was at the show last night so I got it from Ben himself rather than finding it all over the place this morning), the person I feel most sorry for is Matt Clemens, who is dance captain. He looks completely rung out and the end isn't yet in sight.

(and I gotta say, the news on Crawford - I adore Ben Crawford, and initially went OMG!Yay! and then the immediate next thought was "can he hit that top note for BHH?" He strikes me an excellent actor with good instincts, and I adored Greg Stone and John Owen Jones ages ago, when they were both young actors in the role, but it's the range that worries me. I do look forward to seeing how that goes.)

The 1996 firing was a complete buyout of all cast contracts, wasn't it, Lizzie? Everyone was allowed to reaudition, but I thought I heard the only person Mackintosh didn't want rid of was Ivan Rutherford but wanted to get a "name" to make a big deal of the 10th anniversary and thus explain the buyout. He wanted to get rid of too many people. Ivan Rutherford was rehired for Valjean (first as alternate only because Mackintosh wanted a "name" for the reopening, but he's been in and out of both US companies since then), and Christeena Michelle Riggs was hired back as a feature (was Eponine, became Cosette). Part of it, too, was a casting legacy and the difficulty of everyone except Valjean, Javert, and Fantine being chorus contracts with features.


This time around it's rather more interesting as far as "why" because Ben is an audience favourite, Ann has been doing better lately, IMO, and I hate most Eponines so my dislike for Mandy Bruno is really fairly typical. Also, if he's going to be annoyed by anything, someone needs to calm Alex down. He has perfectly fine instincts, but the longer he's been in the role, the more of a caricature of himself he's become. I hope he just needs the vacation he's finally getting next week because I did like him back in October.

Why am I even getting into this over here?

(may as well add that I would be thrilled if Gary Beach never came back. But I prefer really harsh Thenardiers rather than those who try to play for laughs, so this is a taste issue rather than a statement that he needs to go away. But it was really more egregious when Jenny Galloway was in - Chip Leonard was a much better fit with her than Gary ever was. That was not inspired casting. I think Ann was a better match, even if I really hated her work with Cosette. I liked her better than usual last night - it's not fair that it had to come at the end.)

[desiree armfeldt]

Posted: 6/17/07 at 6:58pm

So are understudies taking over?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 6/18/07 at 8:21am

Sometimes "creative" producing is bad.

Just raise the money and shut up. Let the director be your demon.