Curtains For Connie.

Julia McKenzie would appear to have started a trend with her decision to give up the stage and concentrate on more lucrative TV work.
The new TV MIss Marples has decided that theatre work is far too time consuming and tiring.

Connie Fisher, who opened this week in a lengthy tour of the London Palladium production of 'The Sound Of Music' in Cardiff, has said it will most probably be her last musical.
'Im not sure I wil be doing any more stage work' said the 26 year old .
Quoting Michael Jackson 'This Is It! Never say never but for now I would like to do a little more television work, I want to break into presenting'
In April she had to cancel a tour promoting her album as doctors said she needed an emergency operation to save her vocal cords.

Updated On: 7/26/09 at 09:00 PM

I know may sund harsh but she won the role in the west end ssh should be sticking with it

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Im sorry but
I HATE THIS WOMAN SO MUCH

Why enter that stupid Maria show and tell everyone its the only thing shes ever wanted to do, then 2 or so shows later she dumps theatre and moves on to TV

Im sorry but i hope she falls flat on her middle aged face

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No, I think you're right. There was something about Connie when she was auditioning originally that I really liked, that she's lost now. Same thing for Jodie, but she's still the person I voted for - she's immensely likeable, but Connie hasn't got that factor any more.

I don't have much of an opinion either way on the lady (I didn't see the Maria show and I enjoyed her in SoM well enough) but I saw her wandering around the Bay this morning!

(I posted this in another thread but it seems more appropriate to put it here)

Has anyone seen her in the tour yet?

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The frustrating thing about this thread for me is that I'm sure that if this had been another young musical theatre actress with one or two shows under her belt (Leanne Jones, for instance) announcing this, I'm sure the reaction would be different. Because it's Connie, and some people have just made up their minds about her and won't be swayed, this gets spun in the negative.

Bear in mind that she did have vocal surgery a while back. Maybe she's saying this now because she's concerned about that. Performers are human beings, and I would imagine a health crisis like Connie's would make anyone second-guess whether they want to continue a long-term musical theatre career. In longer versions of this article I have read, she has said she would like to try non-musical plays as well, so she's not entirely giving up on stage work. I also think that if the SOM tour goes really well, she might re-consider what she has said about musicals. What is wrong with trying to explore more areas than just stage, anyway? A lot of good actors appear in various different areas--film, tv, stage, etc.

I definitely do not see this as Connie's going back on what she said on the Maria show about wanting a career in musical theatre. That is what she wanted then, I'm sure, but as performers gain experience, new opportunities come up and goals change. Nobody knows right now where Connie's or anyone else's career is going to lead, so I think making these grand predictions of how she is going to fade into obscurity is extremely pre-mature.

Updated On: 7/27/09 at 11:29 AM

Now I'm confused. What "job" is she not doing? She's doing the SOM tour for six months, which is what she signed up to do. She didn't take a job and bow out of it--she only said she's not sure she wants to do more musicals for a while after she's finished with the SOM tour.

I doubt Connie knew she couldn't do the work when she took on the job. Or are you talking about the tour?

I agree that Connie may be judged more harshly, or at least more judged (good and bad) than other new musical stars with a couple of things under her belt, but she is much more famous and people know, or think they know the person more than with someone like Leanne. But that is the problem with entering one of these shows. You get a good step up the career ladder, but everyone and their dog feels obliged to point out your flaws (professional and personal), including those that would be overlooked in other performers. I'm sure Connie accepts that as part of the game.

But I also think she has suffered in that she struggles to come across as particularly personable. She might be shy. She might be trying to be professional, and generally not wanting to be more famous than she needs to be, so not doing press that isn't essential, but the net result is that when I think of her I don't feel any affection towards her.

I still think it was the producers' responsibility, not Connie's, to make sure she didn't over-stretch herself in the first instance. They should have stuck to their guns about the alternate.

Oops! I thought it had been open longer never mind.

I really thought she was older than 26!

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oi!

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"pushing the brilliant Emma Williams out of the role"

I agree that Emma is brilliant and Connie, well, I'm still undecided after seeing her in They're Playing Our Song and will make my mind up come September when I have tickets to see her in The Sound Of Music tour.

But how did she push Emma out of the role?

As far as I know, Connie had nothing to do with the intitial decision to give her 6 shows per week to Emma's 2. That was the producers after seeing the box-office demand, and after they got a winner with drama training who they trusted to do the role. As for eight shows, of course she wanted to do all eight--I think anyone who had trained for three years in musical theatre with the idea of a career in musicals would want to do all eight. So when Emma dropped out and the producers offered, Connie jumped at the chance. That she was eventually reduced back to six is not something that I think should be held against her. The producers maybe, but not Connie. She was young and eager and wanted to prove herself in her first West End lead, so I don't blame her for that.

As for her just wanting to do TV all along, I think that's ridiculous and her life before the Maria show is evidence against that. She trained for three years at Mountview in Musical Theatre, not TV acting, and when she graduated she was auditioning for West End shows and not TV shows. When she did the Maria show, she has said it was because she saw it as the chance to finally get her break into the West End, and in a role she had always wanted to play. Also, when she finished SOM she did another musical, too. She also did a TV drama and my guess is that she had a good experience with that and so that is why she decided she wanted to do more TV.

As for not finishing the SOM tour or missing lots of shows and having understudies on, her record after returning to the Palladium production is evidence against that. She came back into the show in March 2007 and stayed until February 2008, and by many accounts she only missed a few of her scheduled performances during that whole time. Predictions are useless at this point, because nobody knows what the future holds, but I think she will finish out the six months she has signed up to do (which she signed up for back in November, before the vocal surgery). I have tickets to see her in Cardiff and I'm looking forward to it.

OK, I'm done now. I think some people are just determined to hate Connie no matter what she does, so it's pointless to stick around and argue. I've said my piece now, and I wish Connie all the best.

Updated On: 7/27/09 at 05:30 PM