Elaine Paige as Fantine

[alxscrz2]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 11:30pm

I read on the west end message board that Elaine Paige was the 1st choice to play fantine in the original london production of les miz, but that she had other things going on so she couldn't accept the role. Patti was the second choice. Does anyone know if this is true ??

[B3TA07]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 11:48pm

How was that warranted at all? There have been no accounts of stupid caps-lock-savvy fangirls for Ellen Page on this message board. Futher more, Elaine Paige and Ellen Page's names are not THAT similar. Just shut the **** up, you're not funny. Jay Leno is funnier than you. OMG. Blue Collar Tour is funnier than you. YOU SUCK.

[Neverandy]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 11:53pm

But if Elaine Paige was cast in Juno at City Center it would have been apropos.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:33am

OP: I think I remember reading or hearing Patti say in an interview that they had been having a hard time finding a Fantine before they officially asked her. Someone (I forget who now) had mentioned the musical, etc to her maybe a year or so before it was on its feet. So it very well could be true that Elaine Paige was asked to play Fantine and couldn't.

[musical_devotee]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 5:15am

In a radio interview Cameron Mackintosh gave to Elaine Paige, he said she was the first choice for the role of Fantine, but was busy with her role in CHESS at that time, so she couldn't do it.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:39pm

Personally, I think he was just B-S-ing her for the sake of the radio. As if she would ever have taken that role when Les Mis was just an unknown French marathon.

It's a nice idea, but I think there's a little rewriting of history going on.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:40pm

No, they meant Elaine Stritch.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 5:34pm

"No, they meant Elaine Stritch."

No, she was committed to playing the answerphone in Tell Me On A Sunday.

[Salene]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 7:02pm

From an interview with Siobhan McCarthy in The Barricade (Les Misérables newsletter) #18 (published spring 1997):

INTERVIEWER: You then returned to the Palace to play Fantine in Les Mis for six months - five years after auditioning for the role.

SIOBHAN: That's right. I was going to be the original Fantine, but then they saw Patti LuPone, and as you know, she got the role. I was offered the role at a later date but couldn't do it due to other commitments, but I got there eventually. Andrew had been working on the show since its original version in Paris, though.

NOTE:
"Andrew" is sound designer Andrew Bruce; Siobhan's husband.
Updated On: 4/30/08 at 07:02 PM