Eliza? - My Fair Lady Revival 2018 — Page 45

And I am sure Lauren Ambrose had her own audition as well just so Sher would be sure she was up to it.

GeorgeandDot said: "Not really, they're all sweet people, but what Poison said is true. Bart knew well ahead of time that he was casting Ambrose, but put a ton of great musical theatre actresses through rigorous auditions, only to give the role to Ambrose. A lot of actresses feel that he lead them on and wasted their time."

I don't understand. I'd understand that if it had been one other actress who had been led on to feel she had the role how this might be an issue. But since he put a whole lot of them through this regime, and I'm guessing that his doing so wasn't a secret, they must have realized obviously that not all of them were going to be cast.

Would they be feeling the same angst if instead of them it were another Broadway musical name getting cast, rather than Ambrose? I doubt it. Even if they came to the conclusion that "name other Broadway musical name" had it all the time? In such instance, wouldn't what they'd be feeling be more appropriately called "business as usual?"

I know Benanti literally just started this week (and I really enjoy her Eliza), but I'm curious if anybody knows yet who her successor will be when she leaves the show in February?

VotePeron said: "BroadwayConcierge said: "I know Benanti literally just started this week (and I really enjoy her Eliza), but I'm curious if anybody knows yet who her successor will be when she leaves the show in February?"

Depending on the grosses with Benanti, I can imagine them letting Kerstin Anderson, the current alternate, take over the role for a few months before closing up shop. I initially was thinking it would close in February, but I doubt Danny Burnstein would agree to join if there was doubt it wouldn’t be around for a while. Then again, Marin Mazzie didn’t even get 2 full months as Anna in TKAI."

Marin Mazzie had to leave the show because her cancer had returned. She kept it really quiet.

^That, and Daniel Dae Kim had to go back to shooting a TV series. Plus the show just wasn't making much money.

I saw Shereen Ahmed as Eliza on June 29th. I thought she was wonderful. I was hoping Kerstin Anderson would be doing the tour, but I guess not. I had really wanted to see her.

I'm a non-theater person. (To my regret, I have no talent at all transferrable to the theater. And even if I had the talent, I would not have the nerve to audition.) The actions of Bartlett Sher, the Director Major of the first quarter of this century (almost), elude me as to casting.

It is said that Lauren Ambrose was his choice all along to play Eliza, but he auditioned many actresses for the part anyway. Is this considered fair play?

In casting the replacement of Ms. Ambrose, it seems that he all along had Laura Benanti chosen but again put other actresses through the audition grind. (Ms. Osnes, for one, who had a history with Sher going back to South Pacific.) And the replacement actress interpreted the role of Eliza quite differently than did Ms. Ambrose.

Is this acceptable practice? I suppose that the director could say that he was 95 percent sure of whom he wanted in the role, but wanted to see a few others just to be certain that his intuition was correct.

OlBlueEyes said: "I'm a non-theater person. (To my regret, I have no talent at all transferrable to the theater. And even if I had the talent, I would not have the nerve to audition.) The actions of Bartlett Sher, the Director Major of the first quarter of this century (almost), elude me as to casting.

It is said that Lauren Ambrose was his choice all along to play Eliza, but he auditioned many actresses for the part anyway. Is this considered fair play?

In casting the replacement of Ms. Ambrose, it seems that he all along had Laura Benanti chosen but again put other actresses through the audition grind. (Ms. Osnes, for one, who had a history with Sher going back to South Pacific.)And the replacement actress interpreted the role of Eliza quite differently than did Ms. Ambrose.

Is this acceptable practice? I suppose that the director could say that he was 95 percent sure of whom he wanted in the role, but wanted to see a few others just to be certain that his intuition was correct."

Obviously you never heard of the stories of Michael Bennet making random pop-ins to A Chorus Line and firing whoever he wanted on the spot without explanation and replacing said cast member with whoever he wanted.

Or the infamous Bob Fosse "auditions."

It's show business.

In case you still don't get it, here's a video that will explain how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zQIZjCaOB8

Thank you, Ivory. I would have thought that the unions were powerful enough to prevent such abuses.

Just speaking off the top of my head, is it time for a change in musical theater in this country? Should the path to stardom in the theater always go through Broadway? There is too much talent concentrated here and not enough opportunities for the talent to show itself. Why can't other cities develop musicals and drama, using primarily local talent, If they are successful, bring them to New York with the local casts or just send them out on tour.

I know that this happens to some extent in the case of, for example, the Hal Prince Show Boat which spent a year in Toronto and Grand Hotel, which spent at least a month in Boston being greatly patched up before opening on Broadway. But the talent should be mostly local. No gathering of every talented young actor in New York where they must fight off others of great talent to achieve starring roles.

Even if the locally produced show did not qualify for Broadway, the local city would benefit from the high quality entertainment. And exceptionally talented actors and actresses would be discovered.

Even the exceptional Kelli O'Hara tells the fable of coming to New York alone, knowing no one, and giving herself a year to "make it."

That's it. I've blathered enough for one day. Some might say that I've blathered enough to last a year.