Saw Lulu Lloyd's theater company is doing something similar with different actors for "hang outs". Might do the one for Sierra Boggess next week. I recently hosted a "hangout" with a bunch of former Phantom tour cast members for free and the 5 people I got on there had some great conversations with the 16 former cast members I got!
Before you edited your message, you mentioned people are out of work and weren't happy with the price. The people out of work include the entire cast, as well as all theater actors right now. It helps them a lot, and yes a small company (who also needs the money) gets the rest of it. Sounds reasonable to me, and if you cannot pay for it, that's cool as well. No one is forcing you here.
I did one with this company a couple weeks ago. It was Andrew Barth Feldman, Renee Rapp, and Betsy. I would never do it again. It was a whole bunch of teenagers spamming the chat with “I love them so much” and “OMGGGGG ITS THEM!” It was incredibly annoying. It was also supposed to be a Q&A session, but because all these teenagers were spamming, the chat was going so fast they only answered like 1. They also were false advertising and saying it was a small group with very limited spots available. I think 165 is the opposite of that. terrible experience. I emailed them the next morning to complain. Apparently my friend was on the call to and she also complained. We got responses back which were incredibly dull. Something along the lines of “we hope you do one of our programs again and have a better experience.” This is why I like something like stars in the house. Completely free and they are doing the exact same thing.
Yeah, it's not an interaction with the cast, it's just you watching them talk and maybe sing one song. I would be so annoyed to pay money just to see teenagers type the same crap over and over again. Ugh.
Betsy Wolfe owns broadway evolved so i’m not shocked. I’m sure they were offered stars in the house but opted to do this instead. Very disappointing as falsettos is one of my favorite shows.