Fantasia out of The Color Purple Wednesday night, last night, AND tonight

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/6/07 at 10:27pm

Just letting you all know....Thank God they do cash refunds for rush seats and exchange tickets/cash refunds for non-Rush seats!

Let's hope she finally shows up tomorrow! She was supposed to be at the Broadway's Back show last Friday, but she never turned up....
Updated On: 12/7/07 at 10:27 PM

[KellyW]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 12:27am

Seriously?! She just had three weeks off with the stagehands strike. Is she "sick" again?

And she no showed the Broadway's Back event? January 6th can't come soon enough. She's very good in the role but she's totally unprofessional.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 1:41am

None of the cast members from The Color Purple attended the concert, so I don't think that's really fair to condemn only her for that.

[paphillyguy]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 8:48am

You can fault her, she was advertised as being at the Broadway's Back concert. She was a no show. She barely can perform the shows she is scheduled for, let me take that back. She can NOT make some of the shows she is scheduled for. She needs to learn a few things about professionalism, if you ask me. To me she seems like she has no concern for the theater or her fellow actors. She acts like a DIVA and that title is something you earn and you do not get that just because you won a talent show on TV.

The producers should have dealt with this a long time ago. It is their fault for putting up with this behavior.

I know I will get blasted for these statements, but the way I look at it if one of my employees called out this much they would have been fired a long time ago.

[D2]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 9:07am

Here's a thought: instead of starting threads every time she's out of the show, how about starting them when she's actually there?

There'd be a what, maybe one thread a week?

[Fosse76]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 12:57pm

"Seriously?! She just had three weeks off with the stagehands strike. Is she "sick" again?"

Go to any show on Broadway and you will have inserts fall from your program...or if you check the call sheet you will notice swings in for understudies. All of them had three weeks off as well, yet I don't hear you complaining about them.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 1:19pm

Honestly now...you DON'T know the circumstances of her absences and it's very unfair to assume things.

[paphillyguy]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 2:55pm

With the amount of time that she has missed, it should not make a difference as to why. As a business man, I would not tolerate this type of behavior in my business. With as many absences as she has had she would be fired or put on medical leave. To photos of her at other "fun for her" functions during these absences leads me to believe that her "sickness" can not be too bad.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 5:16pm

I was lucky enough to catch Fantasia, and she was great in the role.
I really felt bad at the Welcome Back Broadway "concert" when two ladies in the back were yelling for Fantasia. I knew she wasn't going to show up. She doesn't show up for her own job.

[jondouglas]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 5:22pm

CapNHook.......yes, you are correct. There could be anyone of a number of reasons as to why she is out again..........prior commitments, planned appearances/concerts, etc. It's always easy to critize when we don't know the actual events.

She could actually be sick.......actors get sick time and vacation time just like the rest of us.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 9:16pm

actors get sick time and vacation time just like the rest of us.

Yes, but when you've missed more performances than those you have actually played, I think all of your sick and vacation time for your limited run is up.

[musicalsFan]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 10:01pm

Yes, but when you've missed more performances than those you have actually played, I think all of your sick and vacation time for your limited run is up.

Missed more performances than actually played ????


Under which mathematical universe are you living in ???

[nealb1]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 10:33pm

I agree with Jondouglas.....we don't know why she's been out so much. Maybe, she's doing a movie or something?? Who knows? That's the whole point......we don't know. It's easy to guess and wonder why.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/7/07 at 11:27pm

UPDATE: Fantasia was a no show at The Color Purple tonight too. Apparently, according to the box office tellers, she's missed over 50 perfromances to date.
Updated On: 12/9/07 at 11:27 PM

[rgaywrites]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 1:59am

B2488, That's absurd. She has not missed more than 50 performances. I don't understand the witch trial attitude every time a big name performer misses a show.

[nealb1]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 11:21am

exactly....why the witch hunt???? And, look at what B2428 wrote......she was a no show tonight, apparently, according to the box office.

What does apparently mean? Either the box office said it or they didn't. It's like being pregnant....you either are pregnant or you're not. There's no maybe. So, either the box office verified that or they didn't. And, I seriously doubt that she's missed 50 performances.

[jake6970]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 12:18pm

I would not doubt that at all. She probably plays half (maybe more, maybe less) of the performances a week.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 12:33pm

"She acts like a DIVA"

I think you have your titles mixed up.

She's acting like an unproffessional. There's no DIVA here at all.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 1:20pm

nealb1, that's not what i said....I said she was out tonight (as in Friday night) AND apparently, she has missed over 50 performances to date, according to the box office tellers. (Meaning that I don't know for sure if that 50 missed performance tally is a fact, a lie, a hyperbole, or an understatement. I have not been to The Color Purple 50 times and seen Fantasia's understudy on the Board Notice Sign instead of her. I'm just repeating what the teller told us.)

I know for a fact she wasn't there Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night because I have had tickets to all three nights and kept having to get refunds/exchanges for my tickets. I am not a Fantasia hater or a "witch-hunter." I'm actually a fan and just really want to see her in the show. I exchanged my tickets again for tonight, so hopefully she'll finally be there.

All I'm trying to do is state facts and keep people notified. Please don't shoot the messenger...

***

On a side note, I doubt she's out somewhere shooting a movie or is out so often because of prior scheduling conflicts. Her original run was supposed to end in the early Fall, but she agreed to extend until January 6th. I doubt she would have made significant scheduling conflicts like that knowing full well that extending until January 6th means that you're expected to perform regularly in the show until January 6th...



Updated On: 12/9/07 at 01:20 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 3:26pm

Final Update: After 3 days of trying, I was finally able to see Fantasia on Saturday night. And I must admit, she was fabulous. She wasn't perfect by any means, and she could use a lesson in more effective pacing, but she was great. I could feel her emotion throughout, especially during her musical numbers. I'm not gonna lie; I cried several times throughout the show because of her (and I've already seen the show 2 times before). I also noticed that the rest of the cast stepped up their game as well since I saw the show before Fantasia was in it.

I think it's really unprofessional and inexcusable that her attendance record is so poor, but I can't take away from her the fact that when she does show up, she does a great job.
Updated On: 12/9/07 at 03:26 PM

[lakezurich]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 3:41pm

I would sell my right leg to see Fantasia play Celie

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 8:57pm

Well I guess this thread shows the horrible flip side to stunt casting. I've sounded off on many of these types of threads before. Yes, we all do miss work occasionaly, but it does seem like Fantasia has missed quite a few performances (even if the "over 50" is a bit inflated). I do think Fantasia owes her fans a better attendance record.
Updated On: 12/9/07 at 08:57 PM

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 9:11pm

Fantasia doesn't do Wednesday matinee performances.

Montego Glover (who will asume the role of Nettie in January) has been an "alternate" for that one performance a week at least for months now.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 9:41pm

True, she doesn't do Wednesday matinées, but she was a no show from Wednesday-Friday night. One of the workers who sells memorabilia outside the theater said that she has a tendency to miss performances during the weekdays and show up for all the weekend shows because there's 2 each day. He also said that there was one week (I assume it was from 10-25 to 10-28 that another post was talking about) in which she missed 4 performances in a row. That's already 7 performances missed right there in just two weeks. And there was a 3 week strike in which she could rest up if she was that sick.

The 50 performance tally might be inflated, but probably not by much.

[broadwayfan2]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 9:43pm

I saw her last night as well and she was fabulous. Glad I was lucky enough to see her.