Has the lead for a major B'way musical/revival ever been replaced as quickly as Feldstein was in "Funny Girl"?

David Shiner was replaced by Rosie O'Donnell a month and a half after Seussical officially opened.

ChgoTheatreGuy said: "I cannot say that I recall a person (I won't use the word "star" being replaced as quickly as Beanie Feldstein was in the revival of "Funny Girl". I have seen a few pre-Broadway performances and thought that certain actors should have been replaced. Does anyone know of any other actor that had had this happen to them?..."

How sad for you.

Ke3 said: "Can we get some sort of moratorium on new Funny Girl threads? At this point, the well isn't just dry, it's pumping up blood."

Agreed. But also, when the revival of Carousel was announced, Betsy Wolfe was announced to play Carrie? and then was replaced. This also happened with Betsy and the out of town try out for Frozen. But I'm not sure if Frozen was ever actually confirmed or just a rumor. This is also before the show started though, not midway through a run. And those kind of changes happen a lot.

Chris Kattan in The Frogs.

Madeline Kahn left On the Twentieth Century after 9 weeks. I can't remember if she was fired or quit.

Updated On: 9/21/22 at 05:36 PM

fosterfan2 said: "Madeline Kahn left On the Twentieth Century after 9 weeks. I can't remember if she was fired or quit."

Per Hal Prince, Kahn gave half-assed performances, which upset not only him but the producers, even after this was brought to her attention. Whenever her understudy Judy Kaye filled in, the level of her performance was beyond so after Kahn regularly missed performances, she mutually agreed to leave the show and Kaye took over the role full-time.

Steve Kazee was replaced (by mutual decision) after PRETTY WOMAN's Chicago pre-Broadway tryout.

Kristen Vigard was replaced by one of the other orphan girls during the pre-Broadway tryouts for Annie and subsequently demoted to alternate for the Broadway run.

This reminds me of Taron Egerton dropping out of Cock in London recently.

This thread is kind of sad. I’ve been in a situation where the pressure of a show is far too much and you simply crack. I had a horrific experience playing Angel in RENT (I was woefully miscast and the director let me know at every given opportunity) and as a result lost a lot of confident and didn’t perform for five years.


When I finally did return to the stage it was in a production of Little Shop of Horrors and I was Seymour. Most of us know that Seymour is a BIG role and rarely leaves the stage so a lot of rehearsal is needed. For whatever reason this production has a very small rehearsal period and an even smaller tech period. The band was so far behind us and we had to rely on confidence alone to know when to come in, we’d never run Act One in the venue and a lot of the scenery was only available from the first performance onwards. I did one performance and decided to bow out. I wasn’t in a position mentally to be able to juggle all those factors and my brain went blank multiple times during the performance trying to process so much information at once.


Thankfully I’ve had far more success in other shows but I do know what it’s like when you just don’t gel with a production and have to leave. The humiliation, the feelings of failure, the crushing blow to your confidence.

ggersten said: "Didn't the first replacement for Nathan Lane in The Producers last a short time?"

Are you thinking of Richard Dreyfuss, who was hired for the West End production and then replaced with Nathan Lane four days before previews?

Updated On: 9/21/22 at 10:50 PM