History Boys Cast Changes

[mijofly19]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 5:58pm

Richard Griffiths will be away for a week, and Frances de la Tour and Clive Merrison will be out for five weeks:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/100386.html

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 7:04pm

I wonder if advance ticket purchasers were told. I would be upset if I bought my ticket and then found out that two major players were scheduled to be out.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 7:12pm

*sigh* Just had to be the week that Im in town.

[The Goat]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 10:58pm

To answer HushPuppy, no, ticket buyers were not told. I have a ticket for August 20 and I bought it with the understanding that the entire original cast--barring illness or accident--would be in. But now it appears that the producers knew that Griffith, De La Tour, and Merrison planned to be out for a stretch in July and/or August from the beginning! False advertising, I say. Wonder if they would allow a ticket exchange because of this? After all, they are not delivering what was promised in the advertising. It would be like a rain check!

[timote316]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 11:02pm

I believe the only time they allow exchanges is with above-the-title stars, which, these cast members are not.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 11:03pm

So sell your ticket.

[sicetergo]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 1:28am

Des Barrit, Maggie Steed and Malcolm Sinclair are excellent in the roles, it would be unfortunate to miss the chance to see them.
Updated On: 6/17/06 at 01:28 AM

[Gpvegas]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 11:42am

I find this to be very bad business by the producers. The way I look at it is they knew going into the Tonys about these absences. They won the Tonys and did not still release this data. They waited 4 days of very high sales to release the information that 2 Tony award winners would now be out of the production one for 1 week and the other for 5 weeks. This is just unfair and we do not know if they will even allow returns. This is to me outrageous. All about the money, especially since all future monies go back to the producers.

GREED

[mabel]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 4:22pm

I'm wondering if they knew about Richard Griffiths' exact dates all along. If he's filming something, couldn't it have been shuffled around a bit (as far as exactly when they'd need him?). Though, admitedly, I'm sure they knew pre-Tony time. And I'd been wondering about a post on talkinbroadway from at least a month ago, where someone was inquiring about when Frances de la Tour would be leaving. I hadn't heard anything about it before or since, but I guess there had been scuttlebut about her taking time off.

I suppose they might not be handling it in the best way, but at least it sounds as if they've assembled some pretty great replacements! That's always something!

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 6:03pm

"I find this to be very bad business by the producers"

Actually. It's great business. Look at all the money they made.


kmc

[lisaspo]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 6:08pm

I just called Telecharge (I have a ticket for August 16) and they will *not* make exchanges.

Kind of annoyed since I randomly picked the date and I certainly would have waited a week if I'd known about the absences (particularly wanted to see Frances de la Tour). It seems they could have at least announced the absences at the same time they announced the extension since that was sure to boost ticket sales.

Oh well... I'm sure it will still be excellent. :)