dramamama611 said: "South Pacific was a much better production than MFL.
Most audience members dont think about the age of the actor v character. They dont care. They just want a good performance.
As to this particular instance, Jackman is 50 (and looks it - in a great way) just how young a woman should he be paired with?"
Young enough to pass as Harold's Harold's wife and Winthrop's brother?
I'm not going to agree with you on this, but I'm not going to insist that I'm right. Both show got rave reviews. MFL, unlike South Pacific, even was reviewed when cast changes occurred, including the change to Laura B., and I think that the Times called the show improved with the cast changes. The audiences did not respond, even for a brief honeymoon.
You say that the audience just wants a good performance. I say that a good performance means that the actor on stage should be portraying the actor in the book. Laura as Eliza and Kelli as Julie don't just look too old certainly according to the literature that they are based on, but see that photo of Eliza romping with the men in "The Rain in Spain" and she not only look too old, but she is glowing with self confidence. Kelli in the bench scene looks like more than a match for Billy. Her body language and her authoritative eyes.
How can an audience get a great performance in a role which is miscast? Neither Kelli or Laura look or act like guttersnipes who can't imagine anyone ever wanting to marry them. A look at other shows might help. Laura Benanti's own debut in the starring role of Sound of Music. Rebecca Luker left the show and Laura Benanti took the role. The Times critic, probably Frank Rich, never one to spare another's feelings, said that the show had been improved by the substitution of someone young and livelier.
And the appearance of Emma Stone as Sally in Roundabout's Cabaret. Although I saw her premiere performance and was too unsophisticated to realize that I was seeing a new star in the role, Roundabout certainly knew what they had as they extended and doubled the number of prime seats. It matters if a star or a star in the making is inserted as replacement. I really wonder what the result would have been if Sher had young, pretty, lively and funny SteFUNNY Styles in as Eliza.
Full Disclosure: unhappy that MFL managed barely half the run of South Pacific when it was received with such great reviews and is as a fact a more universally appealing show with the great score, scalding 2nd Act dialogue, humor and pageant. Looking around for a reason.
Now let's focus the discussion back on the billing. (said with smile).
. I wonder if Scott Rudin was in any of his shows. I remember that at the Madison Square Garden show, Hugh acknowledged the presence of the Head of the Shubert Organization (Phil Smith?) as well as Ted Chapin of the Rodgers&Hammerstein Organization. 
