IfThen Sept 3 performance — Page 2

IF/ Then has been on TKTS/ TDF a lot, so it is not selling that well. I am thinking that they will most likely pull the plug in Jan after the holidaze.

"So who could take Idina's place and draw? Thoughts?"

I tend not to play guessing games, unless I have a clear answer.

"I think they are making a bit of a mistake with all of these posters praising Menzel. She is wonderful in the show but I think they are setting themselves up to close when she leaves."

I think they are just trying to stay open while she's there.

"The refunds are an excellent point, but given that it's known that she'll be out this well in advance, I would think that all points of purchase would be able to make that fact explicitly clear to ticket buyers before they proceeded with their purchases. Ticketmaster's site certainly has the capability to do that."

I think it is a point of pride with Idina to be above the title AND show up and do the work as often as possible. When she was sick, she had Jackie go on, but when she has opportunities to draw attention to herself and the show, like singing at the MLB All-Star Game, she did it, and they rescheduled the show. They clearly have the numbers that it is more profitable for them to reschedule a show than deal with the refunds.

Otherwise, there would be an alternate thread on here questioning how she doesn't mind missing shows and upsetting audiences as long as she increases her own celebrity. So, she can't win...

"While I'll concede that there will certainly be individuals who fail to read the fine print or who refuse to heed advice given by ticketing agents, MOST would take note of her absence before they even bought the tickets if they were told up front."

This would have to be after December 21, currently the last day tickets are on sale, since even on that date, people have already purchased tickets. Not many, but a few dozen at least....

"She was certainly not the biggest selling point of that revival, though. It was CZJ all the way"

I went to that show because it was Sondheim. Who is performing Sondheim is secondary. I saw Peters and Stritch, though.

Updated On: 8/6/14 at 11:45 PM

All of this outrage about what's "fair to Jackie" is fairly ludicrous. Burns is a standby. She's hired -- and paid handsomely -- to be ready should the star be unable to perform. She went on 4.5 times when that was the case. She is not owed anything but a nice salary. This bizarre notion that the high stakes commercial theater is a middle school gym class, and everyone should get to be a star athlete for a day is giggle-inducing. It's a business. Menzel is a star in a star vehicle. For precedent see Kazan, Lanie.

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I think Sherie Rene Scott would be a kind of amazing replacement.

Sure, people like Eden and SJB could sing the show, but they won't sell the show. I can't think of a single other person (than Idina) who could sell the show as well.

I really don't understand the point of having a standby. They could just have a normal understudy who also covers other tracks instead of wasting money in paying another salary. For example, JB could be just a member of the ensemble AND Idina's uderstudy. Maybe I'm missing something.

right, but why couldn't a understudy just go on and have one of the 4 swings cover the understudy's track?

Oh for heaven's sake. Offer steep discounts and let the non Idina fans have an escape from the shrieking she calls singing and her oh too adoring fans.

Oh goody.

Thank you theatreguy - very much appreciated.

The reason why they probably didn't higher an understudy instead of a standby is because they'd want someone on the league of a Jackie Burns, who if this wasn't such a star vehicle, would be a full time lead.
Someone like Ms. Burns might not take an understudy gig per se, but could settle for a standby. I would imagine that for the caliber of "understudy" they want, they'd probably have to give the actor on offer a higher pay grade/title for them to accept the gig.

Also something to think about as far as Jackie being standby... When the casting was being done, I bet producers/the creative were assuming that the show would fair better in terms of both reviews and Tony noms. Of course the show was always meant to be a star vehicle for Idina, but had they known that she would literally be their ONLY hope, perhaps they would have done differently in terms of standby vs. understudy. Who knows though, just a thought.