Into The Woods casting updates - Page 8

[OhHiii]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 10:33am

DramaTeach said: "I really like Krysta and SJB. The husband and wife casting is cute. But the cast we have now had more name recognition. I hope this new cast keeps grosses high. I feel like Sara was a name draw and they needed another one. Yes, the show itself is so good, but sadly people don’t just go to a show in 2022 for the plot and songs (of course there are those who do, but it’s a smaller group). They go for the stars."

The only person with *meaningful* name recognition is Sara Bareilles and we've already seen the show stand on it's own sales wise with her out. Outside of the tiny world of BWW and avid theater fans, the other names really don't mean much at all as much as we love them. Same with the replacement cast.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 10:39am

I know this is just wishful thinking, but imagine this being cast and ran in a similar way to Chicago. Transfer it over to the music box or another smaller theatre. Just have the revolving door of casts and it’ll run for 20+ years. 
 

I’m always very taken aback by the hate for Montego on this board. I think she is quite lovely and when I saw her as Angelica in Hamilton-Chicago she was fantastic.

Updated On: 8/12/22 at 10:39 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 10:51am

If the goal is to create new buzz every few months, like “Chicago”, then these types of replacements are more than enough to keep the show going, with enough interest from regular theater-goers to do repeat viewings. 

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 11:02am

As I said, SJB and Sebastian, and Patina staying on weekends will get me back to the show this fall for sure!

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 11:10am

I personally don’t think this has the legs some of you do, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong. I’m more interested in potential replacements for the witch, both castings of which I’ve been indifferent to. 

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 11:11am

Not gonna lie. I actually really enjoy this “pick up” casting. I could see this going for a long run. And there are so many interesting combinations. You could go twice a week and have a completely different performance cast

[JasonC3]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 11:18am

I would gladly become a groupie of a rotating cast of characters in this production if I did not have to travel in from the Midwest each time to see it (and if the cost of good aisle seats was a bit less).  But I'm definitely going to hit the Labor Day weekend spread so I can see two casts in a matter of days.

 

And I've always crushed a bit on Arcelus since his House of Cards days, so I'm excited to see him on stage for the first time.

Updated On: 8/12/22 at 11:18 AM

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 11:46am

I actually really like this cast! I'm a Montego fan and think she will be exceed expectations. I love the choice of Krysta Rodriguez for Cinderella, such unexpected (but lovely) casting. SJB and Sebastian will be perfection. 

With all that said, ticket sales will surely start declining. The loss of Sara is significant. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 11:52am

I didn’t see this posted earlier but the show just put out that Katy Geraghty will be the new Little Red. I’ve never heard of her before, I don’t think. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 11:56am

Jordan Catalano said: "I didn’t see this posted earlier but the show just put out that Katy Geraghty will be the new Little Red. I’ve never heard of her before, I don’t think."

I saw her in Groundhog Day, and she just did & Juliet in Toronto (she was one of the ensemblists).

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 12:02pm

Well I was holding out hope that the Katrina Lenk rumor would pan out, which would've definitely gotten me back into the theater but alas. I'll be honest that none of this casting really excites me but I'm curious about SJB and Krysta Rodriguez so I may snag one of those Broadway week tickets for this 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 12:04pm

Krysta! Andy! Stephanie! Seb! What an incredible addition to a fantastic production.

Montego Glover is an incredibly talented, gracious and sweetest person a human being could ever cross paths with. The rudeness about her casting are just miserable people that need to invent things to bitch about.

I love the revolving door of brilliant artists idea. It truly justifies the prices of this show

Updated On: 8/12/22 at 12:04 PM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 12:35pm

I disagree with the folks who think this could run a long time with continued re-casting of well known names.  I just don’t think this show has the appeal of a Chicago.

I admit to being surprised that it has done so well to date, but I can rationalize that it is Sondheim lovers, who history has told us can keep most Sondheim shows doing great business for a certain period of time, coupled with Sara Bareilles, further incented by a lot of well-known people who cannot guarantee ticket sales on their own, but joined in a group can create additional interest.  Of those three, there is still time to attract the Sondheim base, but not an indefinite time. I suspect that Sara’s leaving will hit hard.  As the replacements become less enticing that Phillips Soo and Brian Darcy James and, eventually, Patina Miller and Joshua Henry, I think it will drop a lot.  

I do think the suggestion to move it to a smaller theatre once business starts to slow may be a good idea, but we all know how expensive these moves are, so the producers are going to have to decide whether there is likely payback.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 12:52pm

SJB!!!! I will be booking a ticket and a flight!

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 12:57pm

With Lillias White starting as Hermes on 13 September and this new cast, I am considering whether I can make a cross-country trip to see both. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 2:14pm

I just wonder the finances. Like did they expect to recoup in 8 weeks? After the 8 weeks are they just making profit? Or do they need the additional weeks to make some coin?  Just curious. I think it's smart casting for the slow months. Get some big theater stars so the locals come out and back again.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 2:30pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I’m kind of surprised at some of the reactions. I’m over the moon excited for SJB and Sebastian. I’m also really stoked for Andy and Krysta so this show could basically become the “revolving door” of Broadway talent we hoped yet people are “meh”. I don’t get it."

And that's the beauty of this board: people are allowed to have (respectful) opinions.  

I'm glad that you're happy with this casting, but many of us are quite bored by it.  I've seen both the Encores! cast and the Broadway cast and don't think this cast will improve upon either.  Personally, I've never been an SJB Stan and think Krysta is possibly miscast here.  

With that said, if others here really enjoy these performances, I'll give it another go.  Otherwise, I'll enjoy seeing it this weekend and wait (hopefully) for a new cast.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 2:32pm

Upcoming absences updated, from SeatGeek:

The role of the Baker’s Wife will not be played by Stephanie J. Block for the Saturday, October 1, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. performances.

The role of the Witch will not be played by Patina Miller at the following performances: Thursday, August 11, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, August 24, 2 p.m.; Wednesday, August 31, 2 p.m.; Sunday, September 11, 3 p.m.; and all performances Friday, October 7 through Sunday, October 9. Additionally, Patina Miller will not be playing the Witch for all Tuesday-Thursday performances from September 6 through October 16.

Montego Glover will not be playing the Witch for all Friday-Sunday performances from September 6 through October 16.

The role of Cinderella will not be played by Phillipa Soo at the Saturday, September 3, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. performances.

The role of Rapunzel’s Prince will not be played by Joshua Henry at the following performances: all performances Thursday, August 25 through Sunday, August 28; Saturday September 23 through Sunday, September 25; and Tuesday, October 11 through Sunday October 16.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 2:48pm

Call_me_jorge said: "I’m always very taken aback by the hate for Montego on this board."

Same. I don't like Memphis but that's because of the writing and her original co-lead. 

That said, I don't know if SJB and Sebastian are enough to get me back. I'll definitely be curious what people here think of their performances... maybe I'll get a ticket if word of mouth is positive. As strong as Sara is, I don't think NPH or BDJ worked perfectly with her so maybe an actual husband/wife pairing could solve the problem. The other replacements (Montego/Andy) feel solid, but not exciting. Krysta's casting confuses me. I'm glad more people will get to see Ann Harada.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 3:02pm

Play Esq. said: "And that's the beauty of this board: people are allowed to have (respectful) opinions.

No sh*t, Sherlock. Nobody said they weren’t. I said I was surprised not that people weren’t allowed to agree. But you knew that. 

[singer234]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 3:06pm

It’s not that any of these performers are in any way bad, I’m just not personally particularly thrilled by the casting. I hope it runs long enough to become a Little Shop deal with people coming in and out. Would love to see Erika Henningsen and Kyle Selig come in as Cinderella and The Prince for a  bit.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 3:17pm

I don’t get why you’d take the time out of your day to post that you aren’t excited about this casting. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 4:06pm

They're actively looking to extend this again (until the end of the year), all just depends on casting at this point.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 4:42pm

RippedMan said: "I just wonder the finances. Like did they expect to recoup in 8 weeks? After the 8 weeks are they just making profit? Or do they need the additional weeks to make some coin?"

 

My guess is that they recoup in 8 weeks, and the rest is icing on the cake.

They wouldn’t have transferred unless they had crunched the numbers to determine that they could recoup in the initially allotted run. So, given their incredibly strong grosses, I’m guessing they’re meeting or exceeding whatever that threshold was.

Of course, it’s possible that they’re disappointed with these grosses, and they actually needed $2MM/week to break even in 8 weeks. In fact, financially speaking, that figure wouldn’t be so surprising. But considering how rare it is for any new production to make $2MM/week, an investment model like that would’ve required such an extreme amount of optimism, I just sorta doubt that's the case.

Still, I do wonder what the capitalization and running cost are. Am I correct in reading that the Roths/Jujamcyn are lead-producing this? If so, that probably does wonders for the bottom line, since they don’t have to pay rent in their own space.

 

Updated On: 8/12/22 at 04:42 PM

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 8/12/22 at 5:11pm

SouthernCakes said: "I don’t get why you’d take the time out of your day to post that you aren’t excited about this casting."

Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a discussion board for the opinion of the people who post…