Broadway Legend Joined: 3/20/04
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/104995.html
Zoe Lister-Jones, the original Ellen in the off-Broadway production of Little Dog Laughed, will replace Ari Graynor, who leaves the company February 4th for previous commitments. Lister-Jones will begin on the 6th.
Full circle, no?
Interesting! I might go to the final (Actor's Fund) performance.
I'll definitely be back a few times to see Zoe. I saw her off-Broadway and she is leaps and bounds better than Graynor. I was surprised that she wasn't just asked back in the first place. Good for her!
How is she different than Ari? I only saw the latter and wasn't very impressed.
Ari plays Ellen as a shallow party girl and nothing more. Zoe really added depth to an underwritten role.
Now I want to go back even more!
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
I disagree. I found Lister-Jones completely lackluster (in an admittedly underwritten role) and thought Graynor was an improvement (though still not great). When I saw the show first at Second Stage I can remember thinking that they would HAVE to recast her role (and Huff's) if the play was going to move to Broadway.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/05
Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if either of the male leads will be out before closing? I'd love to catch Brian Henderson
I thought this was about Janet Gaynor at first glance...
No, Janet Gaynor is out for the remainder of the run.
Is there any precedent for this move, where an actor who was essentially fired (okay, technically she wasn't asked to return) ends up playing the role as a replacement?
MikeM-
The only similar instance I can think of off the top of my head is Kirk McDonald. He played Boq in the San Francisco tryout of WICKED and was let go pre-Broadway, then went into the tour as a Boq replacement.
MikeM
Diane McAfee was replaced by Penny Fuller during the out of town tryout of APPLAUSE, and then rehired for one of the show's tours.
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