MURPHY'S FLAW - nypost.com — Page 2

In Aida or Evita or Phantom, cmleidi? Ethel didn't SING in that way, making it easier to go on with a hoarse throat or what not.

Yes, Hugh and Antonio never missed a show. That's awesome! It doesn't make Donna less talented or deserving of the Tony that she didn't choose to go on sick.

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Just out of curiosity, what was Heather's performance attendance during her part of the run of Aida?

"Yes, Hugh and Antonio never missed a show. That's awesome! It doesn't make Donna less talented or deserving of the Tony that she didn't choose to go on sick."

I saw WONDERFUL TOWN. Murphy was in, and she was outstanding, but if I have to choose between two outstanding performances (Pinkins and Murray), I would choose the performer who shows up over the performer (for whatever reason) who missed a significant number of performances. The Tony encourages business so why waste it on someone with a spotty attendance record?

I think it would be interesting to discover why certain performers who get sick can do the eight shows a week while other performers (sick or not) can't. What do Banderas, Seldes, Rivera, Firestein and Jackman have that the other performers do not? Is it physical constitution? attitude?

"Well, for the record--Donna has given more performances of WT than Tonya has for Caroline this season--if we want to count up who has done the most performances of their role this season to award the Tony..."

Percentage wise (number of absences versus number of shows), Murphy has missed more performances. To be fair, Murphy would only have to miss one performances to have a less stellar attendance record than Pinkins (who has done about two and a half months less than Murphy). I wonder if Murphy has performed more than Chenoweth.

i read that nasty column to...he had no business writing such drivel...if he has inside track on tonly voting..he should be shutting up..not influencing other voters...her attendance is between she and her employer and no one else...his column was self serving and inflammatory and he should personally apologize to miss murphy for such a senseless and unjustified attack.

i have seen both miss murphy and miss pinkins and the bottom line ...which he should have addressed is that miss murphy's performance is by far stronger, further reaching in terms of character and talent and hits many different emotional levels...this is not true of miss pinkins whose character is very one level....although she has a great voice...but still a one level performance.
pardon my agressive tone but that article was just vicious and quite frankly i'd like somone at the NY post to tell us how many days a year he has been absent or late or left in the middle of the day.

Just my 2 cents: I agree w/ those who say that theatre work is more stressful than film & TV in the sense that you cannot stop & must give your all or it shows horribly -- no retakes.
And, I agree w/ -- was it Al Dente -- who said performers (& even ofc workers!) should not go to work if they're sick & spread the bug. This January something awful was raging through Bway. Pretty much everyone at Taboo got it & had to miss shows, even Euan who didn't often miss. I should mention, though, that Jeffrey Carlson went on sick as a dog & no one knew. He's amazing. He really whupped some butt then, but I'm not sure how many performers could have managed such endurance.
HOWEVER, I should mention that the industry rumor, which I believe was the underpinning of Riedel's column, was that Murphy was missing shows because she was playing games in a contract dispute & not really ill. Not unheard of, yet not thought highly of, either (the practice, not the person!)

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I found most of what Reidel said to be correct about the Tony. If Donna is out when the Tony voters are visiting, why would they vote for her?

But I DON'T like how he picks on some performers and not others. Not that I think that certain performer(s) deserve to be picked on, but Donna is not the only one missing shows and it's unfair to single her out like that.