Performers notorious for missing shows- Page 2

[umgeoboy]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 4:35pm

finishing the hat everytime the show was dark was a scheduled time off for hugh. He took a week twice during the shows run. That's all. normal scheduled time out. And no I am not a bfo groupie I actually never saw the show :)

[lna]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 4:56pm

Sorry, FinishingTheHat, I thought you were joking.

They closed the show for Hugh Jackman because they realized that people were there to see him. He got absolutely incredible raves for his performance, but the show itself got, well, shall we say less than stellar reviews.

Jackman never missed a scheduled performance. And he's notorious for that.

[Steve2]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 5:12pm

I visit NYC from out of town and Donna Murphy was a no show in "The King and I" and "Wonderful Town". You may draw your own conclusion.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 6:13pm

First of all, if the Weisslers truly did treat DM "terribly," she'd certainly not be the first nor the last. They're notorious for treating people terribly. However, try working in their office and spending 9 - 10 hours a day with them. For those of us who have done it and showed up most every day for years at a time, the sympathy for performers - who have relatively slim dealings with them - is not so great.

[ljay889]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 6:30pm

I think Donna's outs in WT were a lot worse than Ann in Chicago. Ann always had a legit exuse. Injury, death of her mother, etc. Donna on the other hand... well.. no exuses there.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 6:41pm

Umm whenever someone is out of a show, there's always a reason. You have to tell the company something if your out on a repeated basis. As I recall from Passion, Donna has had an ongoing illness that has effected her body (which is why she identified with Fosca). I'm not sure if she's still fighting it, but there are illnesses that performers are constantly fighting. Just recently the flu has been going around. That's prob wht Suttons been out. Try having the flu, doing rehearsals in the day and then coming to do a show 8 times a week. That's a little intense!

[Plum]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 8:52pm

I think Jackman took one weeklong break to rest and one break to promote that godawful movie I like to pretend never happened. In both cases, extra performances were added to partially make up for the ones missed. And as others have said, he never missed a scheduled performance in an absolute killer of a role.

Broadwaystar2b, I think you're right about Jennifer Holliday missing a lot of performances, but as you said, the role of Effie is really tough and I don't think she had formal vocal training.

[Ruth Sherwood]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 9:27pm

First, I would like to know what the point of this thread is. We know who has a history of missing shows, and we know threads like this just start arguments over who had excuses etc.

Second, as expected, I would like to point out that Donna Murphy was really sick. While we don't know what was ailing her, she did have a doctor's note for every missed performance as reported in the New York Times not too long ago. Also, why is it necessary to constantly pick on Donna? Why not pick on the legendary Gwen Verdon, who would play a show for 6 months, get bored, and start missing performances?

I don't understand what the point of these threads are. All they seem to do is get people arguing over who missed what performances. It's over and done with, so why bother bringing it up?

[Sissi]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 9:35pm

Kriten Chenowith and her disappearing act?

[morosco]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 9:54pm

"...why is it necessary to constantly pick on Donna?"

Because I was a fan of hers and I wanted to see her in the show and I was very disappointed each of the three times I purchased tickets and SHE was a no show. (I wasted over $300 on tickets hoping she'd be there just once!) Updated On: 2/13/05 at 09:54 PM

[Ruth Sherwood]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:00pm

I understand that some of her fans are disappointed, but it's over and done with. It's time to move on. The woman was obviously ill, and performing would not only have made her more ill, but would have disappointed you because she was not able to give 100% to her performance. If you were such a fan of her work, then perhaps you would have hoped she gets better and wished her well.

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:02pm

Just to set the record straight:

Hugh Jackman did not miss a single performance of The Boy From Oz. He took a week long vacation, and instead of having his standby go on, they closed the show down for the week. Thats it. Everything that was scheduled, he did. So quit talking 'bout him!

[morosco]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:03pm

"...If you were such a fan of her work, then perhaps you would have hoped she gets better and wished her well."

I was kinda hoping for her autograph on a $300 cashier's check.

[Ruth Sherwood]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:05pm

Unless you were visiting from out of town, then you could have gotten back all the money spent to see the show and gotten your tickets refunded.

Updated On: 2/13/05 at 10:05 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:09pm

I was visiting from out of town. Three seperate visits. But I wouldn't expect her to pay my travel expenses.

[Ruth Sherwood]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 10:20pm

Look, you will never change my mind about Donna Murphy, and I will probably never change yours. So, rather then get into a pointless argument, I'm just going to go on my usual rant, defend Donna, and be done with this thread.

Obviously she was ill, as she did have a doctor's note for every missed performance. Donna may not have stated what her illness was, but she did say it was unethical for her to discuss right now. Also, the performances she missed due to filming the television pilot was with the blessing of the producers and was in her contract. (I read this some time ago in an article on playbill.com, and at 10 o'clock at night, am not going to go looking for it.) Ms. Murphy has stated that she did perform while in severe back pain, which would not be easy with "Conga!" She also performed half a performance and had to leave at intermission because she was so sick. Why would she come to work, get into make-up and costume just to leave at intermission? Obviously, Donna Murphy did not want to miss work and tried to be there.

So, with that, I hope Ms. Murphy feels better, and I wish her well with whatever she does next.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 11:21pm

Does anyone know what the Equity contract says regarding sick time? I'm curious because so many performers seem to miss so many performances these days. I had one trip to NYC where I saw 4 shows and all four had at least one cast member out sick. Give me the good old days where people went on no matter what. Ethel Merman was known for (almost) never missing a show...I just heard a great interview with someone talking about how Carol Channing would summon you to her dressing room to hear your excuse if you called in sick to her show. I know Harvey Fierstein was infamous for that to and would scold people who took time off.

Anyway, I get 5 sick days a year at work. If I get sicker than that I have to use vacation time or go witout pay. Too bad Broadway doesn't work like that.

[Craig]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 11:22pm

I saw Billy Crystal's understudy in 700 sundays. He wasn't as good

[Kris2]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 11:31pm

Oy people. Hugh Jackman did not miss one performance. They did indeed go dark for a week or so for his vacation and then a couple other nights for Tony rehearsals and the actual Tonys I believe.

Not to be an asS, but if Donna Murphy has an ongoing illness that constantly requires her to call out of a show, why sign a contract to do an 8-show Broadway week? You're hurting yourself and cheating the audience. I'm not knocking her, I'm just saying that if it's really serious, she shouldn't sign on to do a show. I'd rather she be healthy.

I don't remember how many sick days you are allowed per month, but once you exceed it they start docking it from your pay I think. Especially if you're a lead, star or billed above the title I believe. Something like that. Anyone know the exact details?

[Firefly]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 10:01am

Okay, I'm sure I'll regret this, but I'm also going to jump in, say what I have to say in defense of Donna Murphy, and jump back out...

20 years ago when she was doing an off-Broadway show that I had the good fortune to be around, I don't remember her EVER missing a performance (although she could have missed one or two that I'm forgetting) - so either she's drastically changed or she has a good reason, whether she shares details of her reasons with the general public or not (and I expect the same is true of many other actors who miss performances).

I don't have any idea what her health situation has been recently, but if there is something serious going on, I can only wish her the best and hope things improve.

And if you (that's the general "you", not just directed at one person) admire someone enough to really want to see them perform, I would think the first reaction to hearing they've missed shows would be concern for them - not criticism.

But that's just me...okay...backing away from this topic again...

[Popular]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:30am

Apparantly Patti LaBelle has not shown up for the last 4 performances of Chicago or so, they have had about 5 different understudies go on for her since the run started on Feb 1st... and worse than that, no one has heard from her. No call, nothing! Hope she's ok.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:34am

Hasn't someone gone looking for her? Usually if someone just doesn't show with no contact at all, they send someone to see what's up.

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 11:38am

Billy has an understudy for 700 Sundays?
I'd demand my $ back...(which I'm sure others did as well)

And let's hear it for Hugh for never missing a show all year.

[Bal]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 12:50pm

bb891 - Kristin Chenoweth did indeed miss a lot of performances in Wicked. I remember it being discussed a lot towards Tony time.

I had the good fortune to see Laura Bell Bundy as Glinda... Kristin's voice annoys the @$^% outta me.

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 1:05pm

Sam Harris missed alot of shows when he was in The Life.

Whatever happened to "the show must go on" mentality?