Performers notorious for missing shows — Page 3

A lot of people still have that mentality, but too many do not. Interestingly enough, the word "trouper" comes from the word "troupe" as in a company of actors. That's what actors used to all be - troupers - it was part of the job description. And those were the days before Broadway actors were paid handsomely to be such.

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Bernadette Peters for Goodbye Girl, and I believe she missed a lot for TMOAS. She is always out due to vocal problems.

Boyd Gaines in Company...same - vocal problems.

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I remember reading that Harvey Fierstein used to scold the young kids for missing performances in "Hairspray" and had some kind of board backstage to track absences...

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"Hugh Jackman I've heard was absent quite a bit from "The Boy From Oz." Hugh is a busy guy and incredibly talented, don't get me wrong, I just heard it wasn't exactly his "first priority." I heard (and I don't know if this is rumor or not) that they would actually close the show for weeks at a time because he had filming for recent movies out of town and such. Nevertheless, what a killer performer!"

Hugh Jackman NEVER missed a performance. The show was closed twice for ONE week each time when Hugh went on planned vacations. There were also few odd Tuesdays when the show was dark, and no performance the day of the Tony Awards, which he was hosting.

The Boy from Oz was his only priority during the year he was with the show -- there was no "filming for recent movies out of town" during that time. He did do a lot of promotional stuff for Van Helsing when it came out last May, but it was scheduled around his show schedule.

Hugh worked himself to the point of exhaustion in that show, and in the last four months prior to its closing he was dancing around with a stress fracture in one foot.

Audra McDonald during MARIE CHRISTINE. She was only contracted for 6 shows a week, her understudy played the matinees. And, I think, she missed more performances than she was in.