"Replacement" cast members who were better than the originals

[Zamedy154]

REBA#2

Posted: 6/8/17 at 8:30am

Reba over Bernadette in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

[corbucketty]

REBA#3

Posted: 6/8/17 at 8:33am

Jill Paice for Lauren Ward as Miss Honey

[sondmon]

REBA#4

Posted: 6/8/17 at 8:37am

Headley over Hudson in Color Purple

[kdogg36]

Marin#5

Posted: 6/8/17 at 8:56am

They were both wonderful, but Marin Mazzie over Alice Ripley in Next to Normal. Also, Van Hughes over John Gallagher, Jr. in American Idiot.

[bwayphreak234]

REBA#6

Posted: 6/8/17 at 8:58am

- Any of the Lola replacements in Kinky Boots

- Heather Headley over Jennifer Hudson

- Marin Mazzie in The King and I

- Brendon Urie in Kinky Boots

"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "

Updated On: 6/17/17 at 08:58 AM

[AC126748]

REBA#7

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:02am

Bernadette Peters in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

Jonathan Pryce in DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

Heather Headley in THE COLOR PURPLE

 

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[KathyNYC2]

REBA#8

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:16am

corbucketty said: "Jill Paice for Lauren Ward as Miss Honey

 

"

Alison Luff over both of the two. 

[Call_me_jorge]

REBA#9

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:32am

Ben Platt in Book of Mormon

My father (AIDS) My sister (AIDS) My uncle and my cousin and her best friend (AIDS, AIDS, AIDS) The gays and the straights And the white and the spades

[trpguyy]

REBA#10

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:33am

Pick any other Elphaba

[poisonivy2]

REBA#11

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:34am

Marin Mazzie and Daniel Dae Kim over Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe in The King and I

Sara Bareilles over Jessie Mueller in Waitress

 

[thebookofwhizzer]

REBA#12

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:35am

Laura Michelle Kelly and Christian Borle in Mary Poppins

 

"

 

“6 AM. The sky glows. Somewhere a bird chirps. I want to shoot it.” ~ Jonathan Larson, Tick...Tick..BOOM

[GavestonPS]

REBA#13

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:44am

Based only on the night I saw Kahn, Judy Kaye over Madeleine Kahn.

I loved Madeleine Kahn and many here saw her on nights when she was brilliant. And that's theater, folks! But Judy Kaye taught me something very important about musical comedy, in particular: it's not enough to have the skills, you also have to act like you want to be up there. OTTC was always a great party with Judy Kaye!

[LYLS3637]

REBA#14

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:51am

He technically wasn't a replacement but he understudied so I'll say it.

Max Von Essen for Ricky Martin in EVITA.

"I shall stay until the wind changes."

[thirtythirtyninety]

REBA#15

Posted: 6/8/17 at 9:52am

Jonathan Pryce in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

[philly03]

REBA#16

Posted: 6/8/17 at 10:05am

Lea Salonga over Daphne Rubin-Vega, Les Mis 2006

Rachel York over Christine Andreas, The Scarlet Pimpernel

[Lot666]

"Replacement" cast members who were better than the originals#17

Posted: 6/8/17 at 10:26am

Do original vs. revival productions count? If so, I thought Jon Jon Briones, Eva Noblezada, and Alistair Brammer were better than Jonathan Pryce, Lea Salonga, and Simon Bowman in Miss Saigon.

==> this board is a nest of vipers <==
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage

Updated On: 6/8/17 at 10:26 AM

[HeyMrMusic]

"Replacement" cast members who were better than the originals#18

Posted: 6/8/17 at 11:24am

I love Jessie Mueller and pretty much think she can do no wrong, but I preferred Sara Bareilles in Waitress.

[JBroadway]

"Replacement" cast members who were better than the originals#19

Posted: 6/8/17 at 11:45am

I agree about Bareilles. I thought she was better than Mueller by leaps and bounds (I should note that I do NOT love Mueller and think she absolutely CAN do wrong). Bareilles naturally was everything Mueller was visibly trying hard to be. 

And I agree about Heather Headley in The Color Purple. I didn't even realize what that the role had that much potential for depth and dimension until she did it. 

I would also add Kevin Kern in Finding Neverland. Much better than Matthew Morrison. He technically wasn't a replacement, but it sounds like he might as well have been based on how often Alfie Boe called out. 

I didn't see Michelle Williams in Cabaret, but I LOVED Emma Stone in the role, and the consensus seems to be that Williams was awful (which doesn't surprise me, given that I didn't enjoy her over-the-top performance in Blackbird, or even really Manchester By The Sea for that matter). Stone's singing was only passable, but her acting was electric. 

I thought Rob McClure was a better fit for Nick Bottom in Something Rotten than Brian d'Arcy James.

I'm also not a bit fan of Idina Menzel, so though I've only seen bootlegs of her as Elphaba, I definitely think she's ben surpassed by tons of her replacements.

Updated On: 6/8/17 at 11:45 AM

[ethan231h]

replacements#21

Posted: 6/8/17 at 12:45pm

As amazing as Patina Miller was in Pippin...I gotta say, I adored Ciara Renee. She brought some different vibes to the role that I really loved. 

I also think Josh Grisetti was/is great in Something Rotten (Broadway/tour)

[IHeartNY2]

replacements#22

Posted: 6/8/17 at 1:09pm

Also preferred Sara Bareilles in Waitress.

[hak5]

replacements#23

Posted: 6/8/17 at 1:20pm

enjoyed Norbert Leo Butz as Roger in RENT better than Adam Pascal

[Sondheimite]

replacements#24

Posted: 6/8/17 at 1:30pm

I liked Michael C Hall and, obviously, John Cameron Mitchell in the Hedwig revival substantially more than Neil Patrick Harris.  But, again, I acknowledge it's not fair to pin NPH's Hedwig against JCM's Hedwig.   

Broadway World's Fireman.

[BroadwayConcierge]

replacements#25

Posted: 6/8/17 at 1:32pm

Heather Headley in The Color Purple and Rob McClure in Something Rotten!.

Also, as much as I love Anthony Ramos, I think both of his successors (Jordan Fisher and Anthony Lee Medina) are superior Laurens/Philips.

[loveinnewyorkcity]

replacements#26

Posted: 6/8/17 at 1:43pm

I thought Nick Jonas was excellent in How to Succeed. He was far better than Daniel Radcliffe, who, in my opinion, should solely stick to plays. Nick Jonas really surprised me with his acting, his singing was incredible, and his dancing was very energetic. 

I also think, with the exception of John Lloyd Young, that the 2015 cast of Jersey Boys was far better. Richard H. Blake, Quinn Van Antwerp, and Matt Bogart were the best 'Seasons' in my opinion. They were lively and their movements were more crisp and uniformed than the OBC's. Though John Lloyd Young was the best Frankie Valli in my opinion, Mauricio Perez did a stellar job when he understudied and alternated. 

[The Other One]

replacements#27

Posted: 6/8/17 at 2:00pm

Going back too many years for me to have actually seen for myself, Michelle Lee was almost assuredly a better Rosemary than Bonnie Scott in the original production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.  Michelle is that rare replacement who went on to play the role in the film version, albeit with most of her songs cut.

I second Jonathan Pryce in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and add David Dukes in M. Butterfly -- this despite the fact that I truly like John Lithgow.

Updated On: 6/8/17 at 02:00 PM