Roles they DIDN'T get.... — Page 10

...and didn't Judy Garland audition for Mame? Also, I think Robert Preston was offered George in la cage but refused because the role was too similar to the one he played in Victor/Victoria.

Imeldasturn, Jerry Herman wanted Judy really badly for the role of Auntie Mame, and she really wanted the role, but the producers didn't think her reliable enough,

Thought I'd bump this since its a fun thread. After doing extensive research and reading some different books it turns out Betty Buckley was involved in the first workshop/reading of Into The Woods but couldn't do San Diego and then did the two week pre broadway workshop. Negotiations fell through (salary I believe) and the role was offered to LuPone and then Bernadette.

^He was also apparently in an early reading/workshop of Wicked as Boq.

This thread seems to be less "roles they didn't get" and more "roles they developed or played somewhere at some point but didn't do on Broadway." There's a difference.

chewy5000 said: "John Lennon was rumoured for the Original Jesus Christ Superstar (How well found the rumours were is debatable)"

They weren't very well-founded at all; what I've consistently heard in my years of JCS fandom is that the British tabloid press, who were having a field day with John and Yoko's antics at the time (they may have been campaigning for peace, but they sure came off as media whores in the process -- one shudders to think of what may have been if reality shows were a thing back then), got wind that a rock opera about Jesus Christ was being developed and that its authors were casting the role of Jesus (they interviewed quite a few singers and at one point were even considering the possibility of a name star for the part, and they placed ads in the London music trades, so word was getting round), and decided to create a story.

They called Tim Rice and said, "We hear John Lennon's interested, what do you think about that?" and managed to get a pull quote from him, and then they popped the question to Lennon and didn't get a firm no. Throw into the mix that Martin Sullivan, the then-popular "new wave" Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, was offering the Cathedral for a live presentation, and the Daily Express was the first to rush to print on April 12. As John was joined at the hip to Yoko during those days, they decided to throw in that he was only willing to do it if she played Mary Magdalene, but I don't think that was ever a serious idea on anyone's part.

By that evening, a retraction of sorts had been printed in the Evening News, where Tim and Andrew explained that upon reflection, John was "too much of a personality" for the role and "would divert attention from the part to himself." (I understand further that when they still hadn't cast the role by December of '69, they actually put in a formal offer to John around the beginning of the month, and then thought better of it and withdrew it the next day.)

There are some other JCS might-have-beens that were really interesting:

[*] As famously recorded in Michael Shurtleff's Audition, Bette Midler tried out several times for the part of Mary Magdalene in the OBC and was reportedly the best auditioner he'd seen for it, but she ultimately didn't gel with the rest of the cast of Hair and JCS concert tour veterans that Tom O'Horgan and the authors either picked or compromised on. Her audition pianist, however, they liked enough to keep on during rehearsals, though I don't recall if Mr. Manilow ever received credit for it.

[*] When it came time to make the movie in 1973, some of the initial controversy that had surrounded the album and stage show had died down, so Universal Pictures was considering the possibility of stars as drawing cards. Raquel Welch and Sylvia Miles (Midnight Cowboy) were discussed for Mary Magdalene, Mick Jagger was briefly a Judas candidate, and Bill Medley (The Righteous Brothers), David Cassidy (who would eventually play the role in stock in the Eighties), Alice Cooper, and Mickey Dolenz were all approached for Jesus.

[*] Additionally, John Travolta, then a spring chicken at 17, auditioned for J.C., which is how Robert Stigwood discovered him and kept him in the "future talent" file, and Ian Gillan, from the original album, was considered for the film, but a] did not get along with Norman Jewison, and b] demanded that Deep Purple be compensated for the tour dates they would miss as a result of the shooting schedule, which the studio was unwilling to do. They made their offer, Gillan did the math and realized he'd make more money on the road, and said goodbye.

Updated On: 6/7/16 at 09:23 AM

Bumping this great thread.

Stephanie Styles has talked about getting cast in the James Cordon FORUM revival which was canceled. Does anyone know of anyone else who was cast?

And when Yvonne ran after her six months was up, Marta took over. Per Kurt Yahjian in an interview we did with him a while back (insert self-serving plug for Jesus Christ Superstar Zone, the #1 fan community for JCS fans), Nell understudied at some point as well, because he remembered an "understudy night" where he was on for Ben Vereen, Ted Neeley for Jeff Fenholt, and Nell for Mary.

Danny Pudi was in one of the workshops for Beetlejuice, and I'm kind of disappointed his involvement didn't go any further. (And that there seems to be minimal photo evidence and no audio/video evidence.)

AEA AGMA SM said: "viagalactica6 said: "In the early 1970s I was auditioning for JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at the Mark Hellinger Theater. That day I witnessed the following actresses singing "I Don't Know How to Love Him" back to back all of them auditioning for the role of Mary Magdalene: Bette Midler, Paula Kelly, Nell Carter, and Marta Heflin. The role went to Yvonne Elliman who was a client of the producer of the show Robert J. Stigwood."

I mean, while I'm sure it helped that Ellimanwas a client of Stigwood's, there's also the fact that she had done the concept album which had been a world-wide phenomenon."

This.

I also wonder who was supposed to be in the Tootsie tour.

I mean, she's owned the role since she recorded the album, and you're of course right about the concert tour. Elliman has a unique voice and no one has brought to those songs what she did. She was important enough to the original project (at which point she was not represented by Stigwood) to be the only person on the cast album getting a paycheck rather than forgoing pay (which Rice and Lloyd Webbor couldn't afford to give) in lieu of profit percentage.

Ahmy said: "Danny Pudi was in one of the workshops for Beetlejuice, and I'm kind of disappointed his involvement didn't go any further. (And that there seems to be minimal photo evidence and no audio/video evidence.)"

We see rehearsal footage of shows, but how often do you see photos from things like workshops? We find out that they're in the workshop but very rarely do we actually get photos or videos...