Roles they DIDN'T get....- Page 8

[ullabelt]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 1:46pm

Richard Dreyfuss couldn't remember any of his lines so he had to leave The Producers...it wasnt due to illness. He went on stage in London several years later with an air piece

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 5:42pm

Laura Osnes was in the Top 3 choices for Karen from SMASH

[angel_of_music2]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 6:42pm

Wasn't there once plans for a TV movie of Mame to star Barbra then Cher?

[boggess]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 7:52pm

It's a blessing that Laura didn't get Smash.

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 8:02pm

Don't you think things might have played out differently with Smash with Osnes?

I doubt it would have been a massive popular success, but NBC has been known to keep its critical darlings around as long as it can, such as Community or Parenthood. McPhee was one of the major whipping posts for the critics- with a likable and talented actress-singer in the Karen role, rather than a polarizing pop C-lister, things might have been different.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 8:14pm

Why all the McPhee bashing? She a natural on camera, down to earth, likable, sings well and is very good in the role. so she didn't come from Broadway-- who cares! I cared about her character immediately as she played the girl next door who wanted to make good. I don't get all the McPhee hating.

[boggess]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 8:28pm

That's a very good point. I didn't even think of how it might've gone differently with Laura, just of how it's going currently. I'm still happy she got to do Cinderella and would rather see her in there than in Smash.

[ullabelt]

Posted: 4/18/13 at 4:31am

Faith Prince was actually cast as Audrey (according to her) but couldn't do the show, scheduling I imagine although she doesn't specify, so they cast Ellen Greene.

Ellen Greene auditioned for Sally in the recent revival of 'Follies' and Adelaide in the tour of 'Guys and Dolls'

Chris Kattan played Xanthias in previews of 'The Frogs' but was replaced by Rodger Bart a week before the show opened.

Ruthie Henshall was very keen on playing Mary Poppins until they decided that they should 'go younger'

Buddy Hackett played Scuttle on the demo of 'The Little Mermaid' and I think it was planned that he would play the role onstage until he sadly passed away. I love him as a performer.

Emily Skinner also features on the demo recording as Ursula when they had still intended to use the 'Vanessa plot' - Skinner recorded a reprise of 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' with amended lyrics to Ursula's incantation rather than

Beluga, Sevruga
Come winds of the Caspian Sea
Larynxes, glossitis
Et Max Laryngitis
La voce to me

In the the reprise she sang -

Mascara, tiara
Ye, winds of the tropics appear
Catharsis, lavorious
Et qua manicurus
mutato me here!

Which transforms her into Vanessa.

When 'The Little Mermaid' was workshopped in Britain (before America) Melanie La Barrie played Ursula.

When 'Urinetown' was workshopped in Britain - Adam Garcia played Bobby Strong.

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/18/13 at 1:45pm

I don't care that McPhee isn't on Broadway. Truth is, I don't mind her. But she isn't an actress good enough to make the contradictory plot points and choices given to her feel cohesive, the way Megan Hilty has made the mentally ill, drug-addled and self-destructive Ivy gel with the later, working-through-her-issues Ivy.

McPhee was pretty good when she was a guest on Community, but making a character on a well-written show work for an episode or two is easier than making a somewhat slipshod character on an inconsistent show pop.

[Wildcard]

Posted: 4/18/13 at 2:18pm

I think McPhee is very beautiful and is a good singer (not great). However, she seems so full of herself and it just shows in the way she carries herself. It's not confidence, more self-importance. Even during her Idol days, it was evident. That said, she should have won her season over Hicks.

[TappingMan]

Posted: 4/27/13 at 12:01pm

I remember hearing that Carol Burnett was to go into the Tyne Daly, Gypsy after Linda Lavin but the show closed before she was available.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?

[brettarnett]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 4:49pm

Was watching some chatterboxes today, here are some I haven't heard
-Stark Stands did a few readings of Hands on a Hardbody before Kinky Boots. He also went in for Catch Me If You Can

-(I've heard this one before) Megan Hilty was told she got Audrey in Little Shop National Tour but the producers came back and told her no instead because she was too young especially next to Anthony Rapp.

-Christiane Noll was in the final call backs for Glinda with Hilty.

-Alice Ripley played Judy in a reading of 9to5

Updated On: 6/1/13 at 04:49 PM

[mc1227]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 5:41pm

Love reading some of these stories...I had heard some before but not most of them. I would have loved to see John Goodman as Edna in Hairspray.

What part in Starry Messenger was John Gallaher Jr. supposed to play? The co-worker that Grant Shaud played?

Updated On: 6/1/13 at 05:41 PM

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 6:56pm

Laura Osnes also auditioned for Alice in Wonderland and thats how she met Frank Wilhorne

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 7:10pm

"As much as I adore Sondheim, I really wish he'd stop fvcking with his shows."

Yeah, let's just do carbon copies of the shows as if they were museum pieces forevermore.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 8:07pm

"I remember hearing that Carol Burnett was to go into the Tyne Daly, Gypsy after Linda Lavin but the show closed before she was available. "

I don't know if this was true or not, but I would have loved to have seen Carol play the role at some point in her career. Based on her recording of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" on one of her Decca albums (with a swing-pop arrangement) the score would probably have sat very comfortably in her big belty voice.

[Starship]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 8:25pm

I haven't read all of this thread but the two cases that make me most shocked/upset: Kate Shindle as Elphaba and Hannah Waddingham as Fiona.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 8:06am

"{Patti} was offered Witch in Into the Woods, but she insisted on Cinderella, so she auditioned for Cinderella also, and they wanted her for Witch, and it fell through after a while due to contacts."

Bizarre. Why would Patti think Cinderella was a better part for her than the Witch?

[jackieoh]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 4:55pm

Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz workshopped Diana and Dan in Next to Normal when it was still Feeling Electric. As did Amy Spanger and Anthony Rapp (as the Doctors).

Also, it's common knowledge at this point but Alice Ripley did Little Shop with Hunter Foster and was slated to be Audrey in the revival before they replaced her with Kerry Butler.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 5:31pm

Diana Ross was supposed to do the Michelle Pfeifer role in The Witches of Eastwick. Dropped out when (rival) Cher was cast in the film.

[Younger Brother]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 10:09am

Bump! Any more interesting stories?

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 3:25pm

"Also, it's common knowledge at this point but Alice Ripley did Little Shop with Hunter Foster and was slated to be Audrey in the revival before they replaced her with Kerry Butler."

Didn't she play the role in the out-of-town run?

[random person 112]

Posted: 6/30/13 at 11:07pm

Truman Capote based Holly Golightly heavily on Marilyn Monroe and Marilyn did want to play the part but sadly never got the chance due to the fact Monroe was signed to Twentieth Century Fox and was keeping the studio afloat financially they would not lend her out to paramount at the time.

[Rentaholic]

Posted: 7/1/13 at 12:55am

""Also, it's common knowledge at this point but Alice Ripley did Little Shop with Hunter Foster and was slated to be Audrey in the revival before they replaced her with Kerry Butler."

Didn't she play the role in the out-of-town run? "

Yeah, she played it in Florida and it was supposed to come to Broadway but it kind of petered out before everyone was fired except for Hunter Foster.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 7/1/13 at 3:46am

Henrik: "Why would Patti think Cinderella was a better part for her than the Witch?"

Presumedly because at the point Patti was auditioning, Cinderella was the much larger role. This, I'm guessing would have either been before the out of town tryout or just after it, when the Witch was not being thought of as a star part. There was no "Children Will Listen", no "Lament", no "Stay With Me", no "Last Midnight." Just the Rap and Boom Crunch. She didn't really intereact with Rapunzel much or have much to do in act two. It was more of a cameo than a starring role. Then they buildt it up when Bernadette became interested, and they buildt the role in an extremly smart fashion, taking all the seeds of character development that were already there and turning them into major character moments.

Cinderella, on the other hand, was clearly one of two female leads, and was actually a little more prominent than she was by the time the show reached Broadway (she had a little more to do in act two, is the main difference.) At the time, this absolutely would have been the more attractive role.