Sherie Renee Scott drama while in RENT? — Page 2

I can't give specific details without compromising other people's privacy. Sure, maybe I shouldn't mention this at all, but if you were an active member of the Broadway community back then, you'd know how hostile she and others in the cast were with Sherie.

Sherie doesn't lie when she says people didn't want her to be there, some cast members were very speficic at letting her know how they felt. It wasn't her fault, she just got the job. The fact they felt so stronlgly about the piece doesn't mean you can go and attack a newbie like that.

But the truth is that her reputation didn't get better in Rocky Horror. Ask Alice Ripley...

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More important is what she did to Janis Joplin.

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I love a good story involving Alice Ripley.

"Blaxx, what kind of entitlement issues are you referring to on her end? I know the fans wanted her to have it (many thought it was what was going to happen), but to say *she* made someone's life miserable is a whole other insinuation. Letting it be known she wanted it and feeling entitled aren't always the same, and let's face it - who wouldn't have wanted it? It was an obvious "want" whether she stated it or not.

However, playing devil's advocate - you had an original cast member, who was good enough to understudy and fill in, who knew the role inside and out, and who was eventually placed in the role after all? Not sure why she wasn't an obvious choice to begin with either. She was absolutely fantastic in the role, people loved her, so it's not arrogant for her to think she would be a canidate to be moved up when Idina left.

Not to mention many casting changes have come from people moving up the ranks - Kristin, Gwen, Rodney, and Norbert are just the start of the list. It's not entitlement, it's what happens a LOT, and not a wrong thing to hope for."

It becomes an entitlement issue when you have absolutely no tact or respect for a fellow cast mate. Just because you're an understudy does not guarantee you will move up the ranks once the lead leaves the show. Even if it is something that happens a lot, keep in mind that it isn't necessarily uncommon for someone to be hired from the outside as well. This happens across many industries, not just theater. It's okay to feel disappointed, but to be bitter about it and actively take it out on the new hire (Sherie) is low class. Maybe something about Kristen's attitude is what kept her from being promoted at the time.

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Updated On: 8/13/12 at 08:35 AM

Of course Millie, I believe we agree (I stated much of the same in my next post). Naturally understudies don't always move up, but it's not unreasonable to think you might. And I also said it wasn't right or fair the way Sherie was treated.

And oh Skywalker, you're so right. There are many a swings who left companies because they weren't going to be promoted (because training a new swing wasn't the better option). That unfortunate too

"That's something I've hated about the evolution of Maureen after Idina, but we have Michael Greif to thank for that unfortunately. I've been told he directed early national tour Maureen's to go that route - and I can only assume he influenced Sherie as well."

The difference between Idina and Sherie was continued on in some weird directorial trend throughout the run, where all brunette Maureens were intense artists who took their performance very seriously, and all blonde Maureens were ditzy dumb blondes. So Idina, Kristen, Karmine, Yassmin, Eden, etc. played the role one way, and Sherie, Kendra, Nicolette, Annaleigh played a totally different Maureen.

I mean, maybe it's not that calculated, but it's just odd how back and forth it went based on the different actresses, versus the other roles in the show.

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I just think it is wrong Sherie is a class act she got it fare and square and is as talented as anyone

For what it's worth, Peter Marks of the Times loved Sherie...maybe Kristen was just pissed about not getting it.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/15/theater/newcomers-who-brighten-broadway.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

"THE most electrifying moment on Broadway these days is being supplied not by any above-the-title player, but by a pair of unknowns.

Their names are Sherie Scott and Shelley Dickinson, a replacement and an understudy in the cast of 'Rent.' When they throw themselves body, heart and soul into 'Take Me or Leave Me,' the white-hot, Aretha-style love duet near the top of the second act, the force is nearly nuclear. The number has always been one of the show's most irresistible, but Ms. Scott and Ms. Dickinson, who as the musical's lesbian lovers are as perfectly matched as a pair of diamond-stud earrings, explore new depths in their characters' mutual attraction. In their wild, aching rendition, there can be no doubt that a love-hate relationship is nourished by heat.

The sublime work by Ms. Scott, who recently replaced the Tony-nominated Idina Menzel as the performance artist Maureen, and Ms. Dickinson, the understudy to Fredi Walker, who created the role of the uptight Harvard-trained lawyer Joanne, is instructive for audiences and performers alike: replacement actors in hit shows need not be disappointingly wan facsimiles of their well-received predecessors. They can transform a piece in profound and unanticipated ways."

I saw Shelley Dickinson as Joanne once and I agree she was marvelous.