Show up, or not??? A question.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 1:19am

So I took some friends of mine to see "Jacques Brel" last Sunday.

Natalie was out.

Here's the thing. Natalie's understudy was okay, but she was no Natalie. Natalie is AMAZING in that show.

My friends liked Natalie's understudy. I have seen Natalie's "My Death", and the understudy wasn't even close to what Natalie did.

I really don't know, but here's my feeling: Stop missing performances.

If you want to leave a show, then leave. If you want to take a vacation? Screw you.

Natalie? You were AMAZING. I took a bunch of friends to see you, and told them how great you were, and you happened to be out. It is what it is.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 1:22am

Here is a suggestion to avoid disappointment in the future. Stop going to live theatre. Just rent movies and DVDs of shows, then you know exactly who will be "in" and you can always be assured of the exact same performance every time you watch it! Your problem is solved.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 1:24am

Sueleen, you know that's not my point.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 1:27am

My point is this:

That production of "Jacques Brel" that is running right now at the Zipper is DEVESTATING.

Natalie is a huge part of what makes it devestating. Without her, the balance is off.

[commasplice]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 1:28am

Natalie? Do you mean Natascia, or did I miss something?

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 1:41am

"Natalie? Do you mean Natascia, or did I miss something?"

No, Natascia is exactly who I meant. My bad.

However, how's this?

The important thing is not that I can come up with her name. The important thing is that that performance moved the **** out of me.

Did you see her? She was amazing.

Perhaps she had a great reason for being out last Sunday.

But I doubt it. Nataschia, let me tell you. Years ago, my sister got married the same week I opened in a Susan Strohman show. Guess what I did?

I missed the wedding. However, I'm not nearly as good as a performer as you are. I'm just saying.

[winston89]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 2:32am

I honestly think that you getting all upset because an actor took a day off is stupid. It's a job. If you go to a 9-5 job and one day call in sick no one gets mad at you. I am sure everyone who has a job calles in once in a while just cus they need a day off. That's why they have UNDERSTUDIES.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 2:51am

Oh, Winston is here! Behave or you will be trashed in his next year end review.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 11:46am

"I really don't know, but here's my feeling: Stop missing performances.

If you want to leave a show, then leave. If you want to take a vacation? Screw you."

Haha. You are too funny. And getting her name wrong...

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 9/7/06 at 1:25pm

I'm kinda with VC on this one. Look at how many peformances Bernadette Peters missed, ostensibly because of this problem or that illness or whatever. It was crap shoot whether or not she was going to actually show up at the theatre that night, and her poor attendance record is why we didnt bother seeig GYPSY last time around. I mea, why shell out the money when there's a good chance you'll see the understudy and not the performer you came expressly to see?

And let's face it: we go to see the performers, not the material. The material is background noise. We want to see the names recorded faithfully in these very forum threads.

Yes, performing is a job like everything else, but I sometimes wonder if the ones who have made it to this level really understand and appreciate what they've been given.

(... which would lead to a mini rant about trick casting, but we'll stop right here, okay?)

[moljul]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 11:49am

Okay. I really think after more than 3 years we need to get this straight. Bernadette did not miss a ton of performances in Gypsy. It was certainly not a crap shoot as to whether she would show up at the theater that night.

Here are the facts:

Bernadette missed 4 Preview Performances (April 21-23, 2003) due to a respiratory illness. It was widely reported that Bernadette was very sick but performing previous to these dates.

Because she came back to the show too soon for the press previews and opening night she had a relapse of her illness immediately after opening and missed another 4 performances (May 5-7, 2003).

She missed the performance on July 20th, 2003 to be with her husband who was having surgery. Her absence was well publicized beforehand.

She took a week of vacation at the end of September 2003. Again, widely publicized.

In the last month of the run (May 2004) she injured her foot during Mr. Goldstone and was out for a performance on doctor's orders.

According to the Internet Broadway Database the production ran for 457 performances (including previews) and Bernadette missed 14 shows (8 absences being well publicized in advance). That is an attendance rate of 96.9%. If you play craps with those odds you are going to win big.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 11:57am

Wow. mojul, you know way too much about that!

[kover22]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 11:58am

Sometimes seeing an understudy is better than seeing the "star"!! I saw a show in Vegas ...basically because of the "star" and he wasn't there. The understudy we saw turned out to be absolutely amazing in the role and made me completely forget that I didn't get to see the "star"!!! I also now have a very nice friendship going with the man and to think none of it would have happened if the celeb showed up that day!!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 11:59am

Wow, you must really have thought she was amazing if you couldn't even remember her name.

And I'm sure she took off just to spite you and your friends, because you are at the top of her list.

Updated On: 9/8/06 at 11:59 AM

[moljul]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 12:09pm

LOL Well it was discussed on another site so I knew I just had to search. I'll get off my soapbox now.

[Kringas]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 12:37pm

And let's face it: we go to see the performers, not the material.

I'm trying to decide if the whole of this post is tongue-in-cheek or not. At any rate, I generally go for the material.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 12:49pm

No, ma'am, it wasnt tongue in cheek. Look at the threads in this forum: "who's gonna play this role?" "what'd you think of so and so in that role?" "Oh. My. God, Wouldnt _________ be dreamy in that role over there?" The only really serious discussion about the role itself was Margo's in the thread about the Williams play; everywhere else, it's names.

And producers know this. That's why Bernadette gets cast as Mama Rose, even though right now in Midtown Manhattan there are probably twenty or thirty actresses who could do it better. Face it: if you had the choice between seeing Peters as Mama Rose and Muriel Greensplat as Mama Rose, which ticket are you going to buy? I'm betting on the former, because you, like everyone else, wants to see a star perform -- even if she's just calling it in.

And by and large, there's nothing wrong with that. It gets the material seen. But those productions arent called "vehicles" for nothing.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 1:50pm

Actors are people. Maybe she sick? Maybe she had a personal problem? Maybe she was on vacation? Who knows.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 3:58pm

>> that says scores more about you than it does about me, ma'am.

Sorry if being polite offends you.

Insofar as the material, like you, I go to see the play and hear the music. When I go to the Met, it's not because someone in particular is singing, it's the production and the opera itself. But face it: for most people in this forum, that's not the case. They want to see _________ or _________. The fact that it's a score by someone is a nice add-on, but it's the performers they want to see.

And I'd posit that most ticket buyers are like that. They dont know, nor do they care, what the songs in WICKED sound like. They want the eye candy and the performers, and the bigger the name, the better the chances of selling the ticket.

That's a hard reality, but it's also a simple one.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 4:01pm

I guess it's only me that goes to see a show because of a certain composer. I can even recall a recent show - two, even - I went to see just for that...

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 8:26pm

... which reslly isnt all that different, when you think about it. I men, did you care who did the set? Or the lighting? Or who the secondary leads were? Nope, it was the composer.

And there's nothing wrong with that, just as there's nothing wrong with seeing a show because of a certain performer.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 9:28pm

Never said there was anything wrong with it.

I'm just saying you aren't making the right assumptions.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 9:32pm

Maybe she has Donna Murphy syndrome for which there is no known cure

Sara Ramirez also had it

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 9:35pm

I think this entire argument is subjective.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 9/8/06 at 9:36pm

"I really don't know, but here's my feeling: Stop missing performances.

If you want to leave a show, then leave. If you want to take a vacation? Screw you."

If you don't know the situation? Keep quiet.