Star replacements who were actually incredible.

#1

Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:12pm

Here we can post whoever we thought replaced a show to boost ticket sales and actually did a great job.

For me I'd have to say Brooke Shields in Wonderful Town. In my opinion no one beats Donna Murphy and Ros Rusell but Brooke was pretty amazing in the show.

Any others?

#2

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:13pm

Reba McEntire in "Annie, Get Your Gun."

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Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.

#3

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:14pm

A lot of people disagree with this, but Jennifer Jason Leigh as Sally in CABARET blew me away. She made that character so incredibly dark and depressing and I loved every single second of it.

#4

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:24pm

I didn't see her, but many of my friends saw Diana Degarmo in Hairspray and said she was fabulous.

Also, a friend of mine just got back from seeing Beauty and the Beast and adored Annelise.

#5

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:25pm

Certainly Raquel Welch in WOMAN OF THE YEAR and Vanessa Williams in SPIDER WOMAN got stellar reviews.

Now you just know this thread is going to turn into a debate over the definition of "star" (i.e. "Jan Smith was so incredible when she replaced the third chorus girl on the right in HAIRSPRAY...")

#6

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:37pm

FANTASIA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#7

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:38pm

Luci Arnaz - Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jonathan Pryc - DRS
Brian d'Arcy James - DRS
Richard Kind - The Producers
Harvey Fierstein - Fiddler on the Roof
Cathy Rigby - Seussical
Donny Osmond - Beauty and the Beast
Mike Starr - The Odd Couple
Bebe Neuwirth - Chicago


I'm sure I could name some more...but I just don't want to.

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"I'm tellin' you, the only times I really feel the presence of God are when I'm having sex and during a great Broadway musical." - Nathan Lane - Jeffrey

#8

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:41pm

The following great ladies of the theater who followed the Goddess Carol Channing in HELLO, DOLLY!:

Ginger Rogers

Martha Raye

Betty Grable

Pearl Bailey *********************************

Phyllis Diller

Ethel Merman

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"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)

#9

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 5:42pm

Pryce was amazing ! Not sure if the OP was just referring to a
"stunt-casted" star, or just a replacement ?

#10

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 6:13pm

Not quite sure as I never witnessed her performance, but Petula Clark was a good Norma Desmond, no?

#11

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 6:43pm

Gonna agree with those DRS ones.
Um, Richard Kind as Max? Awful, one of the worst stage performances ever.

Donny was also great, too.

#12

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:09pm

ElFantasma14,

"...but Petula Clark was a good Norma Desmond, no?"


No.

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What great ones do the less will prattle of

#13

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:11pm

ANNELIESE VAN DER POL in Beauty and the Beast

#14

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:21pm

Harvey - Fiddler
Anneliese - B&TB

#15

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:37pm

Not sure if this counts as she opened the Canadian production but I wasn't expecting much from Diahan Carol (sp?) as Norma in Sunset when I saw it in Vancouver and was blown away by her mere presence--her version of the CD is still my fave to listen to.

I saw Kate Shindle on the tour of Cabaret and all I knew about her was she was a Miss America--so I was kinda expecting the worse but, while not blown away, was pleasantly surprised

#16

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:48pm

Lea Thompson in Cabaret - Her insanely held note on "When I goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I'm going like Elsie" was PHENOMENAL! It was soo much more angry, it felt like Sally realized the weight of the abortion, and what it was costing her.

Jennifer Laura Thompson in Wicked - Liked her a lot more than Cheno. Felt she was just a better actress, and had a better grasp on the part.

Reba in Annie Get Your Gun - Words can not describe.

Betty Buckley in Carrie - She didn't do London, so technically I'm calling her a replacement. In London "And Barbara Was Weak" would be a better comment.

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#17

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:55pm

Brooke Shields in Wonderful Town, she was so passionate, real, and she had that woman down.

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"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird

#18

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:57pm

I wouldn't call Grandma Buckley a replacement in CARRIE. Barbara Cook completed her run in London and simply chose not to reprise the role for NYC...

#19

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 7:59pm

Jonathan Pryce was FABULOUS in DRS.

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I can't talk now. I gotta go get my wallet out of the toaster.

#20

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 8:06pm

I agree with Jennifer Laura Thompson and Jonathan Pryce -- both were fantastic, really! I liked Pryce immeasurably more than Lithgow, who talk-sings his way through the entire show. And I prefer JLT's Glinda over Cheno's (we all know she's fab -- just personal preference).

Barrett Foa was a very dynamic replacement for Tartaglia, I think. Also, Joey Fatone in Little Shop always made me smile.

#21

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 9:13pm

I'm in a decided minority, but I loved Debbie Reynolds in WOMAN OF THE YEAR. Raquel had fun with it, in her Kamali shoulders, but curiously -- to my thinking -- Debbie, more than Bacall even, actually seemed to embody and fill out with versimilitude the character, i.e. to suggest a real TV reporter. This will astound or infuriate, but she made the story feel grounded, real-er. And the only played it three weeks. I wish she had recorded it, because she made a far more persuasive case for the Kander and Ebb score -- which is levels above, say, the APPLAUSE score. (And on that subjectd, I saw Anne Baxter's campy but winning turn as Margo. Maybe I'm just happier seeing a Bacall show once Bacall checks out.)

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"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling

#22

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 9:16pm

Did you just call Barret Foa a "star replacement"?

#23

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 9:17pm

I never saw Bacall, Welch, or Reynolds in the role but Kander and Ebb *hated* Debbie Reynolds in their show because according to them she ad-libbed the whole performance, changed their lyrics (or simply skipped them), and never showed any kind of discipline regarding the material when she was on stage. Must've been fun for the audience though.
I love the clip of Welch singing "The Grass is Always Greener" with Cooper who is a hoot.

EDIT: I know MB predicted this, but come on, some of the people listed here as "stars" are a bit laughable.

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"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"

Updated On: 4/23/07 at 09:17 PM

#24

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 10:02pm

George Hearn in Wicked was also fantastic!

I thought Richard was a perfect fit for the role of Max...I dunno, I'm a fan of his..

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"I'm tellin' you, the only times I really feel the presence of God are when I'm having sex and during a great Broadway musical." - Nathan Lane - Jeffrey

#25

re: Star replacements who were actually incredible.

Posted: 4/23/07 at 10:11pm

I really like Shoshana's take on the role after Idina left and was shocked by the talented Steve Kazee who replaced Hank Azaria as Lancelot and Martin Moran as Sir Robin who replaced David Hyde Pierce. I went in disappointed that I'd be missing the stars but was really surprised that they were so awesome!