Surprising Stunt Casting

a friend of mine saw one of the guys from NKOTB in Waitress and still raves about it. would love to know some stunt casting that really surprised you.

I didn’t see it, but I’m told Al Roker was delightful in Waitress. In hindsight it makes sense, as while he may not be an actor, he still got huge in a profession calling for great charisma.

Vanessa Williams replacing Chita Rivera in KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN. This was in the early days of the internet so the AOL Chatrooms were not too pleased with this announcement. Can she dance? Her voice isn’t Broadway. Are they kidding? THEN she started performances and the buzz reached Pluto - she was fantastic! Her original 3 month limited engagement extended to 9 months and a New Cast Recording was made with her cast: Howard McMillan and Brian Stokes Mitchell. She even cancelled a planned concert tour to continue in her well-received Broadway debut.

Brooke Shields in Wonderful Town was a major surprise. She received great reviews from the critics, including Brantley.

ljay889 said: "Brooke Shields in Wonderful Town was a major surprise. She received great reviews from the critics, including Brantley."

She loves being a replacement. Coming into a show already established and that doesn’t need fixing AND doing her own thing with the role. She did not enjoy working in the 2010 Los Angeles pre-Broadway tryout of LEAP OF FAITH due to the almost-daily revisions being done, etc. That’s when she decided to never be part of an original show and just have a career as a Broadway replacement.

Lisalemann said: "Reba McEntire in Annie Get Your Gun - whoever came up with that idea was a freaking genius!

Again, that wasn't stunt casting -- it was star casting.

Cheryl Ladd in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. She had the whole audience in the palm of her hand.

pmensky said: "Dollypop said: "Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway in HELLO, DOLLY!"

Pearl Bailey was an 18 year veteran of four Broadway shows when she was hired to do Hello Dolly! and Cab Calloway was already an established Jazz legend who ended up winning an Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance in the show. To reduce these two performers’ casting to a gimmick is ignorant and insulting."



An an entire cast lost their jobs to accommodate the "new" stars

Dollypop said: "pmensky said: "Dollypop said: "Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway in HELLO, DOLLY!"

Pearl Bailey was an 18 year veteran of four Broadway shows when she was hired to do Hello Dolly! and Cab Calloway was already an established Jazz legend who ended up winning an Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance in the show. To reduce these two performers’ casting to a gimmick is ignorant and insulting."



An an entire cast lost their jobs to accommodate the "new" stars

"

No, an entire cast lost their jobs so that David Merrick could promote the all Black production as a “novelty”. He easily could’ve kept the rest of the cast. That’s not on Pearl and Cab.

Jane Lynch as Miss Hannigan in Annie in the midst of her Glee fame. If I recall it was a short run, but she was very fun as the character. Definitely had the competent talent to do it vocally.

ATerrifyingAndImposingFigure said: "I didn’t see it, but I’m told Al Roker was delightful in Waitress. In hindsight it makes sense, as while he may not be an actor, he still got huge in a profession calling for great charisma."

I saw him! When that was first announced I was definitely surprised, but he was fantastic in the role. It makes sense that he had more than one run as Ol’ Joe. 😊

Casting Mary Badham in the National tour of To Kill A Mockingbird is stunt casting.

Pamela Anderson in 'Chicago'. She was on 'The View' earlier this week and she talked about how 'anxious' she is to be joining the cast - she seemed nervous just in the interview.

Whoopi Goldberg reminded her that when she 'looks out into the audience' to remember those people bought tickets to see her, and they want her to succeed, not fail.