The best stunt casting ever?

[DAME]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 3:52pm

I saw this with her 5 times. I wish I could see it again. And if you have not seen this clip. watch the whole thing. GORGEOUS.

enjoy.

Updated On: 9/1/11 at 03:52 PM

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 5:01pm

Most boring song Irving Berlin ever wrote. But you're right about McEntire.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 5:05pm

Reba has stated numerous times that after first being exposed to this song when prepping to do ANNIE GET YOUR GUN on Broadway, she immediately fell in love with it. It has since become one of her favorite songs ever.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 5:14pm

^^^^

And she voted for George W. Bush. So Reba McEntire is more about talent than taste or good judgment.

[Craig]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 5:55pm

There's a difference between STUNT casting and STAR casting. I think it's important to acknowledge that.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 6:43pm

exactly, Craig. What's stunt casting about Reba as Annie? Nothing. Maybe I'm wrong but I think of "stunt casting" as casting that has a back story to it - for instance, a performer coming back in a show that made him/her a star but in a completely different role (Andrea McArdle as Miss Hannigan would be stunt casting), or, as another example, a performer playing a role that she has some specific personal connection to (Geraldine Chaplin as Mary Tyrone would be stunt casting, just like it was when she played Hannah Chaplin in Chaplin).

Be that as it may, thanks for the clip of I Got Lost In His Arms. Magic!

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 9:18pm

If I remember it right, Ms. McEntire WAS considered "stunt casting" until she hit the stage and people realized that she was brilliant in the role. And she was.

[morosco]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 10:31pm

Updated On: 9/1/11 at 10:31 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 10:39pm

According to wikipedia, "stunt casting," means big stars in bit parts (cameos?). I think the phrase is used in various ways.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/1/11 at 10:46pm

I feel the word gets used far too often on these boards to describe any big name star who is doing Broadway. I do agree with Craig that there is (sometimes) a difference between star casting and stunt casting.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 8:47am

Stunt casting and star casting works best when they dovetail. Think Victor Moore or Edward Everett Horton as the Starkeeper.

[pinoyidol2006]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 9:17am

Does Lea Salonga as Fantine count? But perhaps she's not a big enough name...

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 9:31am

Reba as Annie Oakley is anything BUT stunt casting. Now, when they brought in Susan Lucci to play Annie Oakley, THAT was stunt casting. At its worst.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 11:54am

Stunt casting- Susan Lucci as Mrs. Higgins.

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 12:09pm

I don't know why some people don't like her simply cuz she supported Bush. She supports gay rights and to be honest thats all that matters to me.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 12:16pm

i simply recommended Ms. Lucci for Mrs. Higgins because she's the proper age.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 12:23pm

Glad to know that about McEntire, fingerlakessinger. Good for her (though the damage done to this country by G.W. goes far beyond opposition to gay rights)!

I think the "stunt" in this case was bringing a country superstar to headline a Broadway musical. It's a "stunt" in that the novelty was intended to attract ticket buyers, not in that she wasn't qualified to play the role. By all accounts, she was.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 2:50pm

Does Lea Salonga as Fantine count? But perhaps she's not a big enough name...


Perhaps that could be considered "stunt casting" because Salonga, a well-known Eponine, was older and coming back to play Fantine. You could say the same thing about Judy Kuhn playing Fantine, or even Lea Michele--a former Broadway Young Cosette/Eponine--playing Eponine. Another example of this could be something like Andrea McArdle playing Miss Hannigan.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 3:03pm

I think, at the time, it certainly was stunt casting, as Ms. McIntire never stepped foot on a Broadway stage in a book musical. She had acted in a few movies and, of course, was a huge music star. But she was a completely unknown property in a book musical.

It just happened to turn out incredibly well.

As for actresses such as Lea Salonga, Andrea MacArdle, Lea Michele and Judy Kuhn, I just don't know how you can ever classify them as 'stunt' casting in any way. They're each award winning or nominated actresses who have proven themselves many times on many stages.

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 3:13pm

As I said in my post, I can see why someone might consider the casting of, say, Andrea McArdle as Miss Hannigan as "stunt casting" because of her association with that particular show.
It's a different kind of casting choice than putting someone like McEntire--an unproven actress and theatre performer--into ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, but it definitely feeds off of the performer's history with the show.

Updated On: 9/2/11 at 03:13 PM

[beagle]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 3:17pm

Didn't Andrea McArdle play Miss Hannigan in a regional production somewhere, relatively recently?

I don't think "stunt casting" necessarily means casting someone who isn't good in the role, and it's different from Star Casting in that, in most cases of star casting, the star involved is someone who at least to some degree fits the role they are playing and is already known as an actor. Stunt casting would, I think, be about putting someone in a role that nobody would have imagined and is being cast, seemingly at least, more for the buzz to be generated than for obvious musical theatre abilities. If you saw, say Meryl Streep as Mame or something, that wouldn't be stunt casting--it would be star casting. But Lady GaGa as Mame would be stunt casting, even if she turned out to be good in the role. I think Reba qualifies because, even though she turned out to be great, she was only well-known as a singer and not an actress, and not a musical theatre singer either. There was a novelty factor created by advertising her in the role that I think might qualify it as stunt casting, even though she turned out to be excellent in the role.




Updated On: 9/2/11 at 03:17 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 3:26pm

Yes, in California last year.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 3:37pm

I can almost go there with the McArdle as Hannigan scenario. I still think it does a slight disservice to the performer in that 'stunt casting' generally has a negative connotation...at least until the actor proves otherwise. Then it become genius star casting!

[AC126748]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 4:04pm

I think you're right that the negative connotation of the term has a lot to do with it. It's likely that most people who see McArdle as Miss Hannigan know she was the original Annie, which is why to me (and others) it might feel like a bit of "stunt casting," although she's perfectly talented and has every right to play the role. The same could be said of Whoopi going into SISTER ACT as Mother Superior, or Judy Kuhn, the original Cosette, playing Fantine in the revival of LES MIZ. The association is what makes it feel like stunt casting.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 9/2/11 at 4:46pm

Laroquette in How to Succeed is stunt casting.