Here's an excerpt:
'SPAMALOT" director Mike Nichols is "livid" that several actors in his hit Broadway show are regularly missing performances, production sources told The Post this week. Among the worst offenders is Tony Award-winner Sara Ramirez, who, the sources say, is often out of the show three or four times a week.
A wave of fear swept through the dressing rooms at the Shubert Theatre Tuesday night after the stage manager announced there would be a "mandatory" company meeting with Nichols — the most powerful director on Broadway — following Wednesday's matinee.
Nichols, it was whispered backstage, was going to "ream" the cast out for missing shows.
The meeting did not occur — it has been postponed indefinitely, a production source says — but the grumbling about missed performances continues, and the cast expects a dressing down from either Nichols or one of the show's producers in the coming weeks.
"The performance is off when people are out, especially the principals," says a "Spamalot" company member.
In addition to Ramirez, Tim Curry, who plays King Arthur in the musical, has racked up a string of absences.
He took a vacation recently, but he was missing performances before the break, and he has missed at least two since.
Curry, sources say, finds the eight-performance-a-week schedule grueling.
"I'm too old for this," he's been heard to say, only half-kidding.
Ramirez, who is quite wonderful in the role of the Lady in the Lake, is rapidly earning a reputation as a diva backstage because of her frequent absences.
She has told people backstage that she does not want to do Tuesday evening shows or any of the matinees.
David Hyde Pierce gets a gold star for attendance.
He has not missed a show since a brief absence due to illness during previews last March."
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
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"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 8/12/05 at 11:38 AM
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