What is the MOST MISCAST role in Musical Theater History?- Page 2

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 6:25pm

Hasselhoff in Jekyll & Hyde ( or anything for that matter )

[pab]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 6:39pm

Well since people are talking about Matthew Broderick as Harold Hill in The Music Man, which was a TV movie. I will go with the movies as well and say that the absolute worst, in my opinion, was Diana Ross as Dorothy in the movie version of "The Wiz".

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 6:47pm

C'mon mallardo! :)

I thought Stamos was brilliant in GENERAL HOSPITAL.

He didn't ACT Blackie, he WAS Blackie!

[morosco]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 7:29pm

It's not the first time I've heard Dean Jones criticized for his singing in COMPANY. I seem to be in the minority but I always thought his singing was fantastic on the ocr.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 7:35pm

Yes, Mary_Ethel!! He truly WAS Blackie Parrish. HOT.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 8:35pm

Pab,

I can't tell you how much I agree.

But the whole concept--making Dorothy into a troubled adult schoolteacher--sounds like someone's idea of a bad joke.

When the film version with Stephanie Mills was initially announced, Diana actively campaigned for it like it was a seat on the Senate.

Critics called Ross' performance "dreary" (just the RIGHT tone for Dorothy :) ) and she has never made another movie since.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 8:37pm

Hi Morosco, :)

You ought to check out Larry Kert on the WEST END cast of COMPANY!

Jones can't begin to compete.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 8:41pm

Hi Rath... :)

Nah... the acting kudos on GENERAL HOSPITAL go to Jack Wagner as Frisco.

The layering, the subtlety, the scenes with his shirt off. . . :)

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 8:44pm

I never understood, why did people not like Kerry Butler as Audrey?

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 8:47pm

I like her voice but I understand. She can get very annoying sometimes.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 8:53pm

I agree with you My Fair Lady

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 8:58pm

Tony Randall - Harold Hill (Music Man)
June Havoc - Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd)
Linda Lavin - Rose (Gypsy) I saw Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Bernadette Peters and loved all of them for different reasons.

[Sant]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 9:04pm

Denise Van Outen as Roxie in CHICAGO. Worst acting I've ever seen!

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 9:45pm

Hi Marc,

Where did you see Tony Randall in THE MUSIC MAN?

Where did you see Linda Lavin in GYPSY? (And how did they pry her out of the diner?) :)

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 9:46pm

Sant,

Denise Van Who???

Fill in the blanks please!!!

[magruder]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:12pm

Linda Lavin replaced Tyne Daly on Broadway. I never saw her do it, though. But I caught Tyne Daly three times. And Bernadette countless times too. The others here are right...what Bernadette did at the first preview compared to what she was doing I'd say about two to three months into the run through the end were two completely different performances. She's too smart a performer to not have made that role work, as much as she had to fight people's preconceived notions.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:23pm

As magruder said - Linda Lavin replaced Tyne Daly and sh was dreadful.
Tony Randall did Harold Hill on tour, around late 70's - early 80's - I forget. The longest production of Music Man I ever saw. It was like a train wreck, I wanted to walk out , but I kept watching.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:26pm

Hi Marc,

I don't see Tony Randall as Harold Hill.

I see him as a very fussy, overblown Mayor Shinn.

[stokesrocks]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:37pm

Toni Braxton as Belle and Aida
Mickey Dolenz as Zoser
Melanie Griffin as Roxie
Christy Carlton Romano as Belle
Melanie B. as Mimi
David Hasselhoff as Jeckyll/Hyde
Can you guys see a pattern? I don't like when "celebrities" take away from true Broadway performers.

[morosco]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:45pm

Hi Mary_Ethel,
I do have the London Larry Kert COMPANY recording and I have to say I still prefer Dean Jones singing. I also pulled out Zadan's SONDHEIM & CO and it's interesting to read that in the original Broadway run audiences liked Larry Kert Better than Dean Jones. It's also interesting to read what Michael Bennett said: "I was very sorry when Dean Jones left. Larry was very busy performing, and Dean was a man who was troubled and it worked brilliantly with the part. In "Being Alive" Dean suffered; with Larry it was Larry Kert doing the show-stopper. The difference was that Larry performed with the fourth wall gone and with Dean it was there - you were witnessing as opposed to being part of something." He did go on to say that Kert improved enormously and when he went to London he was "absolutley wonderful." So perhaps both performances have their merits. I would love to have seen them both.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 10:57pm

Hey Morosco, :)

I don't understand Bennett quote: "I was very sorry when Dean Jones left."

Perhaps there is a misunderstanding on my part, but I always was under the impression that management "released" Jones from contract so Kert could take over.

Do you know anything about that? :)

[morosco]

Posted: 10/9/04 at 11:13pm

Mary_Ethel,
According to Zadan's SONDHEIM & CO, "...A few weeks after the show had opened...Dean Jones withdrew from the cast. A press release was sent out announcing that Jones had contracted hepatitis..."
Dean Jones: "I Liked COMPANY...don't get me wrong. I just felt unsatisfied in the role and I was going through my own divorce at the time. I felt that the show was antimarriage, perhaps at the time because I was antimarriage. Every night after the performance I would be on the phone with the attorneys. I'd gotten soft on the (West) Coast, I guess. I'm not built for a year's run. I can never do that again. I was miserable and obviously I didn't have hepatitis, but Hal (Prince) was nice enough to let me out."
Hal Prince: "...there was just a glimmer of something that I noticed with Dean who was having a terrible emotional time. A week before we opened, I said to him, 'If I were to tell you that you didn't have to play this part much longer, would you give me an opening night?'...'The minute we open, if the show's a success, I will replace you as soon as possible, I promise you. Now give me a show.'" Updated On: 10/9/04 at 11:13 PM

[Parks]

Posted: 10/10/04 at 12:09am

Hmmm..
Yeah-Vanessa Williams really did do a pretty bad job as the Witch in Into The Woods..

Sydney Chaplin as Nick Arnstein (or whoever played Nick) in the OBC in Funny Girl..(never saw it obviously..but I have the soundtrack and he sounds like crap.)

[capnkidd]

Posted: 10/10/04 at 12:15am

maryethel,
denise van outen was,I think,the original Dutch Roxy-and,what,sant,didn't you see jasmine guy or melanie griffith?

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 10/10/04 at 12:26am

Whatsherface as Louise in Gypsy. She was awwwwwwful. And what bothered me is that my friend was up for the part and she didnt get it, and then darn it what's her name couldnt sing.