Why isn't Spencer Liff a leading man?- Page 2

[Just_John]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 6:56pm

Except that Leslie Kritzer has actual roles. Also, when the recording of Rooms comes out it's going to be 50% her. Why does she have to be on TV or in a movie? I just don't see why your picking her to compare to Spencer Liff who hasn't been able to get out of the ensemble.

[musicalbluemirror]

Posted: 8/22/09 at 11:59pm

BrodyFosse, every part of that made me laugh
thnxx
:)

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 8/23/09 at 12:38am

i take that back. he MIGHT have been miked in crybaby. i honestly am fuzzy on that, but i KNOW he wasn't in wedding singer because i kept thinking "wow, he's amazing, i wonder why he doesnt have a mic"

[homeimp]

Posted: 8/23/09 at 10:42am

Possibly for the same reason his buddies from Big the Musical way back then, Graham Bowen and Brandon Esposito, didn't quite graduate to the top ranks. Though Brandon is doing quite nicely right now as Riff in the superior West Side Story production at the Stratford Festival in Canada.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 8/23/09 at 11:13am

He wasn't wearing a mic in Cry-Baby? But I do recall he had one speaking line at the very end.

Wow, he had one line and they didn't give him a mic? What is happening to the theater? Everyone should always have a body mic, how else is the audience supposed to hear them? I would have asked for a refund!

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 8/23/09 at 9:41pm

He is miked currently in, Nine to Five.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 1:27am

He's not a leading man because this is NYC, not LA.

And who cares?

[larry64]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 2:09am

I think someone has a crush on Spencer...

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 8:58am

1. Give him some time.
2. WE will never know why.
3. Brody -- the crack about Nick Adams was SARCASM.


There are plenty of talented people that never end up getting their lucky break to "star". I truly belileve that's why most b'way actors are such gracious folks -- regardless of how "big" they are. They are happy to be working actors -- which seems too be the GOAL of most b'way folks. So few are continuously working actors, and it must be incredibly humbling to after a year (or more) run on a b'way show to return to a wait job or temp work, etc if need be.

BTW....I found Liff to be beautiful in Equus.

Updated On: 8/24/09 at 08:58 AM

[Trish2]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 2:03pm

Give him some time. Aside from being a terrific dancer he has a kind of "star quality" and stage presence that one cannot learn as it's inherent. Quite diiferent from Nick Adams who i find to be another face in the crowd, third boy from the left.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/24/09 at 2:15pm

If anything Spencer may crossover into television. He has the looks and charisma for nighttime dramas.

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 8/29/09 at 9:52pm

Let's hope that he stays in New York on Broadway. He's a treasure and I want to see more of him on stage and not on TV.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 8/30/09 at 11:14am

"Quite diiferent from Nick Adams who i find to be another face in the crowd, third boy from the left."

So true Trish. Especially when two no-name young ensemble actors who recently graduated college out-dance and out-act a TERRIBLE Nick Adams in a tiny Fringe show. He was far and away the worst thing about Far Out, but 2 of the ensemble boys were quite good I thought. And Spencer was fantastic. Too bad the show was miserable.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 11/17/09 at 12:06pm

Just a heads up to anyone interested, Spencer Liff is choreographing a Broadway routine on tonight's episode of So You Think You Can Dance. It starts at 8:00 on FOX.

[On the road...]

Posted: 11/17/09 at 6:14pm

He got naked in Cry Baby?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/17/09 at 11:29pm

Hrmm well his routine for Think You Can Dance was moderately better than the typical Tyce Diorio Broadway dance, but was pretty lamely danced....

[FrontRow]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 12:09am

If you think about it, these days most B'way musical stars do not come up via the chorus. Most of today's biggest stars did not toil in the ensemble for several or many shows; they were doing featured (if supporting) roles from the start. At least once they got on B'way. Their earliest work, like in regionals, may have been ensemble. I think the "42nd Street" scenario is something of a myth now. More so than in the past, when ensembles were bigger.
Anyone, feel free to do some research to support or dispute this point. I'm just thinking of the first time I became aware of certain stars and it often wasn't in the chorus.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 12:43am

Shirley MacLaine,
that's one.

[FrontRow]

Posted: 11/18/09 at 5:49pm

Read carefully...I said "these days" and "today's stars." So got any answers?

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 12:47am

^Sutton Foster was in the ensemble of "Millie" before she got bumped up.
And look at the ensemble of "The Who's Tommy." Yowza.

[Trish2]

Posted: 11/19/09 at 6:07am

Matthew Morrison in the ensemble of Hairspray until Carpinello dropped out in Seattle to do a film role.

[FrontRow]

Posted: 11/23/09 at 11:39pm

Please name some stars who, as I wrote originally, toiled in the chorus -- i.e., did at least 3 or so shows in ensemble before moving up. If you start doing principal roles after one Broadway show in the chorus, you're damn lucky. And Matthew M. was in the role before it got to Broadway!
Really, it is rarer than people think THESE DAYS. Whether by the performers' own choice or casting directors' pigeonholing them, it seems most ensemble members stay there throughout their career. (At least in the B'way shows, they may do bigger roles outside NY.) And those who become stars were doing speaking parts all along.

[Trish2]

Posted: 11/23/09 at 11:55pm

Well Morrison did FOOTLOOSE and ROCKY HORROR, then ensemble in HAIRSPRAY so I'd count that as 3. Though he did takeover the role before it got to Broadway. Perhaps you'd like an hourly countdown as well?

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 11/24/09 at 12:07am

Kate Baldwin isn't necessarily a big name, but she's been doing ensemble/small featured roles for a long time...Finian's Rainbow is her first leading role on Broadway, though she's done larger parts out of town and on tour.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/24/09 at 3:29pm

Don't forget Gwen Verdon. She was in several shows from 1947 onward (Alive and Kicking, Broadway Bound and I think several others) before she was "discovered" in Can-Can in 1953.