Brilliant Missed Casting Opportunities

[darquegk]

The anecdote that Elvis's career could have been saved and his life prolonged indefinitely if only he had taken that role in the West Side Story movie made me think... What are some other casting ideas that WOULD have been brilliant if the person were alive today, or if they were younger (or older) at the right moment?

Call me crazy for this one, but especially on film, I think Bill Murray at the appropriate age would have been a FANTASTIC Bobby in Company. This is a guy who would get the comedy and be conceivably likeable despite Bobby's many character flaws, and yet still have elements of the "sad sack/alcoholic" Bobby that we have all come to know and love in recent productions.

[husk_charmer]

Reba McEntire as Miss Sally Adams.

[givesmevoice]

She would've been the right age and I know she wanted to play the role, and I think LuPone would've made a fantastic Peter Pan.

I also wish Reba McEntire could've played Nellie in a full production of South Pacific.

[madbrian]

Love Debra Monk, but when I saw Curtains I really thought the role of Carmen must have been written for Elaine Stritch.

[henrikegerman]

Ann-Margret as Mame and Desiree Armfeldt

[madbrian]

Dick Van Dyke as Leo Bloom

[The Josh]

Bea Arthur as Madame Armfeldt.

[defyingravity11]

Betty Buckley as Elphaba
Audra McDonald as Marian Paroo
Sutton Foster as Princess Winnifred

[littlegreen2]

Julia Murney as Diana, Next to Normal

I mean, she would STILL be perfect. I just wish it happened while the show was on Broadway.

[HistoryBoy2]

Julia Murney on Broadway.

[AC126748]

Bea Arthur as Madame Armfeldt.

Talk about someone who's even more miscast than Stritch. Bea Arthur as the former mistress of the King of the Belgians? My ass.

[Lottery Addict]

Anne Bancroft as Maria Callas in Master Class. The role would have fit her like a glove.

[husk_charmer]

Sutton could still do Mattress, she's barely into her early 30s and still reads in her 20s.

[henrikegerman]

Couldn't agree more with you, Lottery Addict.

There is no one who was a better fit for Callas than Bancroft, and I say this as someone who was in awe of Zoe Caldwell's performance.

On another note, while I don't think she would have been an ideal Mrs. Lovett, far from it, I truly wish Garland would have lived to have sung Not While I'm Around. The thought of it breaks my heart.

[henrikegerman]

AC1, since, with all due respect to the lady, Camilla Parker Bowles is the long term mistress turned wife of you know who, I think we can suspend any ill-advised disbelief that women like Bea Arthur, Hermione Gingold (both in ALNM and in Gigi) and even Margaret Hamilton (a very fine Mme. Armfeldt as well as it turns out but famously not even a reasonably attractive woman) could have been in her league as bigtime courtesans

History is filled with famous playthings of the regal and rich who were not commonly seen as hot.

[Q]

Garland singing Lovett would have been interesting - Garland being Mama Rose would have been definitive.

And Bancroft as Callas gives me goosebumps.

[Jon]

Back in the 1970's, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds as Buddy and Sally Plummer.

[AC126748]

Henrik, it has nothing to do with physical attraction. Neither Gingold nor Hamilton--nor, really, Regina Resnik or Zoe Caldwell, other actresses who have done well by the part--were exceedingly beautiful. But the understood the character, her ethos, her life choices. Stritch, Lansbury--and, purely on conjecture, Arthur--didn't or don't come off that way. She's not salt of the earth, she's not eccentric, she's not relatable. Sure, the fact that even as a young woman Bea looked like a GI doesn't help, but her attitude and performance style alone seem so wrong for Madame A.

[AngusN]

Wow, the thought of Judy Garland as Mama Rose just gave me goosebumps.

[henrikegerman]

Gotcha, AC, although I disagree with you about Stritch not understanding the character - that's what makes horseracing, or with respect to Mme. Armfeldt, whores-racing.

[perfectlymarvelous]

I think Donna Murphy would have made a brilliant Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.

Also, because I'm still mad she didn't get to do it on Broadway, Marin Mazzie would make an incredible Desiree in Night Music.

[starspangledjenny]

Mandy Patinkin as Sweeney, it could still happen.

[ljay889]

The ultimate missed opportunity will always be Elaine Stritch in GYPSY. It almost happened. Such a shame!

[Matt2]

There are so many parts I wish Judy Garland would have been able to do but, for whatever reason, never did. I know she was supposed to go on as a replacement as Nellie Forbush during the original Broadway run of South Pacific-- but backed out at the last minute. And of course most people know that she wanted very much to play Mame, but simply wasn't hired largely because she wouldn't have been able to cope with the strain of performing eight shows a week in such a demanding role. It was probably for the best Lansbury was cast, but I would have liked to see what Judy would have done with the role as well. Another interesting idea would be her as Dolly Levi. I think had she been in better health, she would have been much better suited to the role when it came to film the show than Barbra Streisand.

I would have killed to see her interpretation of Mama Rose, either on stage or on film. It would have been a complete 180 from her previous characters and would have certainly resonated considering she had her own "Mama Rose" as a mother.

Had she lived longer, I would have loved to see her as Joanne in Company. Judy would have killed with "The Ladies Who Lunch." I also think her Desiree in Little Night Music would have been a wonderful casting decision, and wouldn't have made too many many demands vocally.

It really amazes me that Judy Garland never performed in any book musicals on Broadway. Just concerts. The only character Judy Garland ever played was Judy Garland. And I think that was a shame, because she really had the acting chops to match her vocal prowess.

[givesmevoice]

Also, because I'm still mad she didn't get to do it on Broadway, Marin Mazzie would make an incredible Desiree in Night Music.

So much this.

[Q]

"The only character Judy Garland ever played was Judy Garland."

I assume you mean on Broadway . . .