I was reading some old threads on an actor replaced during previews and was wondering, who were some other actors, replaced during or just before previews began for a show? I can think of Barbara Barrie as Yente in the '04 Fiddler revival. I also recall Eden Espinosa leaving Hair but I think that was a while before the show began, correct?
I remember Santino Fontana was in several previews of the last revival of A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE and was replaced by Morgan Spector, I believe he had a concussion which forced him out of the show?
It's scary how many actors get fired during rehearsals or previews. I feel really bad for Stephanie Umoh and Jackson Evans. I couldn't believe it when I opened my program last night and saw they had been replaced.
Anyway, to answer your question...
Martin Vidnovic in Footloose (previews)
Jenna Elfmann in Nine (rehearsals)
Re: Santino Fontana: rumor at the time was that after her recovered from his concussion and was ready to come back, he was told not to after Scarlett Johannson made it clear to the powers that be that she preferred his understudy, who was promoted while Fontana got let go. Terrible.
Jenna Elfman was actually never officially "replaced" in Nine. She did rehearsals, including a full put in which went so badly, she opted not to go on until she was "ready." Sara Gettelfinger then did the rest of the run as her understudy, never officially taking over. Elfman continued to stay in touch with the production (from California), saying continuously that she felt that she was almost ready to go on, until the show closed two months later (the ibdb.com entry for the show is inaccurate about this).
James Carpinello has had some pretty lousy luck w/ being replaced during previews. Matthew Morrison replaced him during Hairspray, and Cheyenne in Xanadu. The Hairspray replacement was because James decided to go do a movie instead, I think, but Xanadu was because he broke his leg in 2 places rehearsing the rollerskating.
James Weissenbach (son of Hal Prince's college roommate) was replaced by his understudy, Jim Walton, during previews of Merrily We Roll Along in the lead role of Franklin Shepard.
Sutton Foster replaced Erin Dilly in the title role of Thoroughly Modern Millie, but while the show was out of town.
In the 1977 revival of Hair 5 actors were replaced in previews, including Annie Golden, who had been playing Jeanie.
Chris Kattan was replaced by Roger Bart during previews of The Frogs.
After the San Francisco Wicked tryout Robert Morse (Wizard) was replaced with Joel Grey; Kirk McDonald (Boq) was replaced with Christopher Fitzgerald and John Horton (Dr Dillamond) with William Youmans.
Mantello appears to enjoy replacing actors; the current transfer of The Other Place from MCC to MTC has 2 new actors in the 4 actor cast. And, of course, as mentioned above, he replaced Christian Hoff in Pal Joey with his boyfriend. When Love! Valour! Compassion! moved from MTC to Broadway, Anthony Heald was in Stephen Spinella's role (Spinella may have had a conflict). When Take Me Out moved from the Public to Broadway, Davis Eigenberg replaced Dominic Fumusa. And he replaced Caroline Aarons with Ashlie Atkinson in previews of The Ritz.
I thought that Espinosa was never actually part of Hair to being with. I though that the story went something along the lines of the theatre sites announcing that she was in the show before a contract was even signed. And, that the producers opted to not go with her because she was asking too much in terms of money. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that either the producers or the theatre sites dropped the ball in terms of announcing it before anything was official.
Jason Pebworth as Judas in the 2000 Jesus Christ Superstar. Apparently he made it through rehearsals and four-and-a-half previews before his voice **** the bed. Manoel Felciano filled in for him for most of the previews (first string understudies tend to do that), but the producers elected to let Tony Vincent replace Jason instead. (I dunno why exactly. I've heard rumors. I do know Jason got paid for the full six-month contract, and in short order his band Orson took off in England, so he who laughs last...)
When Ragtime was being written, Audra was the creative team's first choice for Sarah but she was unavailable. So LaChanze did the readings and was going to do the first production in Toronto. At the last minute, Audra became available and she replaced LaChanze. LaChanze played Sarah in the second sit-down production, which opened in LA while the Toronto company was still playing, and later replaced Audra on Broadway.
Robert Morse played Cap'n Andy in the first production of Hal Prince's Showboat in Toronto but when his contract ended, he left the show and John McMartin played the part in New York.
I saw LaChanze in Ragtime when the LA company (mostly) moved to Vancouver, and she was incredible. Audra is beyond reproach on the CD, but LaChanze has a slightly earthier quality I think really worked for Sarah. But I had always read that she was Flaherty/Ahrens' first choice and who they had in mind when they wrote the score--which made sense to me since they had worked with her on Island.
The already mentioned replacement of Lee for Kazan in Seesaw is the one I always think of--a lot of hurt feelings over that (it was out of town, but still counts.) I'd be curious how many of these replacements were due to 'creative issues' and how many were due to an actor no longer being available or an injury/illness.
Did Melora Waters ever do a performance of Stephen Belbar's MATCH (with Frank Langella and Ray Liotta), or was she replaced by Jane Adams during rehearsals?
Josie deGuzman was replaced in NICK & NORA during previews, which then allowed her to be available to replace Carolyn Mignini in GUYS AND DOLLS -- so for her getting fired was a godsend!
Elayne Boosler was replaced by Nancy Opel during rehearsals for TRIUMPH OF LOVE.
@Eric, I Saw LaChanze on Broadway and was very disappointed. I think she may very well have been ill that night, as her voice was very thin, raspy and underpowered and the performance overall was extremely subdued. It wasn't at all what friends who saw her both before and after -- who raved about her -- described. But we know that everyone sometimes just has an off night for whatever reason.
I also know someone who worked on all the Livent productions of Ragtime in a position that put him very close to Drabinski and the creative team. He told me that after they saw what Audra was doing, they made the decision to expand the part considerably. Your Daddy's Son was written expressly for her and Sarah Brown Eyes was written in order to give her some stage time in the second act. Of course this is second hand and I can't claim as fact it's all accurate.
I saw Audra twice, LaChanze, Darlesia Cearcy twice, and an understudy on Broadway and Lovena Fox twice in the last Equity tour. Except for LaChanze, I thought they were all wonderful but with different strengths and weaknesses, both vocally and dramatically. I'm sure LaChanze was just having a bad night. As I said, everyone else I know who saw her loved her, including my friend who was involved with the show.
ETA: I've revised this post several times, both for typos and a couple of brain f@rts involving the song title and the producer. Musicman, thanks for confirming my 16 year old memories.
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Posted: 12/12/12 at 01:34pm