Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
#1Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 5:59am
According to Playbill, when Miranda left a few days ago Javier became "the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history."
I'm putting this claim up there with that ridiculous idea that Hamilton is the only good musical in the last 50 years.
Will journalists say anything to get attention and cash in on the Hamilton hype? In decades to come people will roll their eyes at this claim. Well, maybe they'll say "Javier who", first.
It's a nice story, otherwise.
http://www.playbill.com/article/why-the-new-full-time-hamilton-almost-left-the-business
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 7/15/16 at 05:59 AM
#2Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 6:09am
Yeah, I don't get their thinking on this.
Probably the most "famous" replacement on Broadway was Ethel Merman as the final Dolly (a role that was written for her to begin with). Alfred Drake was a replacement king in The King and I. Barbara Cook replaced Sandy Dennis in the play Any Wednesday. Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch replacing Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music. Those 5 were all big stars when they were replacements (and all but Drake had Tonys at the time). Javier Muñoz, while surely a talented actor, isn't anywhere near on the level of the performers I mentioned and countless others.
Maybe they meant that it's big deal because of who he is replacing, not that he's doing the replacing.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
Updated On: 7/15/16 at 06:09 AM
#3Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 6:12am
It's just a silly bit of hyperbole.
Obviously it's not true.
....but the world goes 'round
#4Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 6:34am
gypsy101 said: "Probably the most "famous" replacement on Broadway was Ethel Merman as the final Dolly (a role that was written for her to begin with). Alfred Drake was a replacement king in The King and I. Barbara Cook replaced Sandy Dennis in the play Any Wednesday. Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch replacing Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music.
"
Angela Lansbury in The King and I, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige in Sunset Boulevard, Celeste Holm and Ann Miller in Mame, Mandy Patinkin in Falsettos, Harvey Fierstein in Fiddler on The Roof, Vanessa Williams in Spider Woman, Dorothy Loudon in Sweeney Todd...
The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
#5Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 7:15am
David Bowie in The Elephant Man and Richard Burton in Equus come to mind.
#6Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 8:23am
Someone should tell Robert Simonson at Playbill that his article boasts the stupidest headline in Broadway history.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#7Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 9:06am
I wouldn't exactly call the writers at PLAYBILL "journalists".
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#8Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 9:11am
Reba McEntire (among others) likely would have something to say about this!
#9Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:03am
tazber said: "It's just a silly bit of hyperbole."
...and Playbill is ON IT!
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
AnnieBlack
Leading Actor Joined: 4/3/14
#10Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:08am
They gotta do what they gotta do to help move the huge amount of resale tickets that are available for Hamilton right now !
#11Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:12am
"This is the most, best, fantastic, wonderful, famous thing in the last five seconds!"
---PLAYBILL Mag.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#12Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:12am
Ok guys, there are TONS more examples of famous people going in as replacements. You'll go crazy if you start trying to name them all.
#13Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:16am
CHICAGO!
though I sort of get it. Like he has the same amount of fans as anyone else in the cast. It's like everyone in Hamilton now has pull.
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
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#14Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:18am
The breathless hyperbole in the article is really funny. Muñoz playing Hamilton at Obama's first viewing was "the first moment that most people in the world learned Muñoz’s name"? Actually, 99.999% of people in the world were completely uninterested in who was playing Hamilton at Obama's performance.
That being said, Muñoz probably is the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history who is only known for being a replacement actor (ie, who wasn't already a name before replacing). Although the article didn't put that qualifier on it.
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"you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"
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Understudy Joined: 5/4/15
#15Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 10:46am
mikem said: "The breathless hyperbole in the article is really funny. Muñoz playing Hamilton at Obama's first viewing was "the first moment that most people in the world learned Muñoz’s name"? Actually, 99.999% of people in the world were completely uninterested in who was playing Hamilton at Obama's performance.
That being said, Muñoz probably is the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history who is only known for being a replacement actor (ie, who wasn't already a name before replacing). Although the article didn't put that qualifier on it.
"
Another qualifier: famous to a general audience. Broadway has seen this before (no-name replacement making it big): Sutton Foster, among others.
#16Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:10pm
I still don't know Muñoz's name.
Here's the harsh truth. The only "name" that people will remember associated with "Hamilton" is Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Just ask the cast of "A Chorus Line."
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#17Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:12pm
best12bars said: "Here's the harsh truth. The only "name" that people will remember associated with "Hamilton" is Lin-Manuel Miranda."
Thanks!
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#18Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:15pm
Liza, going on for Gwen Verdon in CHICAGO, was pretty special...
#19Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:17pm
But not Javiton special.
#20Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:22pm
I agree that the article is complete hyperbole but I don't think the writer meant that Javier is the most famous replacement because he's well known. I think he mean that Javier is the most famous replacement because of the amount of attention it has been getting.
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Updated On: 7/15/16 at 12:22 PM
#21Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:27pm
BUT. IT'S. JAVITON.
#22Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:29pm
Hi Jordan!
I think you mean JAVILTON! Lol!
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#23Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:32pm
You know what? I did mean that. But just the very thought of the most famous (and important) replacement in the history of the American Musical Theater has made me just lose track of everything.
#24Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:39pm
Jordan Catalano said: "the most famous (and important) replacement in the history of the American Musical Theater "
No one said that. They said in Broadway musical theatre history. Of course there are more famous replacements in some productions at AMAS and the York.
#25Javier Muñoz - the most famous replacement actor in Broadway history
Posted: 7/15/16 at 12:58pm
Jordan Catalano said: "You know what? I did mean that. But just the very thought of the most famous (and important) replacement in the history of the American Musical Theater has made me just lose track of everything.
Hey Jordan, have you ever considered a career in comedy? You have a sharp, quick wit! You're funny!
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