What if? Stars who didn't get the part
What if? Stars who didn't get the part
#1What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 3:31pm
Kelli O'Hara was up for Nessarose in Wicked.
Nathan Lane was up for Seymour and Faith Prince for Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors.
Patti LuPone turned down as a Dot/Bernadette replacement.
Any others?
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bdboston
Featured Actor Joined: 12/13/06
#4What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 3:37pm
Patti LuPone in Sunset Boulevard. Still want to see that.
Caption: Every so often there was a rare moment of perfect balance when I soared above him.
Sondheimite
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/14
#5What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 3:46pm
Amy Adams lost a role in The Wedding Singer to Laura Benanti
Broadway World's Fireman.
#6What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 3:56pm
Patti LuPone did Sunset Blvd in London. She has a cast recording.
Faith Prince wasn't just up for Audrey; she was cast in the role. But she had another commitment and they wouldn't let her out of her contract. She eventually played the part as a replacement.
Carolee Carmello made it to the final round for Mother in Ragtime (original production).
Ben Platt auditioned for Henry in Next to Normal and was told he was too young for the part, even though he was the exact age of the character at the time.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 1/17/17 at 03:56 PM
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#7What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 3:58pm
Patti LuPone in Sunset Boulevard.
Huh? LuPone was THE original Norma Desmond in the 1994 London World Premiere in SUNSET BLVD months before Glenn Close played Norma in the Los Angeles American Premiere a few months later. 
#8What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 4:28pm
Ok she didnt not get the part but Lily Tomlin was offered ,and I believe accepted replacing as Violet in August Osage County but had to drop out.
#10What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 10:15pm
Apparently, Patti Lupone auditioned for the Witch in Into the Woods, but lost out on the role. I heard she was more interested in playing Cinderella.
#11What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 10:21pm
Kaye Ballard desperately wanted Mame and unlike several others who said they would consider the part but wouldn't audition (Nanette Fabray, for example), she auditioned several times without complaint, as did Angela. In the end, her performance style was not considered sophisticated enough for the stylish Mame. This was after numerous bigger ladies had turned the part down cold (Rosalind Russell, Mary Martin, Dolores Gray, etc.) Herman had always wanted Garland to play the part, and she was nearly a replacement after Lansbury, but at that point in her life she wasn't insurable.
#12What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/17/17 at 10:22pm
Mandy Moore was set to replace Kristin Chenoweth in Wicked but turned it down.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
#13What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 12:54am
ClumsyDude15 said: "Mandy Moore was set to replace Kristin Chenoweth in Wicked but turned it down. "
pretty smart of her to do that since she would have sounded ridiculous attempting to sing that part
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#14What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 2:23am
I have also heard that Patti was offered the witch in the original Into The Woods, but she felt she was "better suited" to play Cinderella. They wouldn't give it to her and she left. I can't see her in that role.
Here's one about a person who got the part but walked away. The Will Rogers Follies was to star John Denver as Will. However, there was a song lyric that referred to a child as a "kid" and he didn't like that slang. Librettist Peter Stone was against changing it (although Cy Coleman, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green had no issues with the change). After Stone said it would not change, Denver got up and left and never returned.
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#15What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 3:44am
Lerner and Lowe offered the retired Deanna Durbin the role of Eliza in the original production of My Fair Lady but she didn't bite.
"when I’m on stage I see the abyss and have to overcome it by telling myself it’s only a play." - Helen Mirren
StephieElise
Featured Actor Joined: 11/12/12
#16What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 5:50am
Megan Hilty was originally cast as Audrey in the National Tour of Little Shop of Horrors when she was fresh out of college. They then cast Anthony Rapp as Seymour but decided the age gap between them was too big so gave Megan the flick.
smidge
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/06
#17What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 8:02am
StephieElise said: "Megan Hilty was originally cast as Audrey in the National Tour of Little Shop of Horrors when she was fresh out of college. They then cast Anthony Rapp as Seymour but decided the age gap between them was too big so gave Megan the flick.
What flick ?
LarryD2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/1/14
#18What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 8:45am
Giving someone "the flick" is an expression; it means they let her go. But in Hilty's case, she landed right on her feet and went into Wicked. It was actually a much better career move in a lot of ways: it kept her employed off and on for years, much longer than if she'd done the Little Shop tour.
#19What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 8:51am
Someone here said Laura Osnes auditioned for Anya/Anastasia, but did not get it. Honestly, so glad because Christy Altomare is PERFECT as Anya. Hoping Laura will be her replacement. But, I'm still surprised and mad (not raging of course lol) Laura did not get Ariel though.
#20What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 9:06am
Brody and AC - whoops. I know Patti was replaced with Glenn in LA, and I mixed the Evita story and this. Thought she was supposed to originate the role on Bway and someone else had done it in London.
Caption: Every so often there was a rare moment of perfect balance when I soared above him.
#21What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 9:12am
LuPone was original contracted to originate the role in London, play the role there for a year, then immediately come to New York to open the Broadway production. Close was originally only meant to do the show in LA. However, LuPone opened to mixed reviews, whereas Close opened to raves. The rest is history.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#22What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 9:25am
Webber and Rice never gave serious consideration to anyone except Yvonne Elliman, but Bette Midler auditioned for Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar after several years of boredom in Fiddler and before she began her legendary career as The Divine Miss M. Apparently, even though she was not an appropriate fit for Tom O'Horgan's cast of Hair veterans and holdovers from the pre-Broadway concert tour of JCS, she auditioned so well that Tom couldn't quite let go of her, and even had Robert Stigwood and the authors see her for the part. The story comes from casting director Michael Shurtleff's book on the art of the audition.
Formerly gvendo2005
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joined: 5/1/05
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smidge
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/06
#23What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 10:16am
LarryD2 said: "Giving someone "the flick" is an expression; it means they let her go. But in Hilty's case, she landed right on her feet and went into Wicked. It was actually a much better career move in a lot of ways: it kept her employed off and on for years, much longer than if she'd done the Little Shop tour.
Thank you. I thought there was a film remake that I missed.
#24What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 4:27pm
Laura Osnes also lost out on Christine in Love Never Dies and Karen in Smash.
#25What if? Stars who didn't get the part
Posted: 1/18/17 at 4:35pm
Sondheimite said: "Amy Adams lost a role in The Wedding Singer to Laura Benanti
Really? I've never heard this one before. Seems odd they went with Laura (who I didn't think was a perfect fit in the role) over Amy Adams, who was already an Oscar nominee by then.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
