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Post by wickedgrin on Mar 29, 2019 10:45:23 GMT
Yes, Marcus Collins left a tour of Hairspray half way through and famously didn't turn up for the first day of rehearsal for a tour of Joseph - he was due to play the Narrator I think. He is currently starting a tour of Hair in Wimbledon this week. I wonder how long he will appear in this?
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Post by d'James on Mar 29, 2019 10:52:48 GMT
I remember Heather Headley being called Heather Hardly.
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Post by harrietcraig on Mar 29, 2019 15:29:00 GMT
I know the original question asked about West End actors, but I can’t resist telling this story. A few years ago, Michael McKean was in a Broadway production of Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. The night I saw the show, McKean was out. When I saw the understudy slip, I growled and thought a few unkind thoughts about McKean. The next day, I found out that he had been hit by a car that afternoon, and was in the hospital with a broken leg. I also learned that it was the first performance he had ever missed in his life—high school, summer stock, you name it, he had always gone on until the day his leg was broken. Of course I then felt quite guilty about having thought he was shirking when he didn’t show up for my performance. Which just goes to show ... something.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Mar 29, 2019 22:03:57 GMT
I know more people in regular jobs who have taken time off with mental health/anxiety issues, than performers. Performers ignoring or being pressured to ignore mental health issues is a real problem in the industry. Does anyone know if La Lansbury missed any Blithe Spirit performances? I saw it twice and she was FABULOUS both times (OBVIOUSLY). I think the understudy was Sandra Dickinson, whose voice makes me want to shoot my own ears off. She didn't (and Dickinson edited her own Wikipedia page to add a load of obsequious gush along the lines of, "Which Sandra was thrilled for, being a huge fan of Angela Lansbury and content just to watch and learn from the wings").
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Post by scarlett3 on Mar 29, 2019 22:36:01 GMT
I'm revealing my ignorance here but reading this thread and the examples of performers who've never missed a show I've been wondering what this means for their holiday entitlement - aren't they required by employment law to take a certain number of paid days off? Is there some sort of loophole that means theatre doesn't have a statutory holiday entitlement?
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1,093 posts
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Mar 30, 2019 0:04:58 GMT
www.equity.org.uk/media/1368/right-to-rest-holiday-pay-guide.pdfI think it's one of those things where actors assume they're not entitled, and the culture of not taking time off (and resultant peer pressure) is so strong, it probably doesn't come up much. I've not come across an actor asking for holiday, unless it's a very long running show.
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6,383 posts
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Post by Jon on Mar 30, 2019 0:33:12 GMT
Actors can be off for other commitments that clash, Hayley Atwell had to take a few performances off when she was in The Pride because she was filming Cinderella as well but it that case it was advertised well in advance.
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Post by sweets7 on Mar 30, 2019 6:32:58 GMT
www.equity.org.uk/media/1368/right-to-rest-holiday-pay-guide.pdfI think it's one of those things where actors assume they're not entitled, and the culture of not taking time off (and resultant peer pressure) is so strong, it probably doesn't come up much. I've not come across an actor asking for holiday, unless it's a very long running show. For year long contracts and things, definitely they take holidays as I have seen is said ages in advance that that will be the week such and such won't be there. If you are in it for a few months then probably, unless sick or a family commitment, they wouldn't even ask and go before or after it starts. As for the legality of it...I would presume they are paid for holidays even if working, although every other job just forces you to take them now. I haven't heard s much about loosing them at end of financial year in recent times.
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Post by MrsCondomine on Apr 1, 2019 7:34:34 GMT
I know more people in regular jobs who have taken time off with mental health/anxiety issues, than performers. Performers ignoring or being pressured to ignore mental health issues is a real problem in the industry. Does anyone know if La Lansbury missed any Blithe Spirit performances? I saw it twice and she was FABULOUS both times (OBVIOUSLY). I think the understudy was Sandra Dickinson, whose voice makes me want to shoot my own ears off. She didn't (and Dickinson edited her own Wikipedia page to add a load of obsequious gush along the lines of, "Which Sandra was thrilled for, being a huge fan of Angela Lansbury and content just to watch and learn from the wings"). HAHAHA cringe. I also realise that I should have put "standby" and not "understudy" in my original post. Thanks for the answers guys
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Post by sparky5000 on Apr 2, 2019 12:58:22 GMT
I know more people in regular jobs who have taken time off with mental health/anxiety issues, than performers. Performers ignoring or being pressured to ignore mental health issues is a real problem in the industry. She didn't (and Dickinson edited her own Wikipedia page to add a load of obsequious gush along the lines of, "Which Sandra was thrilled for, being a huge fan of Angela Lansbury and content just to watch and learn from the wings"). HAHAHA cringe. I also realise that I should have put "standby" and not "understudy" in my original post. Thanks for the answers guys I know they’re still getting paid and part of the ensemble but it must suck to be an understudy where you never get to play the the role you’re understudying for!!
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Post by jcs619 on Apr 2, 2019 21:16:34 GMT
I remember paying a small fortune to see Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz and was told by one of the ushers that he had not missed a performance during the entire 12 month run and when he notified the producers that he had a one week holiday booked they decided to close the show for a week. Whilst I appreciate that many people pay to see a particular show and the understudies are usually excellent it is frustrating when the person you look forward to seeing is absent. Is it just my memory but do more star performers seem to have absences now than say 15 - 25 years ago? During the 1990s and early 2000s I can't recall anybody I booked to see being absent but in recent times it seems to happen quite regularly.
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Post by 49thand8th on Apr 2, 2019 21:35:03 GMT
Is it just my memory but do more star performers seem to have absences now than say 15 - 25 years ago? During the 1990s and early 2000s I can't recall anybody I booked to see being absent but in recent times it seems to happen quite regularly. I think a lot of it is due to social media — you hear immediately when someone's out. And sometimes beforehand. In the past, you might hear from a friend or colleague a day or two later, and there wasn't really a way to quantify it as easily as we can now.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 21:51:31 GMT
Patti friggin LuPone. I think out of the entire run of Company, she only missed 2 or 3 shows.
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Post by MrsCondomine on Apr 4, 2019 8:47:22 GMT
Has anyone beat Marian Seldes?
From wikipedia:
"Seldes appeared in every one of the 1,809 Broadway performances of Ira Levin's play Deathtrap, a feat that earned her a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records as "most durable actress"."
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Post by hal9000 on Apr 7, 2019 11:43:53 GMT
Since the time I was sprayed in the front row from midsong sneeze and coming up with a sore throat the next day, I thoroughly in favour of performers missing shows due to cold, flus, respiratory illnesses and other communicable disseases as I am with my co-workers in real life.
Seriously, Ginny from Accounts, don’t “take one for the team” and act like you’re doing us a big favour as you in with a fever, watering eyes, and nose running like a tap. Go home and sleep for a few days, and come in when you’re less likely to be exhaling H1N1 in my face.
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