Tuesday, June 26, 2007

New Cast Members...

I'm sure you already know what's going on at the theatre... so let me just briefly summarize the comings and goings of the last few weeks:

- Alexander Gemigniani is leaving the show on July 21... Drew Sarich will take over beginning July 23.  Taking over Drew's ensemble track and Grantaire will be Michael Minarik.

- Ben Davis exited the show two Saturdays ago... in the meantime, Drew and Ben Crawford are alternating in the role until Robert Hunt steps in on or around July 6.

- Mandy Bruno exited the show 2 Sundays ago... Megan McGinnis is our new Eponine.  Going into her ensemble track is Cortney Wolfson.

- Victor Hawks left the show last Saturday... his track has now been split... Don Brewer and Ben Crawford share certain elements of it... Ben, formerly Courfeyrac, is now Brujon.  Don is now our new Courfeyrac.  Ben retains his other ensemble speciality role of the Factory Foreman.  Oh trust, it was confusing when we first found out how this was going to be split.

- J.D. Goldblatt will not be returning to Les Miz to finish his remaining shows.  Jeremy Hays has been filling in.  J.D.'s permanent replacement will be Mike Evariste.

- Kate Chapman left the show a couple of weekends ago... Lucia Spina has now taken over.

So there you have it, folks!!!  Whew!

25 comments:

Cara Maybury said...

Wow! Confusing!

tin samson said...

amazing that you know all of that! well, i guess you really have to, right? whew indeed!

hope you've gotten enough rest for your next week of shows.

tin samson said...

megan mcginnis was the belle i saw in BATB back in may 2003. :)
just saying.. =)

tin samson said...

one more thing... i'm wondering how crazy your playbill (and the one who updates it) must've gotten in the past weeks!!!

joy weimer said...

How do you live with the changes? Is it more exciting or more challenging? I guess it can be both..of course tiresome. But as they say..the play must go on!

Mandy Zeller said...

Are all the changes due to the extension of the show? Seems like a lot in a short amount of time.

maria kuri said...

do you have a show on the 4th of july?

Click here and comment... What u like... said...

I'm in Ohio and flying to NYC to see Les Mis for Lea's performance, what if she couldn't jperform at that time? What's the chance? It's Russian roullette.

When is the last day, or no one knows?

Chino Hernandez said...

Thanks for the update! I am so happy for Drew. Since the cast is all settled is there a chance to have the current cast to record a new Cast Recording? I know that the show has a lot of recordings already, but there are only 3 in English :-) . Your Fantine should be recorded. :-) Even a highlights one, I will celebrate. :-)

God Bless Ms. Lea!
Take Care.

arkitekfhc . said...

Lea's last day? Check her blog: http://bigsis222.multiply.com/calendar/item/10013
Her contract for Les Miz ends Oct. 21, 2007.

Olivia R said...

Thanks for the information, Lea!
I'm a bit confused, though; is Ben Crawford now understudying both Valjean and Javert, or just Valjean? Any news you could supply me with regarding that would be most appreciated.

mm ruth said...

ooohhh but i wanna see mr. gemigniani too...of course, that is aside from you, ali, and adam XD

reginee tan said...

Thanks for the info =D

dianneLouise ♥ said...

whew! thanks for this Lei =)

M Es said...

and so there i was, monday Jun 25 7:03pm, sitting at the edge of the curb for a good hour in front of the broadhurst theatre wondering if I should sell my $185+ row C seat 111 ticket to a random person on the street for $20 since my whole reason for flying to NY was to watch Lea Salonga in les mis. I already watched les mis a few years ago so i didn't see the point in watching again only to sit through 3 hrs of knowing that Lea wouldn't be there...well I watched anyway, Ms McGinnis was a wonderful Eponine and the guy that did Javert that night was amazing, heard several people in the audience sniffling, I almost did and I am usuallly not one to, the performance was wonderful, better nthe last time I watched, and by far my seats were excellent, being able to see "singing spit" fly in the air that close confirmed how great my seats were...then tuesday I flew back to the west coast, still sad about the night before...and today still thinking about it...but decided today, what the heck, I'll go back in two months and watch les mis again, hoping that I'll get a chance to see lea as fantine and how lucky I was to get an autograph at the backstage door of Miss Saigon NY in 1995?(forgot the year)....Lea, see ya soon! this time I'm getting TKTS tix the day of and going online to see if you are feeling sick.
PS: how unfortunate the number of cast member changes that have been occurring the past two months, it must be frustrating...but despite all this of the three musicals I watched this weekend, the quality of song and acting at les mis at monday's peformance was wonderful

jude quiroz said...

oohh... confusing...

stephen rojas said...

kakainggit naman for us Manila people who are missing LEA

tin samson said...

wow lea, it's your former castmate norm lewis in the upcoming the little mermaid pala! --http://www.broadway.com/gen/General.aspx?ci=549978

this would be very exciting to see on broadway!

speaking of other musicals... have you seen spring awakening? :D it's my new favorite musical! i was able to see it before they won the tony.

bing ♥ said...

I just watched Spiderman 3 at the IMAX Theatre last night. To those of you who have watched Les Miz, have you noticed that the theatre where Kirsten Dunst performed on her short-lived Broadway stint in the movie was the same theatre where Lea is performing now, the Broadhurst? To other Lea fans back home, do check out this movie and just catch a glimpse of where Lea sings her heart out every night. Let Spiderman lead you inside Lea's theatre. Here's a link to a photo of the Broadhurst in Spiderman 3 during the filming stage: http://code0range.net/node/1789

Sparky Duck said...

I knew the show had to be in flux when I saw it last week and it almost felt like there were more A is playing this character, B is playing this character sheets then actual playbill pages. It was still awesome

Gerry Nepomuceno said...

Lea, a friend and I both thought that you should play Fantine during the first act and then Eponine during the second act. I know it's going to be quite a challenge pulling off the finale but I'm sure you can do it. That's how much faith we have in you and your talent. LOL

Rick Cruse said...

This is way too confusing for me to experience on the internet !!! I guess we will have to plan a weekend roadtrip in August to experience this for ourselves firsthand (as well as catch a Yankee or Mets game) !!!!

geraldine soropia said...

Lea,

Yes, this is us, the family from Canada (well partly) who knocked on the stage door and begged your stage/production manager on June 25th if he can advise us whether or not you will be performing the next day, June 26th. After being disappointed and exchanging our orchestra tickets (along with prayers for your priceless presence) for the following day, we saw the same manager again and gave him a big hug when we found out that you're definitely performing that night. He laughed and said that he mentioned us to you....the family that flew from Canada just to watch you. Now I feel extremely bad after blogging you twice about my disappointment, when here you are recuperating after performing a line of 16 shows in a row....how conceited of me. So sorry about this..but we're just insane about you. I must say we're all elated to finally watch you. You were more than amazing and everything positive and all the admiration expressed by your fans in this site were realized by us that night. Your voice was and always (I'm sure) just as powerful....as if that was your first night of performance that week. I still wish you played the role of Eponine. Not only because we'd see and hear you for most of the show but because my sister thought you were the best Eponine she'd heard and watched. My son and my niece are now your new admirers. Not only is it their first Broadway show but the fact that you were there....was the highlight of their night. Thank you again for making our trip to New York memorable and for taking the time to meet and greet your fans after the show. More power to you Lea.

geraldine soropia said...

maeworld,

I feel for you as I was there that same night with that same ticket schedule, great seats and everything, just to find out that Lea wasn't performing. Lucky for me since I had another day to take another chance, and came across the stage/production manager with a good heart who gave me the direct telephone number to the theater and the kind heart of the ticket booth agent who agreed to exchange my tickets for the next day. I had Orchestra seats, 5th row. I'll look for the direct telephone number of the theater and give it to you. You can call direct and ask if Lea will be performing that night, and the staff there are nice enough to divulge the information. I guess they get a lot of that from Lea's fans. Also, they post the names of the performers on the board by the ticket booth, 2 hours before the performance. Hope this helps. Good luck....and believe me....it's well worth the wait. Lea is great!

geraldine soropia said...

leamichellelloyd,

Read my suggestions to maeworld about knowing who's performing that night etc. My suggestion......give yourself another night or two in New York as a back-up. Les Miz last show is in October '07. Good luck. Lea's well worth watching!