Nathan Lane's Successor in "The Producers" Is Fired.
April 15, 2002 2:30 PM   Subscribe

Nathan Lane's Successor in "The Producers" Is Fired. (NYT Link). Replacing the hottest Broadway actor in the hottest Broadway musical and getting fired 4 weeks later's gotta suck a lot.
posted by adrober (13 comments total)
 
I guess, though I'd do my best to let the $15,000 a week for the next eight months (for no further work) try to cheer me up some.
posted by hackly_fracture at 2:40 PM on April 15, 2002


Henry Goodman? Who?

IMDB: "Notting Hill - Ritz Concierge"

Oh him
posted by Summer at 3:07 PM on April 15, 2002


Hey, at least it wasn't after =one= performance. I've seen a couple productions close on Broadway after only one week... The Cape Man, by Paul Simon, comes to mind (and by this, I don't mean that I actually =saw= these flashes-in-the-pan. I mean I read about it in NYTimes.) The Broadway market is really harsh nowadays, which would explain the plethora of revivals.
posted by meep at 3:27 PM on April 15, 2002


I actually got to see the Nathan Lane/Matthew B. combo, and it was really good. But I heard from friends at the time that Lane's understudy Brad Oscar was actually better than Lane himself, and that I shouldn't be disappointed if I showed up and he was in the role. It sounds to me like this is just an over-due break that he deserved in the first place.
posted by spilon at 3:45 PM on April 15, 2002


I sometimes work the theaters and saw the Lane/Broderick combo 4 times, I think. The guy now coming in was, they say, intended to be Lane's replacement from the very beginning, until they hedged and tried to get a "known" talent. I hope he's serving his just desserts now because he really is fantastic.
posted by o2b at 4:12 PM on April 15, 2002


sounds like something that would happen to Mariah Carey. No wait, they would have had to pay him a lot more money to leave for that analogy to hold...
posted by LuxFX at 4:36 PM on April 15, 2002


Henry Goodman? Who?

IMDB: "Notting Hill - Ritz Concierge"

Oh him


Er, not quite fair. Goodman is an exceptionally well-known actor in the UK, and has won both raves and awards in the past for everything from Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice) to musicals (Chicago). The original plan was that Goodman would come to the USA, do the show on Broadway, and then open the UK transfer. But it seems that he wasn't right for the role. Or something.

The Talkin' Broadway message board has devoted a fair amount of today's space to this glitch (scroll down).
posted by thomas j wise at 4:58 PM on April 15, 2002


I once worked with Mr. Goodman, and found him to be one of the most talented actors I'd ever met. I'm so sorry to hear this news, especially since I live in NYC and was just about to make plans to go see him in the show.
posted by grumblebee at 5:45 PM on April 15, 2002


That's got to suck to walk away with $480k for the eight months they didn't need him. I'd be upset.
posted by mecran01 at 7:18 PM on April 15, 2002


And yet Steven Weber lives. The end times are at hand, friends. Repent and prepare to meet Frank Rich.
posted by bradlands at 9:41 PM on April 15, 2002




Brad Oscar has been tapped as the perminent replacement. He was Nathan Lane's understudy and due to Lane's vocal chord problems, Oscar got considerable time onstage in the lead role.
posted by Lanternjmk at 6:28 AM on April 16, 2002


I can't believe that Goodman wasn't good enough. Having seen him a few times in other things it seems more likely that his interpretation was too sophisticated for the audience. The thing is that Zero Mostel didn't play the role as 'broad' humour - he was definitely angsty and tortured. Maybe as a stage musical they deliberately expunged the darker side (haven't seen it though). I suppose the lesson is that while a great performance may be enough at the National, when you're on Broadway you have to charm the audience. Oh well, I don't imagine he'll have trouble getting parts back in London.
posted by Gaz at 10:07 AM on April 16, 2002


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