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[Sondheimite]

Posted: 10/19/18 at 11:21pm

patti out there wavin' through the window lol

[ArtMan]

Posted: 10/19/18 at 11:33pm

Bwayfan292 said: "At this point they both have probably missed more shows then they have performed.

I have gone three times and they have only been together once, and when patti wasnt on Aisha wasand I found Aisha way more entertaining. Im sure this comment will get deleted cause we cant talk bad about patti!."

If these were free tickets then we would be ungracious for mentioning the absent.  But they are not and people are spending a good amount of money to see them and see them together.  Failure to show for whatever reason, gives anyone the right to criticize them whether they like it or not.  I cherish a debate where someone would like to tell me how to spend my money. Don't really care who they are.

Updated On: 10/26/18 at 11:33 PM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 10/20/18 at 12:11am

I only saw the show once in late May.  Both were out, which really pissed me off, since the show had barely been open.  By the time the show was over, I didn't care.  I doubt that anyone could make much of an impression in those roles.  Nevertheless, they did not demonstrate knowledge of 'the show must go on', and I will never make an effort to see either one of them again.

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 10/20/18 at 12:19am

Alyssa was very good as Elsa, but I have to say Patti is a incredible Anna.

The show is good, but nothing to really write about it.

[Catsbroadwayfan]

Posted: 10/20/18 at 12:30am

I have gone twice. A month into opening and then again like two weeks ago. And BOTH times they were both out. I understand actors get sick and stuff, but I feel like they have a mentality of waking up and going eh not today. Like are they literally doing the show 3 times a week, I follow Aisha on instagram and its almost every other day shes going on.

Also, this is gonna sound rude but why are they scheduling so much vacation??? They barley are in the roles!!! After the tony noms came out and the show got shut out, none of the leading cast excluding John and Greg care anymore! And its so sad to see. Sighhhhhhhhhhhh.

[Melissa25]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 6:38am

On another note about Frozen...why on earth are they not using any of the songs in the televised commercial for the show?  I find this to be so bizarre.  

[kelsey1389]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 1:20pm

I saw Frozen with both Patti and Caissie and thought they were both fantastic. I think in terms of them being out a lot, Caissie had a pretty nasty throat infection for a solid week at least a bit ago, plus she has a young son and I know that she just took a personal day to spend with her family, and her son was sick a few days ago. As for Patti, I think that this is the first really big thing that she's ever done and her body/mind are probably having a hard time keeping up with the schedule.

[GreeneStreet]

Posted: 10/21/18 at 1:35pm

No. Those are excuses, they had fine attendance untill they both were shut out of the Tonys. I get it people get sick, but theres performers doing the show sick and injured all over broadway, its your job. If Caissie wanted to spend time with her family she shouldnt have said yes to this job. Laura benanti turned down a dream role to be with her family. Hailey kilgore broke her foot on stage and still finished the show and tried to keep going. I have zero sympathy for both of them.

People are paying hard earned money for a night of theatre, I get people call out but when you are doing 3/8 shows a week, thats a problem.

[Great Dame]

Posted: 10/22/18 at 1:58am

GreeneStreet said: "No. Those are excuses, they had fine attendance untill they both were shut out of the Tonys. I get it people get sick, but theres performers doing the show sick and injured all over broadway, its your job. If Caissie wanted to spend time with her family she shouldnt have said yes to this job. Laura benanti turned down a dream role to be with her family. Hailey kilgore broke her foot on stage and still finished the show and tried to keep going. I have zero sympathy for both of them.

People are paying hard earned money for a night of theatre, I get people call out but when you are doing 3/8 shows a week, thats a problem. "

People pay their hard earned money for a car loan too, that doesn't mean a lender can't take a day off to be with a sick kid. You can thank unions and the Family Medical Leave Act for protecting entertainers' rights to take a sick day to watch their 2 year old just as much as your own right to take a day off to stay with a sick kid. Times are changing and America is supporting working parents more. Regardless of their job. Her husband works like 2 hours away or something, so they have to make it work, and I'm sure most of the time he handles it, but in a bind she's entitled to stay home. I personally don't think someone as talented as Caissie Levy should have to quit acting or give up having a family. She can do both. If we want to support working moms, we all make some sacrifices. I've seen the show 8 times and have caught the entire original cast all 8 times. Also, several of their missed performances were work-related. Patti did something in DC representing Frozen just a couple of weeks ago, as one example. I get that there's a "show must go on" attitude... And it does. With a standby. I'm personally glad that the days where entertainers had to do cocaine just to keep up are going away.  Just because that's how's it always been done doesn't mean it should still occur. If a football player can get paid $50 million to sit on the bench after a pulled muscle, a Broadway actor can miss a show for a sick kid.

[Great Dame]

Posted: 10/22/18 at 9:08am

_(•_&bull_/ said: "I agree with you Great dame. Plus Caissie has not missed as many shows as Patti. Also Caissie got very sick a couple weeks ago with a throat infection. Im sure being a mother comes first instead of being Elsa, and thats what it should be. Who are we to judge? The show still goes on! yeesh, everyone just needs to cut her some slack.

Patti on the other hand, she misses TONS of shows, and Like you said some of them are cause of her promoting the show, but most of the time its not. "

We also don't know what's going on with her. If she was outside her contract Disney would release her. Maybe she negotiated for more personal days, who knows. They have contracts and Disney is hardly going to let anyone default on it, so it's really no one's business but Patti's and her boss. She has been on vocal rest too, so they may be telling her to take some extra shows off so she can come back strong and not injure herself. We ultimately don't know the situation outside what she herself tweets. 

[Great Dame]

Posted: 10/22/18 at 9:17am

Something else I just thought of is that they are preparing to launch a national tour next year. Perhaps Disney is wanting to see the standbys more as they make tour casting decisions. Some of them could potentially land the lead roles for the tour. Anyway, my overall point is we don't know and it's not really our business. We all hope to see the leads obviously, and I know when I fly out next week I'll be disappointed if I don't. But I won't drag them online.

[natashalost]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 7:46am

To clarify: Nobody should be throwing Caissie’s name under the bus. I’ve kept pretty good track of who’s gone on since previews started and Caissie has not missed that many shows. The longest periods of time she has gone without doing a show were either for vacation or her recent throat infection.
Patti on the other hand has missed a number of shows. I know she has been public with her struggle with mental health, specifically anxiety and depression, but I don’t know how that plays into her absences.

I can understand if you’re upset that the leads are out. However, I’m of the mindset that when you buy your tickets there’s a chance some cast members might not be there and that’s a risk you take when you buy your tickets. It does say “cast subject to change!”

I hope this doesn’t discourage anyone from going. Personally, I think this is a fantastic show. Even if the principals are out all the standbys and understudies are fantastic, most notably, Aisha Jackson. She really is a star in the making. Alyssa Fox and Ashley Blanchet are amazing Elsas and I could easily see both being promoted to the principal Elsa when Caissie leaves. I haven’t seen Lauren Nicole Chapman as Anna but I hear she’s amazing in the role too. Don’t worry—you’re in good hands no matter who you see!

[Great Dame]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 8:44am

Natashalost exactly! I'll admit I'm a raging Caissie Levy fan and feel like I'm in Dumbledore's Army rushing to her defense when I see anything negative about her from people online hahaha! She is flawless on and off stage, and the nicest person. She doesn't really get dragged often which is good. Just curious, do you have the number of shows each have missed? Now I'm just nerding out and am curious about numbers. Is it common for cast members of new shows to miss more after award season? I feel like they go super hard from the labs all the way through opening & Tony's without much of a break. The show has only been open since March but they've been working on it longer. Maybe they had some vacation time banked up. Either way, I'll watch for your updates when I'm out there soon :)

[natashalost]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 4:30pm

Great Dame said: "...Just curious, do you have the number of shows each have missed? Now I'm just nerding out and am curious about numbers..."

My count might be a little bit off but I believe Patti's missed about 40 shows, and Caissie's missed less than 30 shows. Let me know if you want me to be more specific. I can tell you more! 

 

Great Dame said: "...Is it common for cast members of new shows to miss more after award season?..."

I would say yes it is. Typically, performers try not to call out around the times Tony voters come see the show, which means sometimes they're in even when they're sick. They might be more likely to call out when sick after Tony season. 

Great Dame said: "...Either way, I'll watch for your updates when I'm out there soon :)"

Glad someones reading them! Always good to have a fellow Frozen fan on here... seems like I'm the only one sometimes!

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 5:27pm

I like Levy.

That being said, if somebody had missed 30 or so shows when the show hasn’t been open even a year yet, that’s pretty crap attendance.

I can’t imagine calling out of my job 30 times and still having a job...

[BritCrit]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 7:15pm

Great Dame said: "...Is it common for cast members of new shows to miss more after award season?..."

I would say yes it is. Typically, performers try not to call out around the times Tony voters come see the show, which means sometimes they're in even when they're sick. They might be more likely to call out when sick after Tony season.”

Levy missed her first shows at the beginning of March (in the first half of the preview period) whilst Murin missed her first shows at the end of that month, (approximately a week after opening night). Murin first went public with her anxiety issues in mid-April, after missing a few shows then. These absences occurred at the height of the award season, with both Levy and Murin being pitted against each other in the Best Actress category. With this in mind, I think it’s misleading to link their absences to a lack of Tony Awards recognition, and think that health problems, not laziness, have contributed to their frequent absence...


 

 

[Bwayfan292]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 7:44pm

Also, with Caissie being a mom. There are tons of other moms on broadway who are not missing shows. There are tons of working moms who would be fired for missing 30 days of work. So that really isnt a good excuse.

 

I also have been diagnosed with Social anexity. Just like what Sondheimite said Icant take off half my week because my anexity is keeping me in. Theres a big differnce from an actual anexity attack to just not wanting to do a show and saying its anexity.

Updated On: 10/23/18 at 07:44 PM

[natashalost]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 7:57pm

Certainly didn't think this was the direction the thread was going to take . However, I agree with most of you they have missed more shows then maybe they should have. 

I don't think I'm as upset as others maybe because I really like this show and this cast. I'm also the kind of person who likes to see understudies so I'm not too upset when someone calls out. 

That being said, I'm of the mindset that we shouldn't judge these performers because we don't know exactly what's going on. Any number of things could have happened to prevent them from doing their job. I'm fairly certain they don't want to be calling out -- you have to really love this kind of work to do it, it's not an easy job. 

Updated On: 10/23/18 at 07:57 PM

[kelsey1389]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 8:38pm

AGREED. It's easy to assume that Patti has been calling out due to mental illness, but I don't think that's the case for every time. I know she just recently missed a few days because she was on vocal rest. We don't know her or her life, as much as we think we might (myself included). People always focus on the negative- yes, she has missed A LOT of shows. More than most performers and certainly more than I'm allowed to miss at my job. But she's also been at MOST of her shows and giving it her all when she's in. Stuff comes up, things happen. I get that she's missed a lot. But we don't know why. So let's focus on the positive: She's doing a great job, she's performing and living her dream and she's spreading a lot of light and joy as Anna. And her understudies and her standbys also get to spread that light. Anna is Anna, Frozen is Frozen no matter who's in and who's out.

natashalost said: "Certainly didn't think this was the direction the thread was going to take . However, I agree with most of you they have missed more shows then maybe they should have.

I don't think I'm as upset as others maybe because I really like this show and this cast. I'm also the kind of person who likes to see understudies so I'm not too upset when someone calls out.

That being said, I'm of the mindset that we shouldn't judge these performers because we don't know exactly what's going on. Any number of things could have happened to prevent them from doing their job. I'm fairly certain they don't want to be calling out -- you have to really love this kind of work to do it, it's not an easy job."

 

[singer234]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 8:52pm

I wouldn’t be surprised if job shares become more popular in the future. Mothers in the West End are already doing this. If I had to bet, you’ll see more performers sharing roles in the future as the industry continues to push back against the 8 show a week model they currently perform under (which many are very unhappy with).

[singer234]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 8:55pm

No opinions about it one way or another, but it’s definitely a hot topic. This trickles down to companies trying to provide babysitting services to auditioning mothers. There’s a big push in this direction. And also, we don’t know what their contracts say. So until we do...there’s really nothing anyone can do but conjecture. Just because people knew about Alex Brightman’s 5/3 split doesn’t mean that these women don’t have a similar agreement, and that Disney just wants to keep mum about it. Would that be false advertising? Maybe/probably.

[Catsbroadwayfan]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 8:58pm

If an actor or actress are upset about 8 show weeks they shouldnt be doing theatre.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 9:48pm

Catsbroadwayfan said: "If an actor or actress are upset about 8 show weeks they shouldnt be doing theatre."

I’m sure this is coming from someone who 1, isn’t an adult, and 2, does not do professional theater for a living.

Wait a few years for your frontal lobe to close and get some actual experience in this field - life is not as black and white as you think when you are younger. 

[singer234]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 10:20pm

There are a lot of people in the industry who are pushing the idea that the 8 show a week model is unsustainable and outdated, so it will be interesting to see 20-40 years from now how, if it all, performance schedules change.

[singer234]

Posted: 10/23/18 at 10:25pm

I personally think an 8 show week is fair, but have no problem if actors are negotiating lighter schedules. More power to them. That’s what agents are for.