Whereas some costars attain Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo ranges of friendship, others completely detest working with one another. These sorts of behind-the-scenes feuds aren’t restricted to behind the display screen.
Listed here are 8 instances actor referred to as out their theater costars, manufacturing members, and friends:
1.
In 2016, Laura Benanti costarred with Zachary Levi in a Broadway run of She Loves Me. In 2024, she informed That is a Homosexual Ass Podcast, “I by no means favored him. Everybody was like, ‘He is so nice!’ And I used to be like, ‘No, he is not. He is sucking up all of the fucking vitality on this room.'”
2.
In 2024, Sarah Paulson informed the Smartless podcast, “The final time I used to be on stage, I did a play referred to as Talley’s Folly on the Roundabout and the actress — and I will say this, and I am not going to ask you to chop this out, as a result of I do not fucking care — this actress got here to the play. Her title is Trish Hawkins — Hello, Trish! Hello, Trisha! — Trish Hawkins got here to the play. Am I going to get sued? I do not care as a result of I feel that is outrageous…[Backstage] she checked out me up and down, after which she went, ‘Your costume is yellow. Mine was pink.’ And I assumed, ‘What?'”
3.
Kecia Lewis at present stars in Hell’s Kitchen, which shares a wall with the present manufacturing of The Roommate that includes Patti LuPone. In a 2024 Instagram publish, Kecia shared an “open letter” to Patti. She mentioned, “Ms. LuPone, I perceive that there have been a few conditions which have gone on in the previous few weeks that I need to deal with. The primary one is that you simply contacted our theater proprietor about altering a few our sound cues since you discovered them to be too loud. You additionally, after our sound design was adjusted, despatched flowers to our sound and stage administration staff thanking them. One other factor that I am conscious of is that you simply dismissed publicly signing a fan’s Hell’s Kitchen playbill as a result of…’they’re too loud.'”
4.
Lea Michele originated the position of the Little Woman in Ragtime in Toronto in 1996 then performed the position on Broadway in 1997. In a since-deleted 2020 tweet, her understudy, Elizabeth Aldrich, reportedly mentioned, “She was completely terrible to me and ensemble.”
5.
In 1967, Maya Angelou reportedly auditioned for the position of Pearl Bailey’s understudy in Hi there, Dolly! In 2017, Man Johnson, Maya’s son, informed American Masters – Maya Angelou: And Nonetheless I Rise, “For my mom, it will have meant residing constantly in New York with out leaving me for a minimum of a 12 months, and it was common cash. The director and the producer each beloved her. However Pearl Bailey got here again and mentioned, ‘Oh no — I ain’t gonna have this large previous ugly lady be my understudy.'”
6.
In 2013, Alec Baldwin and Shia LaBeouf had been solid in Orphans on Broadway. The next 12 months, Alec informed Vulture, “Getting again onstage appeared like a good suggestion. I beloved Lyle Kessler’s play and was anxious to work with director Dan Sullivan. Then Shia LaBeouf confirmed up. I’d heard from different those who he was doubtlessly very troublesome to work with, however I all the time ignore that as a result of individuals say the identical factor about me. When he confirmed up, he appeared like quite a lot of younger actors immediately — scattered, as he was coming from making six motion pictures in a row or no matter. There was friction between us from the start.”
7.
When Patti LuPone was at Julliard, John Houseman was the drama division’s founding director, and so they additionally labored collectively when she was within the Appearing Firm’s repertory troupe, which he co-founded. In 2019, she informed the New York Instances, “John Houseman used to name me ‘flannel mouth.’ You do not know, once you’re within the second, that you simply’re not enunciating. As an viewers member, I can perceive the issue…In a few of my performances, I used to be oblivious to that; I used to be busy emoting. Apparently, once I was doing Three Sisters, John Houseman needed to yell at me about my diction. They saved him away from me till he actually strangled me.”
8.
And eventually, in 1994, Andrew Lloyd Webber infamously fired Patti LuPone from the position of Norma Desmond — which she originated on the West Finish — paid her off with $1 million, and recast her with Glenn Shut within the Broadway debut of Sundown Boulevard. This determination launched a decades-long feud between Andrew and Patti.
What is the greatest Broadway {and professional} theater feud or scandal you’ve got ever heard about? Inform us within the feedback!
