Sorry, shorthanding the outer lobby board, one of the possible (AEA) required notices of substitutions. McCartney was there listed as a substitute, which was technically correct -- there's no billed actor in the role, above or below the title -- but confusing. She's still listed in the Playbill's cast list as a standby, but the insert took some figuring out. Once Lynch departed, Mrs. Brice disappeared from the program.
A lot of people didn't know they weren't seeing Benko apparently. At the intermission, folks were just pulling out the inserted replacement notice, which had a string of swing covers (a cascade of changes with Aardema bumped up to Fanny). Two guys in the men's room line were just grasping that they were in fact seeing Aardema. Because the show has no readily identifiable star, it's easy to understand how some could be confused.
Aardema was cheered from the top, deservedly. Those wondering what J. Mueller might do with Fanny: she has a Mueller quality, and it was in ever way a winning performance. |
