After yesterday’s blog entry about the early departures of both Bent and Summer and Smoke, news comes today that another show is closing before ever officially opening: not that Stones in His Pockets is exactly closing during previews, but that its first night – originally planned for last Monday – was postponed owing to the indisposition of actor Hugh Lee, and the alternate cast put into the roles from the next night onwards. Now, with a convoluted explanation of how Hugh Lee has now had to formally withdraw and it has not been possible to rehearse another actor into the role to join Simon Delaney, or to parachute another actor who has played it before into the show either, they’ve been going on with the alternate cast – except that the show cannot be presented without covers, either (though quite how they’re maintaining the show right now, in that case, is another question, since both of the present covers are now fully engaged).
It’s odd that a two-hander like this should present major difficulties, especially one in which numerous actors have previously played the parts around the world now. There’s an age-old showbiz adage that the show must go on; but clearly not this show right now. Though neither Lee nor Delaney could be considered ‘box office’ any more than covers John Cronin and Conrad Kemp, it seems the producers are reluctant to ‘promote’ them to the leads officially. But I’d be curious if the casting change has made any difference at all to the box office advance, or lack thereof. In a heavily crowded marketplace, there may simply have been no room for Stones, with our without Lee, and the producers have managed a graceful escape without having to admit that commercial interest has long since waned in a show that was, after all, seen in the West End as recently as three years ago.
Curious footnote to this saga: when the press night was cancelled, a friend wittily asked me if Sheridan Morley had, by any chance, managed to review it. (Some may remember that when Barbara Cook had her season at the Gielgud Theatre postponed owing to an illness in 2004, it didn’t stop Sheridan from reviewing her and awarding her a four star rave). In fact Sheridan’s regular stand-in on the Daily Express, Simon Edge, duly did review Stones last Friday; but as his review made clear, he actually saw the alternate cast, so was in the clear.
An Apology:
My friend and colleague Sheridan Morley has written, the old-fashioned way rather than electronically, to ask me to put the record straight regarding the blog entry I filed about his having apparently reviewed Barbara Cook when she hadn't actually appeared yet (owing to illness) in 2004. I apologise unreservedly for perpetuating what Sheridan calls "a myth" regarding the London engagement he refers to as 'cancelled' (though it was in fact only postponed). As Sheridan puts it, "What happened was that about a week before she was due to open I PREVIEWED her based on having seen the show in NY and loved the CDs." I accept entirely that the "review" may have been intended as a preview; but it actually appeared in print on the Friday of the week she should have already been performing in, and it came with star ratings attached, so it was an easy mistake to make that I was reading it at the time as a review. However, I am happy to lay the "myth" to rest now once and for all, and apologise once again for continuing to indulge it.