Should We Stop Musical Theatre Stunt Casting?

 This week it was announced that  TOWIE 'star' Gemma Collins was going to be playing Mama Morton in the Chicago UK tour. Understandably this 'interesting' choice in casting was widely criticised as not only is Collins known for being difficult to work with and often leaves projects unfinished but she also has no training in either acting or singing and has yet to show she has the ability to do either. Collins being cast in the role despite being unsuitable is not as an uncommon occurrence in musical theatre casting as one might think, although this case is perhaps to one extreme. Indeed, there have been many occasions when celebrities have been cast in a musical theatre productions for their star status alone, despite not necessarily being the most suited for the role. This is what is commonly referred to stunt casting, when, in reference to musical theatre, a celebrity is cast in a role in order to garner media attention. Stunt casting has been present within musical theatre for decades, but often it is looked down upon by theatre actors, therefore I will question as to whether we should stop stunt casting in musical theatre?

There of course are a number of positives to stunt casting in a musical. One of which is that stunt casting does certainly boost ticket sales for a certain period of time. Indeed, when a famous actor is cast in a musical often there is a lot of press coverage, whether in the form of multiple newspaper articles or televised interviews, a new round of publicity will advertise the musical to people who may not have otherwise heard of it but now want to see it thus increasing ticket sales. Furthermore, ticket sales will be increased as people will see the musical specifically to see the celebrity in the role, perhaps because they want to see the celebrity's take on the character or because they simply just want to see the celebrity in person. Another positive to stunt casting is that you do sometimes get to see a celebrity  bring something extra to the role which you would not get from a regular musical theatre trained performer. One example that comes to mind is when Billie Joe Armstrong played the role of St Jimmy for a period in 'American Idiot' on Broadway . The musical is of course based on the works of Green Day so whilst Armstrong is not a trained actor he was able to bring something extra to the show in having a deeper understanding and connection to the songs he was performing than any other actor could. 

However, overall stunt casting is largely a negative for the musical theatre industry. One reason why such is the case is that through stunt casting you deprive talented actors who have trained for years in musical theatre from roles they deserve. Indeed, there is an abundance of musically trained actors yet there are limited roles to fill. Indeed it would be soul crushing for a musical theatre actor to train so hard and come close to getting a role but ultimately be denied due another getting the role not based on talent but fame . This is especially the case given that the celebrity can easily get other work and often has enough money to live comfortably, unlike the struggling actor who needs this job to survive. The whole process of stunt casting seems incredibly unfair to professional musical theatre actors, especially if one considers that in no other industry would someone be hired for their fame status or general popularity in their community over another's experience and ability to do the job well. Stunt casting is negative in that it deprives talented performers the opportunity to perform in a role they are most suited for whilst also depriving the audience of the opportunity to see an amazing performance by an actor suited to the role. Indeed, the latter point rings especially true when one considers that most celebrities who are stunt casted are lacking in the ability to perform the role well, this could be because whilst the celebrity is talented at singing they have the inability to act or visa versa. It may also be the case whilst the celebrity can both act and sing well that they simply have an inability to perform in a staged musical. This will most likely be because performing in a professional musical is a gruelling task in which you have to perform 3 hour shows 7 times a week with little rest in between, as opposed to a filming a movie in which the actor will shoot a 5 minute scene and wait around for hours on end afterwards. Therefore, even if the stunt actor has the ability to be in a musical movie, for example, them being cast in a musical on stage may lead to poor performances where the celebrity is out of breath or may even have to take multiple days off. Indeed, Stunt casting can be seen as a negative as often the celebrity cast isn't good enough for the role and will give a weak performance in comparison to a professionally trained musical actor. 

However, whilst it is most often the case that the celebrity stunt cast is often not the most suited for the role there have still been many cases of perfect stunt casting. This often happens when the person cast is a famed musical theatre actor, one such case is when Josh Groban was cast as Pierre in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. Groban originated the role of Pierre on broadway and due to his musical theatre background he was able to produce a wonderful performance which was both convincing and critically acclaimed, yet due to his popularity with the general public and the number of solo albums he had released Groban's casting would be counted as stunt casting as he is famed outside of the musical theatre sphere. But we can still ask here whether stunt casting is acceptable under these conditions? Whilst it can be argued that Groban was the most suited to the role there is still issues with his casting which is separate from his performance and is instead a general issue that comes with stunt casting. That is when you begin stunt casting you must almost always continue stunt casting or else the show may face closure, as the Great comet did. Indeed this is the case for a number of reasons, one such reason is that when you stunt cast your show becomes associated with a celebrity and often is unable to stand on its own. Indeed, much of the shows advertisement or press will be around the celebrity in the show rather than the show itself, therefore it is less likely that the show will be recognised on its own merit, for its wonderful script or enchanting music for example. As such, once that celebrity leaves the show much of what the general public associates with the show disappears and people become uncertain whether or not they should see it because they do not know whether the show itself is good without the celebrity. Furthermore some wont see the show once the celebrity has left and no other celebrity replaces them as they may feel like they are being cheated, that the show they are seeing is somehow of worse value than the version with a celebrity in. Indeed, then we can state that stunt casting is almost always a negative as whilst it can initially generate more ticket sales, in the long run it can actually worsen sales unless someone is stunt casted straight away and may even lead to the shows closure. 

The only place where stunt casting seems appropriate and harmless is when a famous musical theatre trained actor, such as Michael Ball, is cast in a musical that has a limited run, for example The Les Miserables concert, or a musical which is extremely well established and will likely never close, like Phantom of the Opera. This seems like an ok form of stunt casting as not only would the actor be the most suited for the role but the stunt casting wont affect future ticket sales. Indeed then we can conclude that we should stop most forms of stunt casting for the reasons i have discussed.