Henry Goodman - the London stage star who replaced Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock in "The Producers" - was fired from the hit Broadway musical yesterday. He'll be replaced by his understudy.

The understudy who is taking over the part is Brad Oscar who previously played (and got a tony nomination) Franz Liebkind. He was excellent as Franz (I was lucky enough to see the originals), but I do know people who have seen him understudy the role and they said he was excellent. The good news it, tickets whould start to become a but easier to get.

i can't seem to type today, the last sentence in my post should read, 'The good news is, tickets should start to become a bit easier to get.'

Just curious to know why Goodman was fired...

There is an article on the firing on the NY Times website. No reason for the firing was given by the producers of the show. Demand for tickets, according to the article, has slackened especially for the $480 premium tickets. The Times also reported the line of people waiting for cancellation tickets has been much shorter since the original leads left the show.

from cnn.com article "But shortly after Goodman took over the role March 19, industry rumors swirled that the magic seen in the audition was not apparent onstage. The critics were not to be invited to review the new cast until May 1. "

Heard on the news going home that he was fired because he "was not funny enough"
Too bad.

I read that he didn't want his performance to be directly compared to Nathan Lane's, so he decided to make the character much more serious and sour. It didn't work. Apparently many of the jokes that provoked a howl of laughter w/ Mr. Lane resulted in dead silence w/ Mr. Goodman.

Tonight on the news, they said that the cast did not think he was funny!

According to the press, Not funny.

And timing is an issue. Critics plan to attend for review purposes on May 1.

I wouldn't feel too bad for Henry Goodman, I read that he will be paid out his contract of $10,000 a week for the next 5 months.

I don't think it was so much a matter of "dry British humor that Americans didn't get" but that it is broad farce ala Mel Brooks and he didn't get that!
It is really tough to take over after Nathan Lane and he really went to the opposite extreme..not what people wanted to see.

Frank, you are right about his receiving his contract for the run, but imagine his looking for his next starring role -- he will now be famous as the guy who got fired from The Producers. It will be tricky for him getting much work at all, in my opinion.

He tried to bring british humor to the show. Many times, it would have been a smash. But for the Producers, and more importantly for the Producers fans' expectations, it didn't fly.

Patrick, I wouldn't worry too much about Goodman not finding work. Patti Lupone's career hasn't suffered because Andrew Lloyd Weber canned her from Sunset Boulevard a few years ago.

What does this have to do with travel?!?

Well, let's see. New York City. The most popular Broadway show of all time. Major tourist attraction. Important casting change. Nope, nothing to do with travel.

I saw Goodman in the Producers two weeks ago. I hadn't seen the original cast, so I didn't have that to compare it too. I thought that Goodman was excellent and very funny. So did the woman next to me who was seeing the show for the third time (the previous two times with Lane).

Incidently, I got my ticket (6th row centre) ten minutes before the show without any wait.

ooooo