Stunt casting- the use of a gimmick or publicity stunt to fill a role in a television series, film, or theatre production.
(Wikipedia)
Warning- I certainly don’t have the inside intel on all these things, I’m just writing about this side of things and musings on stunt casting and its place in theatre.
When looking at any part of the entertainment world, you’re going to see stunt casting. It’s completely unavoidable pretty much everywhere. There are a lot of opinions on stunt casting, which goes along with how many types of stunt casting there are. It’s definitely not a simple concept, especially when you’re looking at stage. Inevitably, there are questions that come up with it, and a very wide range of how people feel when we’re looking at stunt casting. Just from what I’ve heard regarding it most of my life, most of those feelings aren’t very positive.
The thing about stunt casting is that it works. When Joe Locke of Heartstopper fame got cast in Sweeney Todd on Broadway, people traveled from all over to see him. I believe it was something like a fourteen week run with him, but people were going completely crazy. I’m sure ticket sales skyrocketed…and I’ve worked in box offices before. The same thing happened with his co-lead, Kit Connor, who is in a revival of Romeo and Juliet…with Rachel Zegler of Hunger Games fame. I do actually have some idea of how much these tickets cost, and it’s completely insane. These people are making money.
It doesn’t have to be on large scales, of course. I’ve seen it happen as local as People’s Light, where celebrities such as David Strathairn and Dulé Hill have performed in shows. And I’ve seen how these celebrities bring in so many people. Even People’s Light could charge crazy amounts of money for these shows. Now, I have to admit, seeing Dulé Hill onstage was super cool. He’s insanely talented. But would I have gone if I didn’t get to see the show for free? It would definitely depend on if I could afford it.
Okay, so stunt casting often brings in a lot of money for the theatres, but it’s a whole different experience for the audience. As I said above, it was super cool to see Dulé Hill. People are going to be really interested in seeing their favorite celebrities. I can’t lie, if I had gotten the chance to see Joe Locke in Sweeney Todd, I definitely would have. We were looking to see Hadestown when Ani DiFranco was in it, which would have fucking rocked. I love Ani DiFranco. She’s fucking awesome. Yes, as an audience member, that would have been an amazing experience.
I’ve definitely experienced some stunt casting that falls a little short. In the first national tour of Spring Awakening, they cast Steffi D, who was a bit of a Canadian celebrity. I followed that cast and that tour like crazy, which is probably the only reason I knew anything about her. I guess I could be wrong, but anyone I interacted with here didn’t know much about her. Maybe it wasn’t intended to be stunt casting, but it had that sort of feel. The same thing happened when they brought in Hunter Parrish to the Broadway cast. Honestly, I didn’t even know he could sing. But he was actually pretty decent.
Something I’ve always wondered about was how these actors feel. Obviously they know why they’re being pulled in, and I imagine they get paid very well for it. Of course, they could also just really want to be a part of shows. Joe Locke has talked about how he talked to his agent about getting him musical auditions, and that’s how he ended up in Sweeney Todd. I’m sure a lot of the time, they don’t even think about the stunt casting aspect of things. They just want to be a part of it all. The other aspects don’t even matter to them.
I think from this post, it’s pretty clear that stunt casting doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation. I think there’s a lot to this. Are we taking advantage of actors in these situations? Are we putting them in a place where people just want to see shows for one actor in particular? Are they just being used to bring money in? There are so many sides to this debate, and I think it’s an interesting one. Stunt casting has always been a thing…and it works, right? So why would we fix something that’s not broken? Or maybe it is broken.
So I guess there are pros and cons to stunt casting, in all ways…audience enjoyment and excitement, financial perks for theatres, and so many other aspects to the whole idea of stunt casting. Definitively, I think I’ve fallen prey to it just as much as other people have. It’s a really cool way to experience a piece of theatre. But I do also think it’s a way of using an actor. It doesn’t take away from how talented most of these actors are, but I also imagine there are people saying they liked Sweeney Todd before Joe Locke was in it and everyone thought it was cool. Stunt casting isn’t going away, and there are worse things in the world of theatre than that.
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