Broadway Tuesday: I Got My Gossip Wrong

Today, I was telling gossipy Broadway tales to my boss while we were planning the next year or so.  Turns out, I got them mixed up, so Liz, this is for you.

Patti LuPone dodged almost all her chorus work in Les Miserables in London because she was in another show and kept leaving rehearsal to "rest" for the show.  It totally worked until the show closed during the staging of the second act, which is why the actress playing Fantine typically shows up as a boy on the barricade.

Patti LuPone, however, is not responsible for the M&M incident I went on to describe.  That was Andrea McArdle, who stored a quarter-pound bag of candy in her barricade boy costume when she was in the Fantine role.  She dramatically "died" on the barricade and M&Ms went flying everywhere, mostly into the orchestra pit.

My source for both these stories and other great didjaknows:  https://ew.com/article/2014/11/04/10-big-broadway-disasters-according-to-seth-rudetsky/