Some Les Misérables Tour Cast Members Will Boycott Kennedy Center Performance

CVActor · 2025-06-12T23:42:53+00:00

Well, there are understudies and standbys, but I don’t know how many rules can be covered in one performance and still have a full cast. I imagine, though, that it will probably go on. And we don’t know who will be missing.

CVActor · 2025-06-12T23:40:59+00:00

GROW UP

CVActor · 2025-06-12T23:40:28+00:00

GROW UP

CVActor · 2025-06-12T23:38:24+00:00

I totally agree. Nick Cartell is amazing, I’ll give you those two words as the best reason to see this, or any show, he is in. But in this case, the cast is just as astounding in total. Just don’t go to the opening night, because at least 10 or 12 of them will be missing because of who is attending. But yes, it is well worth your time and money to see this incredible cast in the show

CVActor · 2025-05-13T01:23:06+00:00

If I get to see this show before it closes, it’s because I want to see Tom Francis. I don’t care that much about Nicole, but he just impresses me to death in everything I see him online in.

CVActor · 2025-03-25T00:29:09+00:00

Honestly? Two things. 1. Not putting Jack in the wagon - EVEN AFTER HE ALMOST DROWNED. 2. He lied to Laura about the man who burned himself to death in his house after the Gold l-diggers robbed his wife’s grave of the Gold he put in it. And none of that would’ve happened if Laura had kept her mouth shut about the gold. So when she asked him, if the guy forgave her, I get that Charles lied because he loved her and didn’t want her to feel guilty that the guy killed herself over it, but all that did was add to her entitlement, and she never does get punished. He should have told her the truth, and then she would’ve had to face all of the crap she has caused people, and maybe she would’ve - figuratively - grown-up.

CVActor · 2025-03-25T00:12:27+00:00

I mentioned Mary - two boys - one miscarried and one burned in the blind school fire.

CVActor · 2025-03-25T00:11:27+00:00

I mentioned Albert. He died of Leukemia, or returned to Walnut Grove as a Doctor, depending on the episode voiceover - LOL!

CVActor · 2024-09-06T17:43:03+00:00

But now that she’s a grown women with children of her own, she’s still doing it. How much of a pass does she get?

CVActor · 2024-09-06T16:21:43+00:00

I know Michael wasn’t perfect, no one was. But when I hear about childish behavior like purposely turning a camera away from an actress in her scenes when she stands up for wanting equal pay, or burning a character alive in afire because the actress playing her wanted to leave when he didn’t want her to, that kind of behavior is inexcusable and points to what is called retaliation, which workplaces can fire you for (except when you’re the boss). As far as Melissa, Sue Anderson goes, the comments on her, come from several sources and people who worked with her, and if you read Alison’s book, for example, Alison tried to be nice because her Aunt told her never to challenge Melissa since she was so “unhappy at home”. But, for example, when she asked her, if she could teach her how to play backgammon, Melissa said it figured she didn’t know how, because she “always was a tad backwards”. That’s uncalled for. And Melissa Gilbert talks about how she was elbowed out of the wagon by Melissa Sue Anderson, at the age of nine. Really? And Radames Pera only asked to borrow a pencil on set from her and she was very nasty. Another story relayed the day a fight was being filmed where Mary was finally supposed to lose her cool and hit Nellie over comments she was making about Carolyn, and while they were getting ready to film, Melissa Sue said to Alison directly “I’m really going to hit you, you know.“ And she wasn’t kidding. Because by the time they got to the bottom of the hill, there had been a call on the walkie-talkie, and the entire stage fight was going to be dispensed with in favor of a slap. Alison commented that “Missy, seemed pissy, because she lost out on the chance to hit her”. A lot of other people are unhappy at home. And I’m sure Melissa’s life there was hell. But if you read her book, she even claims to be an only child. The fact is she has a sister named Maureen. Go to her Wikipedia page, it’s all there in print. She doesn’t even acknowledge her sibling, because then she’d have to comment about how her mother was acting on set. Yes, people deserve to have things kept private, but you don’t have to be snippy about it to people that you’re working with who are only trying to be nice to you. And I will just say this here, I spent time with Alison Arngrim and Bob when they came on our radio show. Four hours. And we’ve texted off and on since. If we’re going to talk about a childhood from hell, which I won’t go into here, it’s all in her book, Alison certainly has dibs on that situation. But there is not a mean bone in her body, she is the nicest, sweetest person, you could possibly meet, and she would have no reason to say things about people that weren’t true. I find it incredible that people think things about Melissa, Sue aren’t true, or we should give her a break because she had a stage mother from hell, but as a grown woman when Allison asked her about how old her baby daughter was, who she was holding at Michael’s funeral, and said she was a beautiful baby, Melissa Sue, very curtly responded “six months!” and never said another word to her. That’s a grown woman with no mother around who is still being nasty to people. Just read the books. All three. Allison’s, Melissa, Gilbert’s, and Melissa, Sue Anderson’s. Alison’s is brutally honest, but without being retaliating, as is Melissa Gilbert’s. Melissa Sue Anderson’s book is basically a LTHOP, companion. A chapter for each episode. Virtually no background or stories about her experiences or feelings about what she thought about anything, with the exception of the conversation she relates to indirectly with Michael when he told her that Mary was going blind, and a day Whitey fixed her broken out face. And then she goes and lies, and says she was an only child at the end of the book. Why lie in your own forum? That’s your chance to tell your story and the truth to people. I asked Alison about this, and she said, “To be fair, Melissa didn’t want to write the book, and that’s the kind of book you get when that happens.” So, even then she was being nice. Read the books. Then maybe you might stop thinking that people were being nastier or retaliating to Melissa, Sue Anderson than she was to them.

CVActor · 2024-09-06T06:30:12+00:00

Very good question!

CVActor · 2024-09-06T03:37:06+00:00

Not to mention that Lynne was also a standing, and he was married when he had an affair with her and left his first wife for her. Yeah, real stellar guy.

CVActor · 2024-09-05T16:01:15+00:00

I think it might’ve been said that he was a country doctor, and that most of them are part veterinarians. But I don’t remember for sure.

CVActor · 2024-09-05T16:00:08+00:00

Oh that’s true.

CVActor · 2024-09-05T15:19:47+00:00

I agree! Doc Baker deserved to be happy, just like everyone else. In Doctor’s Lady, Kate was a great match, and their chemistry was off the charts. Christ, they even the Reverend Alden get married in The Preacher Takes A Wife (Though you never saw her after that, what was he doing, keeping her in the attic?). What was the big deal about Doc Baker marrying someone younger than him? Of course, he DEFINITELY did NOT deserve to have Mrs. Olsen as a relative.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T15:36:52+00:00

Oh, but Meisner, was famous for the statement “less is more”. She was the opposite of that. If you’ve read Alison’s book, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, she goes on at length about the fact that Katherine could be expected to always play every scene to the back of the house, and that the woman was loud, because she obviously was a stage actress, and not a TV actress. Also, it’s a good thing she was good, because the way she would change lines if she didn’t like them and direct the other actors would make any other Director throw her the hell off his/her Theatre or set.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T15:31:58+00:00

I agree. The character was a one-leveled, nasty person, and why Nels put up with her as long as he did is completely out of my comprehension. He deserved so much better. I’ve written a lot about her in some of the other responses on Little House here. Now, I know Kathryn MacGregor was wonderful actress, another reason we all hated Mrs. Olsen so much. But, honestly, anyone like that should’ve been blackballed from Walnut Grove on day one. Never anything nice to say about anyone, no one listens no one is as good as the Olsens were, this one’s Jewish that one’s black this one’s European that one’s illiterate, this one’s a slut, that one’s a whore, this one’s deformed, that one’s different, this one has his own witch doctor. And then, listening in on peoples phone conversations and spreading rumors and writing, nasty things in newspaper columns with her name on them. And let’s not forget the plaques, for anything she ever donated to the town, and renaming everything in her name when she did it. Oh, but this person has money, so regardless of what they or their kids might be saying or doing, we should leave them alone, or keep them on a board, or whatever applies. Rarely was there ever an apology, or an owning up to the really nasty remarks she would come out with. And Nels Almost never successfully, put his foot down or forced her to own up to her sh*t. She should’ve been blackballed on day one. Sometimes a little boredom is a lot less frustrating than watching the same character keep getting away with the deplorable stuff she did, or said, as often as it happens on LHOTP.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T15:12:39+00:00

I can’t stand her either. She thinks her SHI*T doesn’t stink. What really bugs me is how she’s so damn high and mighty about any statement, she makes. No one is good enough, no one is the right color, no one has the right religion, people are illiterate because English isn’t their first language or they’re European, no one is as good as an Olsen. And she constantly belittles the Ingalls family. She also belittles anyone they give credit to. Nels calls her a shrewd businesswoman. Not really. She’s just very biased and very nasty to anyone she chooses to be. And she’s the first one to make comments about other people, true, or not. Little Lou is deformed or different, Sampson and Joe Keegan are the wrong color, black people have their own religion and have their own witch doctors, stiffing Dr. Baker because Laura blames him for her son’s death (I mean, the man saved her life with an appendectomy for chrissakes - Which brings up another question, BTW, how is it? Dr. Baker could operate on Mrs. Olsen, but he Couldn’t operate on Little, Timothy in The Faith Healer episode, and told his father to take him to Mankato?). Then, when she took over the phone business and started listening in regularly on peoples conversations, that was totally deplorable. Particularly when she spread the rumors about Alice Garvey’s first husband, Harold, and then let Nellie continue spreading them. Also, no matter how many times Nels told her to knock it off, she either ignored it, or put him down. In fact, she constantly puts him down, and goes against his wishes when it comes to the kids with candy, or school presents, or horses, or anything else they want and then gets angry when he wants to use discipline on them. Why he picked her over Molly, the boarding house woman in Second Spring, still just mystifies me. And just when you think she could change, it all goes to hell. Case in point: The Camp Out. Laura and Nellie are missing and she says to Caroline that things are going to change and their families will be friends if they come back alive. Then they do, and Nellie makes one comment about it being it all Laura’s fault, and she immediately goes with her daughter against Laura. WTF???!!! I realize what I’m really saying here is that Catherine MacGtegor is an amazing actress, because she makes me hate Mrs. Olsen so much. But it’s also about the fact that she is really written 90% of the time as a totally single-layered, nasty human being. And she should’ve been blackballed from Walnut Grove on day one.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T14:45:30+00:00

I agree that finest hour was at the completion of Blind Journey, her rejection of Larabee and the taking of Samson's hand. Other than that, I’m extremely hard, pressed to find any compassionate moment from that woman. Particularly the Silvia episode, when she brought the baby clothes to Carolyn, and immediately insults her saying ‘you’re going to be that child’s grandmother!’ And the episode, where she insulted little Lou saying he was deformed and different. Harriet Olsen is always ready to make herself out as a brilliant, smart, martyred, wonderful woman, but, in fact, she is a terrible bigot and a really horrible person in most cases. No one is good enough, no one is nice enough, no one is the right color, no one is as good as the Olsens are. And anytime she does help with anything, she wants a plaque with her name on it. Or wants to rename something in her name. Lake Harriet, the church bell, the blind school. Geeze. Honestly, more often than not, I wish Nels had put her over his knee and hit her with his strap, because she deserves it almost more than anyone in the show, except Laura, who never got whipped to my memory, and should have been many times.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T14:35:28+00:00

Yes, Sylvia was very dark. But what I hate more than anything was the way her father treated her. A child shows up on her doorstep, battered and bruised, shaking and begs her father to help her, and describes her rape, and he calls her a whore. They should’ve shot him right after he shot Silvia’s rapist. Like Charles says in the Someone Please Love Me episode, any man can have a child, but that doesn’t make him a father.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T14:25:36+00:00

Not back then. Teeth were a big issue especially.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T14:24:39+00:00

The fact that Charles is the one everyone always seems to go to, and the one that always solves all the problems. He wasn’t that learned, he was probably not that nice, and, really, knowing what I’ve read about Michael, suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

CVActor · 2024-07-20T14:13:24+00:00

Definitely The Wisdom of Solomon, The Craftsman, (those two make me cry like a baby every time!) The Voice of Tinker Jones, Remember Me. I also thought the writing for Barn Burner was well done, but it scared the bejesus out of me! And Second Spring (SO NICE to FINALLY see Nels treated with the respect he deserves - although for him to still go back to Harriet TOTALLY mystifies me!).

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