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Michael Riedel reports in the New York Post that “The ax is swinging again at The Times They Are A-Changin’, the new Twyla Tharp musical based on the music of Bob Dylan.” As usual, the blame seems to be falling on the performers rather than on, oh, I don’t know, the concept itself. (Try to imagine the initial meeting for this show. “Hey! It worked for Billy Joel! This is the same thing, right? Right? Someone get Twyla in here!”) According to Riedel (and while some people don’t like him, he’s usually factually correct), the show is on their 3rd leading lady. Here’s a list:

#1, Jenn Colella, was let go, although “production sources insist the director-choreographer never wanted to get rid of Colella in the first place, and was forced to do so by her producers, who felt the actress lacked sex appeal.” A quick google search brings up this page on the increasingly indispensible site BroadwayWorld.com. Hey, she seems nice looking, but OK, fine.
#2 is Caryn Lyn Manuel. All right, being fair, she’s definitely hotter looking than Jenn. So why was she kicked the curb? “What she reportedly lacked was a voice suited to Dylan.” Riedel writes. “She was a belter,” a source says. “She belted out everything, even the tender songs. It was like she was in ‘Wicked.'” Below we’ve embedded two clips from YouTube: the first is Caren performing at Crash Mansion with an acoustic guitar, sounding quite Dylan-esque, at least for a Broadway performer. Then there is an audio clip titled “Caren lyn Manuel – Times they are a Changin'”, which we think is probably from the show. OK, so she’s belting, maybe, but SHEESH. Maybe somebody could’ve told her to tone it down or something? (There’s also a video clip of Jenn if you want to see it. YouTube now officially has a clip of EVERYTHING.)
#3 is Lisa Brescia (photos here), who has the role, at least as of this writing (who knows what tomorrow will bring). There are NO clips of Lisa, at least none that we could find, on YouTube. (OK, YouTube has everything EXCEPT for clips of Lisa Brescia.)
Now Miss Twyla has, allegedly, fired performers for their, um, physical attributes, but this time it doesn’t seem to be her fault (or even her idea).
Here’s the thing: sometimes you have to fire a performer, and sometimes it’s the right thing to do. “You’re going out there a youngster and you’re coming back a star!”, blah blah blah. Sometimes it works. More often than not, though, if nothing is working, and if they are changing the show daily (as Riedel says they are), it’s not the actor’s fault. Rarely was the whole sorry enterprise their idea. Someone saw dollar signs, Twyla figured she could make these songs work, and they gave it a shot. Problem is, it’s not working, and they need to blame SOMEONE, but not themselves. So they can the poor actress(es).
Hi Diddlee-dee, an actor’s life for me…
YouTube clips: