It's Hard to Be a Pet Actor on Stage These Days
Life upon the wicked stage ain't nothing what a pet supposes. There have now been two cases of animal actors being fired from stage productions this month—one on the Great White Way and the other from Britain's equivalent: the West End. It appears some cats and dogs can't take direction like they used to, and that the life of a pet thespian is pretty demanding these days.
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Today we learned that Montie, the understudy for the role of Holly Golighty's cat in the Broadway adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's, has been fired, Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times reports. Montie, apparently, didn't take direction very well, and is being replaced by Moo. Moo, however, will work under the shadow of Montie, who is remaining at the theater because his owner Babette Corelli has been training cats for the show. All of these cats must be pretty gossipy about Emilia Clarke and Seth MacFarlane splitting up. (Note: Montie is not pictured in the photo above.)
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It's really not poor Montie's fault. As the Times reported in an earlier story, the humans involved in the Breakfast at Tiffany's production are asking of them an impossible task: respond to commands like a dog would.
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Meanwhile, in London, a dog is at the center of another animal actor dismissal. A corgi named Lizzy was fired from the West End production of The Audience starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. The Telegraph reported earlier this month that Lizzy just refused to come to Mirren when called:
Instead it stayed in the wings and refused to go on, leaving its corgi co-star Rocky, five, to end the scene on its own. Despite the best efforts of cast and crew, it happened on 16 consecutive preview performance nights.
So, 10 days ago, faced with the looming prospect of press night, the decision was taken to sack Lizzy.
Lizzy, according to Des Jordan of Animal Actors, was exhibiting some Margo Channing-like behavior: "Because Lizzy was older, she was not as fast as Rocky, so he was first to the treats," and added: "There may have been a bit of jealousy involved." Lizzy was replaced by Coco.
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Perhaps Lizzy and Montie can participate in a cross-atlantic Skype session. Meanwhile, Sunny, who plays Sandy in Annie is thinking: "Amateurs."
