Maria

[handygran]

I have just read The Huddersfield Examiner and Emma has pulled out of the show and Connie is doing 8 shows a week.

[Neenee]

Who is Emma?

[handygran]

Emma Wilson was is a girl from Halifax who had been booked to do 2 shows a week and Connie do the other 6 shows, then after 6 months Emma was taking over completely and Connie going out. Emma had been given the part before the TV programme began .

[mightywease]

Emma Williams was originally contracted to appear in 4 out of the 8 performances a week , hence her title as 'alternate' rather than understudy. This was then reduced to 2 and with Connie proclaining she can perform in all 8 performances Ms. Williams' has, understandably, felt a little peeved that far from being an alternate she was being seen as second choice.

She was basically hired because Andrew Lloyd Webber and the other producers wanted to make sure that they had a fail safe in case the winner of "How do you solve a problem like Maria" turned out not to be up to the role. And when they did cast Connie, who appears to be very competant, Emma Williams appears to have been squeezed out.

The whole thing has a very unpleasant taste to it.

[goldenfield]

That is what you have read, mightywease, and fair enough - but is it the truth? Somehow I doubt it - if Emma Williams had a contract that said she was to do four shows a week, then the producers can not now back down from the terms of that contract. Emma Williams, it seems, only thought that she would be doing four and even with the possibility of more shows a week after Connie Fisher's contract runs out after six months, decided that she could not wait and see what happens.

[Springdouble]

Emma must have been given a pay off in lieu, but I can't see Mr Toad allowing Connie to sing on 8 shows as she will burn herself out in weeks, never mind months, she must be one arrogant young lady to even contemplate it, and a greedy bitch to boot.

[goldenfield]

You are so lovely, aren't you, Springdouble? You do not know what you are talking about but have to come here and show everybody what a mean spirited, ignorant person you are!

[Backdrifter]

goldenfield I don't fully understand your last but one post. If she knew all along she'd be doing 4 a week for 6 months minimum, I don't get why she'd be waiting to see what happens.

I don't know where the alleged 4 to 2 to understudy progression has come from - the official statement from the producers just said Williams had "withdrawn" after being originally booked for the 4 a week. So at the moment we don't really know for sure what happened.

[goldenfield]

Backdrifter - Emma Williams was given (to all accounts) a twelve month contract, unlike Connie Fisher who was only given a six month contract. The big question in my mind, as I stated in that post, is was Emma given a contract in which it was stated she would do four shows a week or did the contract say she would do the number of shows the producers wanted her to do? If she WAS given four shows a week, why did she simply not hold the producers to that contract?

If you can provide a statement from the producers that proves that Emma was contracted to do four shows a week, I'd love to see it as, at the moment, Emma Williams comes across to me as a rather spoilt young lady who was not prepared to bide her time on a �2,000 a week contract for six months - after which time there seems to have been a likelihood that she would have been given more shows per week.

[Backdrifter]

I just checked back and you're right - the statement I read before didn't in fact specify a number of shows per week.

Seems to me there could be a number of reasons Williams withdrew but that many people are assuming it's some sort of attitude problem. Some might argue that performing possibly just a few shows a week for �2,000 is itself somewhat "spoilt". Perhaps she feels that her career demands more than "biding her time" and that other offers, involving full-time work, beckoned. I'd understand that for a young up-and-coming performer it'd be preferable to opt for something with more certainty.