I recently found out that Aaron Tveit will be leaving Assassins earlier than scheduled due to early Graceland filming and when I came onto Tumblr I was really upset to read 90% of the posts.
I’ve seen some comments saying that people are wanting their tickets refunded, that they aren’t going to bother going any more and that his replacement isn’t going to be as good as him.
As a fan of musical theatre, I can understand how frustrating it must be if you’re one of the people that have booked specifically to see Aaron. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that his replacement Michael Xavier should be receiving the amount of judgement and prejudice that he is.
Michael Xavier is one of the most talented (and beautiful) men in musical theatre currently and I don’t think that he’s being given a fair chance. If you wanted to see Aaron then I understand that you’re going to be frustrated but that shouldn’t mean that after the news of his leaving date you should immediately want to get rid of your ticket. As we all know the show is directed by the immensely talented Jamie Lloyd, therefore you’re going to be seeing an INCREDIBLE show with or without Aaron.
I think that if you’re an individual with an Assassins ticket you should consider yourself lucky that you’re going to be seeing Michael and that in no way shape or form should you be judging a whole performance on the departure of one actor.
At the end of the day a show isn’t just one person. It’s the actors, ensemble, swings, understudies etc. You shouldn’t be casting a dark cloud over the whole show based on one person leaving.