King and I reviews?

With all due respect Greg, that's a load of rubbish. You're saying the complaints were about the performances of the understudies, which is a lie. One of the complaints about the MISCASTING of ONE unfortunate actor - the director's fault. And one of the understudies wasn't sacked! Why? Because the lead for the role couldn't handle the demands of all the performances. Another bit of perfect casting!

As I said I have full support for the MS society because of my mum, but three people does not constitute too many complaints. Dave reduced a young performer to tears by essentially blaming her and another understudy for what was actually the fault of the director and MD. The performances had sold well anyway, no one wasn't going to buy tickets because of three, yes 3!!!! complaints.

You want some legitimate complaints by someone who has been a professional on over 30 plays? Well here goes. The audience was paying prices as high as WASO for what was essentially an amateur performance, and believe me the so called 'paid professionals' in the show were CARRIED by these understudies in the performance I saw. The orchestra was sub-par, the stage managers messed up placement of props and lighting made errors. And to top it all off I was told that no one's job was specifically to control the kids - the actors sometimes ended up having to get them in position. Clearly the director and MD weren't up to the task.
They expect the actors, who donate hours and hours of their time and talent, saving the society tens of thousands of dollars, to 'donate' $20 to MS for the privilege of being used. Then they charge them for a program. Then they charge exorbitant prices for photos of the show. There is a fine line between fundraising and exploitation.

If Dave's heart is so heavy he should do the right thing and reinstate the understudies. Let me tell you that tickets will be lost because of annoyed relatives of understudies, and the talent will never support MS again. I can tell you every person I heard talking about the show I went to loved the understudies.

I would again like to give my support to all of the wonderful kids involved and this takes nothing away from them. The fact that beaurocracy and ignorance can be allowed to interfere with talented young volunteers is a disgrace.