"She Was Terrifying": 8 Times Actors And Production Members Were Called Out By People From The Theater Industry

While some costars reach Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo levels of friendship, others absolutely loathe working with each other. These kinds of behind-the-scenes feuds aren't limited to behind the screen.

Here are 8 times actor called out their theater costars, production members, and peers:

1.In 2016, Laura Benanti costarred with Zachary Levi in a Broadway run of She Loves Me. In 2024, she told That's a Gay Ass Podcast, "I never liked him. Everyone was like, 'He's so great!' And I was like, 'No, he's not. He's sucking up all the fucking energy in this room.'"

2.In 2024, Sarah Paulson told the Smartless podcast, "The last time I was on stage, I did a play called Talley's Folly at the Roundabout and the actress — and I'm going to say this, and I'm not going to ask you to cut this out, because I don't fucking care — this actress came to the play. Her name is Trish Hawkins — Hi, Trish! Hi, Trisha! — Trish Hawkins came to the play. Am I going to get sued? I don't care because I think this is outrageous...[Backstage] she looked at me up and down, and then she went, 'Your dress is yellow. Mine was pink.' And I thought, 'What?'"

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Trish originated the role of Sally Talley — the part Sarah was playing — in the 1979 off-Broadway debut of Talley's Folley.

Sarah continued, "[A few days later] I got an email that was six pages long of notes and a communication to me about what she had done when she had done the play, what she recommended I do. It was outrageous. It was really outrageous...Trish Hawkins, I have not forgotten it, and I hope to see you never."

3.Kecia Lewis currently stars in Hell's Kitchen, which shares a wall with the current production of The Roommate featuring Patti LuPone. In a 2024 Instagram post, Kecia shared an "open letter" to Patti. She said, "Ms. LuPone, I understand that there have been a couple of situations that have gone on in the last few weeks that I want to address. The first one is that you contacted our theater owner about changing a couple of our sound cues because you found them to be too loud. You also, after our sound design was adjusted, sent flowers to our sound and stage management team thanking them. Another thing that I'm aware of is that you dismissed publicly signing a fan's Hell's Kitchen playbill because...'they're too loud.'"

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Kecia continued, "I wanted to address this because, Ms. LuPone, these actions, in my opinion, are bullying. They're offensive. They're racially microaggressive. They're rude. They're rooted in privilege, and these actions also lack a sense of community and leadership for someone, as yourself, who has been in the business as long as you have."

She explained that racial microaggressions are "subtle, unintentional comments or actions that convey stereotypes, biases or negative assumptions about someone based on their race."

She said, "In our industry, language holds power and shapes perception, often in ways that we may not immediately realize. Referring to a predominantly Black Broadway show as 'loud' can unintentionally reinforce harmful stereotypes, and it also feels dismissive of the artistry and the voices that are being celebrated on stage.

...On Broadway, we are not just neighbors, Ms. LuPone, we're a community that shares in each other's artistry and challenges. Respect and collaboration are what keep us thriving and inspire the next generation."

You can watch her full video here.

4.Lea Michele originated the role of the Little Girl in Ragtime in Toronto in 1996 then played the role on Broadway in 1997. In a since-deleted 2020 tweet, her understudy, Elizabeth Aldrich, reportedly said, "She was absolutely awful to me and ensemble."

5.In 1967, Maya Angelou reportedly auditioned for the role of Pearl Bailey's understudy in Hello, Dolly! In 2017, Guy Johnson, Maya's son, told American Masters – Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, "For my mother, it would have meant living continuously in New York without leaving me for at least a year, and it was regular money. The director and the producer both loved her. But Pearl Bailey came back and said, 'Oh no — I ain't gonna have this big old ugly girl be my understudy.'"

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He said, "There are very few times in my life I remember my mother crying. Because this meant she had to go back on the road and find other work. It was devastating because I knew all the sacrifices my mother made to keep me.”

6.In 2013, Alec Baldwin and Shia LaBeouf were cast in Orphans on Broadway. The following year, Alec told Vulture, "Getting back onstage seemed like a good idea. I loved Lyle Kessler’s play and was anxious to work with director Dan Sullivan. Then Shia LaBeouf showed up. I’d heard from other people that he was potentially very difficult to work with, but I always ignore that because people say the same thing about me. When he showed up, he seemed like a lot of young actors today — scattered, as he was coming from making six movies in a row or whatever. There was friction between us from the beginning."

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He continued, "LaBeouf seems to carry with him, to put it mildly, a jailhouse mentality wherever he goes. When he came to rehearsal, he was told it was important to memorize his lines. He took that to heart and learned all his lines in advance, even emailing me videos in which he read aloud his lines from the entire play. To prove he had put in the time. (What else do you do in jail?) I, however, do not learn my lines in advance. So he began to sulk because he felt we were slowing him down. You could tell right away he loves to argue. And one day, he attacked me in front of everyone. He said, 'You're slowing me down, and you don't know your lines. And if you don't say your lines, I'm just going to keep saying my lines.'

We all sat, frozen. I snorted a bit, and, turning to him in front of the whole cast, I asked, 'If I don't say my words fast enough, you're going to just say your next line?' I said. 'You realize the lines are written in a certain order?' He just glared at me.

So I asked the company to break. And I took the stage manager, with Sullivan, to another room, and I said one of us is going to go. I said, 'I'll tell you what, I'll go.' I said, 'Don't fire the kid, I'll quit.' They said, 'No, no, no, no,' and they fired him. And I think he was shocked. He had that card, that card you get when you make films that make a lot of money that gives you a certain kind of entitlement. I think he was surprised that it didn't work in the theater."

7.When Patti LuPone was at Julliard, John Houseman was the drama division's founding director, and they also worked together when she was in the Acting Company's repertory troupe, which he co-founded. In 2019, she told the New York Times, "John Houseman used to call me 'flannel mouth.' You don't know, when you're in the moment, that you're not enunciating. As an audience member, I can understand the problem...In some of my performances, I was oblivious to that; I was busy emoting. Apparently, when I was doing Three Sisters, John Houseman wanted to yell at me about my diction. They kept him away from me until he literally strangled me."

8.And finally, in 1994, Andrew Lloyd Webber infamously fired Patti LuPone from the role of Norma Desmond — which she originated on the West End — paid her off with $1 million, and recast her with Glenn Close in the Broadway debut of Sunset Boulevard. This decision launched a decades-long feud between Andrew and Patti.

What's the biggest Broadway and professional theater feud or scandal you've ever heard about? Tell us in the comments!