: I remember interviewing Alix about her run in the late 1970’s tour of Hello, Dolly!. She played Minnie Fay and Carol Channing was reprising her role as Dolly. Alix’s sister was getting married and Alix asked if she could take off a performance to go the wedding. All was approved until right before the wedding. She was solemnly called into Carol’s dressing room by Carol’s husband, Charles Lowe, who was also Carol’s manager. Charles pointed at Carol and asked Alix if she truly was going to let this great star go on with an understudy.
Friday, November 12, 2021
How Alix Korey’s Time in Hello, Dolly! Led to Equity Rules Protecting Personal Days
Playbill
: I remember interviewing Alix about her run in the late 1970’s tour of Hello, Dolly!. She played Minnie Fay and Carol Channing was reprising her role as Dolly. Alix’s sister was getting married and Alix asked if she could take off a performance to go the wedding. All was approved until right before the wedding. She was solemnly called into Carol’s dressing room by Carol’s husband, Charles Lowe, who was also Carol’s manager. Charles pointed at Carol and asked Alix if she truly was going to let this great star go on with an understudy.
: I remember interviewing Alix about her run in the late 1970’s tour of Hello, Dolly!. She played Minnie Fay and Carol Channing was reprising her role as Dolly. Alix’s sister was getting married and Alix asked if she could take off a performance to go the wedding. All was approved until right before the wedding. She was solemnly called into Carol’s dressing room by Carol’s husband, Charles Lowe, who was also Carol’s manager. Charles pointed at Carol and asked Alix if she truly was going to let this great star go on with an understudy.
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I found the stories in this article about Alix Korey’s experience on the Hello Dolly tour and the firings happening on the Chorus Line tour in the 70s really interesting. We have learned about the creation of AEA and how actors were treated before the union, but it was really interesting to hear about some of the things that made the union rules change. Looking at the industry as a whole, I am so glad that we are pushing for change where we see it, and I am glad that has been the attitude in the industry for so many years. I do wish thought that Korey was never treated the way she was on that tour and that directors could have just fired people like that. Also this article is a little confusing, I don’t quite get it. It was about his history of the 70s then it was like an add or Seth Rudetsky’s show in December? Maybe I missed the connection.
It’s frustrating how relatable these experiences are, even now. We talk a lot about the pervading mindset where we work in this industry because we love it, which leaves us open to exploitation where other industries can’t pull the same guilty heartstrings. I hate hearing about scenarios like this where people are shamed and guilted out of their rights as employees, such as Korey’s approved absence for a legitimate reason, and I think the second scenario of dancers being afraid of being fired at will plays into that. If your job is on the line for every absence you take, regardless of if it is ‘approved’ or not, and if you can be replaced by an understudy for no reason, you’re not going to take the benefits that are afforded to you. The fear of being labelled ‘difficult to work with’ is still a fear that prevents people from speaking up about issues that occur, and is part of what the Equity contract is meant to prevent, but it’s so hard to stop in an industry that functions so much on word of mouth.
It was crazy that she was fired from my hometown, She remembers being fired from one of my very first jobs I got after college; I was asked to play second keyboard at the Darien Dinner Theatre. I was still living with my mom in the house I grew up in and I would take the LIRR to Brooklyn where I’d be picked up by fellow musicians and drive to Darien, CT. Then, after the show, they’d drive me back to the Brooklyn LIRR stop and I’d go back to Long Island. When I told my Mom we had a show on New Year’s Eve, she forbid me from being in a car on New Year’s Eve because the roads are filled with “lunatics.” Yes, I was 21 and when my mother forbid something, I listened. I told the conductor of the show that I couldn’t do the show but he didn’t tell me to get a sub. (P.S. I didn’t even know what a sub was…I had just graduated school! It was all new to me. Instead, he told me that the boyfriend of the comedic lead would be at the show and he could sit at my keyboard. That way, it would like someone was playing and no one would notice my absence. I assumed that was a normal thing to do and said I’d see him after the New Year. Well, on the day I was going to return, I got a frantic phone call from him telling me that the woman who ran the theatre figured out that there was a non-keyboard player sitting in my chair and I was therefore fired. What the-? I didn’t come up with that Lucy/Ricardo-esque scheme. Anyhoo, the good news is that even though it was the first time I was fired it definitely wasn’t the last! Wait. Why is that good news?
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