Article from The Dallas Morning News
Thanks to Dan for this information!

Sigler leaves area role

'Cinderella' actress cites health problems

07/10/2001

By Tom Sime / The Dallas Morning News

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the Sopranos co-star who has played the title 
role in the Cinderella tour opening Tuesday at Fair Park Music 
Hall, has dropped out of the production. Health problems were the 
reason given for her departure by a tour representative. 

The role will be played in Dallas by Ms. Sigler's understudy, 
Jessica Rush. The tour's headliner is Eartha Kitt, who plays the 
fairy godmother. 

Ms. Sigler, 20, had problems with vocal strain on previous
tour dates and had canceled radio and television interviews,
apparently to rest her voice. The company had a week off
before the Dallas opening. But tour representatives
announced Monday that Ms. Sigler would not return. 

Deborah Gibson, who played Cinderella from the beginning
of the tour last November until Ms. Sigler took over in
February, will resume the role by July 24 when the musical
opens in Houston. Ms. Gibson had already planned to step back in 
because Ms. Sigler wanted to finish an album and shoot a film by 
October, when she resumes work as Meadow Soprano on the HBO 
series. 

Ms. Gibson gained fame in the late 1980s as teen pop star
Debbie Gibson, and has since become a noted stage performer. She 
may take over in Dallas during the second week of the run, which 
ends July 22. 

"She gets in next week to rehearse," said Ms. Rush, who is
one of three understudies for the Cinderella part. 

For now, Ms. Rush, a Texas native, will fill those glass 
slippers. The 20-year-old actress spent part of her childhood in 
Grand Prairie and studied acting at the Dallas Theater Center.
Her father, Ken Rush, is a former Dallas actor who appeared on 
area stages during the 1980s. 

"I've only been on three times in the eight months we've been on 
the road," Ms. Rush said Monday. "The chance to settle into the 
role will be nice." 

She said she hadn't noticed any difficulty with Ms. Sigler's 
voice. "All I know is she was having some medical problems," she 
said. The other times Ms. Rush filled in, Ms. Sigler "just called 
in. She didn't give a reason, and we don't go into that. She just 
called me and said I was on." 

Ticket-holders who want a refund should call the Dallas Summer 
Musicals box office at 214-691-7200.