In the play's original slick staging, going for the easy laugh was camouflaged by a starry cast.
Indeed, Miss Freni's replacement, Helen Donath, was the best singer in a starry cast.
Originally, Leonard Bernstein was to have conducted, with a starry cast of vocal principals, and the performances were to have been recorded live.
Eric Schaeffer directed a starry cast to die for that found the emotional transparency in the shadows of spectacle past.
Repositioning, or adjusting a film's appeal for the home screen, is often a necessity, especially for a movie without a starry cast or decent theatrical run.
As I sit opposite Gillian Anderson, who is part of the programme's strong and starry cast, the observation seems particularly pertinent.
With the starry cast, this figure was considered a disappointment.
The company's pitch to audiences about its new "Butterfly" went something like this: Our production may not offer a starry cast.
Too many of the actors in this impressively starry cast are reduced to shorthand characterizations.
But being part of such a starry cast can have its disadvantages.