The Final Nail

Memories, like so many old Playbills, flooded my mind when I read all the uproar over the casting of Tom Cruise as Lestat in “Interview With the Vampire,” and the subsequent suggestions (read “demands”) that other actors get the part instead (Letters, Aug. 29 and Sept. 6).

I myself have been the subject of such casting controversies.

When cast as Prince Charming in my elementary school’s production of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” my classmates were outraged. But when the curtain fell, the girls swooned and the boys wept.

When cast as Jethro in my high school’s production of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” many students threatened to cut homeroom. In the end, I took the part to a new level, upping the ante for actors everywhere.

Tom: If I can do it, so can you. Break a tooth.

ANDREW LEIST

Culver City

We’re closing the lid on this subject by noting three final readers’ suggestions for the casting of Lestat: Sting, Jonathan Pryce and the “sinewy, androgynous” Jimmie (J.J.) Walker.