I'm actually kind of relieved. Part of LOST's charm has been the inclusion of relatively unknown actors, which gives it more of an organic feel. Adding a bigger name from a more recent show would just seem off somehow.

Although Peter Stormare would have been awesome...

Alright, let's take this mathematically first: moving to Hawaii for 3 years to work somewhere between 40 weeks and 76 weeks over the course of those 3 years (as she is recurring, she isn't guaranteed to appear in all of the episodes) is a huge commitment of both work and travel time, especially for an actress who is attempting to simultaneously maintain a tv, film, and theater career.

Secondly, she hasn't just wanted to do Broadway: she has already worked on two well regarded Broadway shows (THE CRUCIBLE, with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, and as a lead in TOM SAWYER) as well as Off-Broadway (REEFER MADNESS).

Thirdly, I think you are ignoring the amount of interchange that occurs between Broadway and television in particular. Cynthia Nixon has been working on stage for decades (famously having simultaneously starred in two Broadway shows as a teenager) and has continued working on stage since the end of SitC. Kristen Chenowith is a lead in PUSHING DAISIES. Taye Diggs is on his third show. An entire book could be written on the use of New York/Broadway actors on LAW & ORDER and its spin-offs and not just the leads (Jesse L. Martin, Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, Dianne Wiest, S. Epatha Merkerson, etc.) but most of the guest stars and recurring characters as well. In the past few years, we've also seen numerous TV stars on Broadway: Peter Krause, Lauren Ambrose, Edie Falco, to name a few.

Her decision (if this speculation does, in fact, represent reality in any way) is no where near as "interesting" as TVSquad would have us believe.

I didn't know she did the stage version of Reefer Madness but I did catch the Showtime version (before my fiancee insisted we turn it off - she's opposed to any film that's not "normal"). Kristen was solid - given the short amount of the film I watched.

She was on Broadway doing the original reefer madness. This isn't something new to her. Do some research!

She may be more visible on Lost, but breaking into Broadway can lead to a more stable, albeit less famous career.

And being onstage is 1000000x more rewarding than acting film, let me tell you.

Anti-theatre attitude? It's TV SQUAD, not Theatre Squad, so they're not gonna be crazy about theatre are they?

Said YouFaceTheTick: "She actually wants to ACT!"

LOL

I've seen 'Legally Blonde'. I actually liked it. It was well done, about as good a good translation of a hit film to the stage as there ever was. Mostly, it was a sugary chunk of two and a half hour fun.

An acting challenge it was not.

On the other hand, as much as I enjoy this site, I too am annoyed by the anti-theatre attitude around here.

Thank you, YouFaceTheTick.

For as much as these TV Squad people watch TV, they just don't get actors.

They're not all just Paris Hiltons with more talent; not all of them became actors just so they could get rich and famous. They don't make decisions based on what will make them MORE rich and famous. They want personal fulfillment just like the rest of do, and, in general, being rich and famous is not personally fulfilling. (I'm not speaking from experience; studies of the happiness of wealthy people reveal that they're no happier and often more unhappy than a dude living in a trailer.)

seems like this could be true, she was in that Showtime movie/musical Reefer Madness right?

That's awesome. She actually wants to ACT. God forbid an actress desire acting gigs rather than cushy one-note TV on a poorly written, generic TV show that passed its prime 2 years ago. Really, if you're an actor and broadway is calling, you don't pick the jumped the shark show by the Alias guy instead.