BREAKING: Mandy Patinkin Withdraws from THE GREAT COMET

[LxGstv]

BlackElleWoods said: "ACL2006 said: "Cynthia Erivo needs to stay off of Twitter. She's probably losing some fans for what she's posting and, at least for me, losing a lot of respect.

 

"

Me ! I had to unfollow her a while back she's very problematic & I was a HUGE fan 

 

"

Agreed. Unfortunately she does gets a lot of hate on twitter so I don't blame her for defending herself and sometimes having an attitude, that's totally understandable, but when she made a big deal on the Glenn Close statement about Mother's Day... it was so uncalled for...

[falsettoswasrobbed]

it's going to hard to get a "big name" for ANYONE at this point. before this whole mess, i was concerned about who's going to replace lucas. now, he probably won't have a replacement.

maybe they should look for a big name to do a different character. at the end of the day, they practically have dave malloy on call, as well as the amazing standby and two perfectly capable understudies.

[HogansHero]

it's moot. there will be no show waiting for them.

[CorkySt.Clair]

Really eloquent response from a Great comet cast member: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Sunday-Update-THE-GREAT-COMETs-Azudi-Onyejekwe-Addresses-Casting-Controversy-20170730

[Nicole7579]

CorkySt.Clair said: "Really eloquent response from a Great comet cast member: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Sunday-Update-THE-GREAT-COMETs-Azudi-Onyejekwe-Addresses-Casting-Controversy-20170730

 

"

I was just coming to post this. I thought this was a great response taking into account all that's happened in the last few days. 

[schubox]

Yeah he tweeted that out a day or two ago. Malloy and Oak both retweeted it 

[MVintheheartland]

I just wish I knew if the show will even be running on August 27 when I have a ticket. (I was planning on seeing Oak, not MP)

And maybe somebody can tell me exactly how many tweets were "outraged"? Enough to call this whole thing off? I am thinking of all the actors in Great Comet who are now out of a job. 

 


 

[LxGstv]

MVintheheartland said: "I just wish I knew if the show will even be running on August 27 when I have a ticket. 

 

 

"

Right? Or who will be playing Pierre... the lack of announcement is making me worried...

[ACL2006]

I feel the producers are trying to figure out what to do ASAP. As of now, they have no one to play Pierre after August 13. It's either they find someone immediately or the show closes on August 13. I can't imagine anyone wanting to take over the role considering the mess the show is going through now.

[Margo319]

The theater will be black, so you don't need to worry.  

[BroadwayConcierge]

Alternatively, they could keep the show running, but when the cast sings "What about Pierre?," just nobody appears.

[hmph]

CorkySt.Clair said: "Really eloquent response from a Great comet cast member: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Sunday-Update-THE-GREAT-COMETs-Azudi-Onyejekwe-Addresses-Casting-Controversy-20170730

"

What kills me here is that no one was asking the rest of the Great Comet cast what they thought. There are so many GC people chiming in on Twitter and Facebook now, but one (Blaine Krauss, himself a POC) tweeted that he "felt drowned out and unwelcome in this convo," which is insane. I not sure if anyone other than Groban and Malloy really participated in the initial Twitter sh*tstorm, but a fair amount of cast members tweeted out after the fact, and they were mainly all in agreement that this was a business decision that didn't directly have anything to do with race. Celia Mei Rubin also responded on Facebook indicating that replacements are a fact of life in show business. How much of that is knowing which side of their bread is buttered, I don't know, but in the end they are smart enough to recognize that no show is perfect but this one is certainly a standout, with respect to representation.

Like, who the heck is Rafael Casal to stir up this sh*tstorm? It seems like he went buckwild the day of, then came back down to earth once Dave Malloy and the producers finally had to admit that Oak is not a name and did not fill seats. Some people want to give the hivemind a pass on their stupidity, but this guy is at least peripherally in the business. He should know better. I do find this thread hilarious:

https://twitter.com/ldotlawson/status/890702664509607936

He certainly gets called out and then has nothing of substance to say. Then he has the gall to say to a black woman "my privilege allows me to draw attention to something that was going unnoticed. Now it's a conversation, that was the goal. Discuss" as if this was brand new information and no one, not even a black woman, had ever thought of anything like it! He also tweeted out Denée Benton's retweet of Azuki's post. Like, where is the self awareness? The apology to the rest of the cast? The explanation of who the heck he is in this life?

Also, when Rafael Casal tweets out "Better question - what makes you think they didn't try? What does silence tell you?" when someone asks why they didn't interview Oak instead of him, that kind of leads me to believe Oak knew what was going on and at least agreed with some of what Casal was tweeting out. Just such a weird, stupid situation right now.

[froote]

I actually think anyone that stepped into the role of Pierre now would be applauded for helping to save the show. No one wants to see the show close, not even those that started the intense backlash. Not saying it will happen but I don't think it's a bad career decision (providing they're a big enough name).

[JBC3]

Again, Erivo no more needs to get off Twitter than people here need to quit suggesting she does so. Stop trying to silence her because you do not like her opinion or feel she may be harmed by her opinions. She has agency and is making choices she no doubt is comfortable with.

[froote]

Erivo can of course tweet what she likes and people in the industry can judge for themselves whether they're interested in working with her. She's already publicly argued with and alienated a number of her former West End co-stars and peers on Twitter, who think her ego has now outsized her talent. If she wants to do the same with those on Broadway and in Hollywood then she can carry on.

[Nicole7579]

schubox said: "Yeah he tweeted that out a day or two ago. Malloy and Oak both retweeted it 

 

"

Interesting because people on here accused Oak of being silent when he's retweeted a few responses like these as far as I can tell. 

From what I saw on twitter it wasn't a huge backlash at least compared to other things but I guess to the theater community it was large. Esp with the community being so small. 

Anyways the producers would've had an issue regardless after Labor Day because it doesn't seem like they had a replacement lined up. So this just moved up the dire situation by several weeks 

[RippedMan]

It's a nicely put response, but it's still making the issue about race, and it's not a racial issue. 

[Nicole7579]

I don't think that was his point. I think he was saying that the optics looked bad and he gets why people jumped to that conclusion. But that the hive mind scapegoated one of the most diverse Broadway shows running right now. i think his point was that race is always an issue even on Broadway but this show is not one that one can claim is not committed to diversity. 

[spidernight]

i didnt like his response. I thought an ideal response would be something like "what happened to Oak sucks but it was caused by our financial situation sucking. Our composer and director aren't racists, just people trying to keep the show alive" rather than saying race is always relevant (no, it really isn't always relevant), and that Malloy and Chavkin are flawed people who have tried very hard to overcome their prior failings (?)..

[LxGstv]

Oak only retweeted support for the show well after announcing he was done with it and Mandy had dropped out as well... by then the damage was done.

And on his Instagram where he announced he was done with the show, he did acknowledge he was aware of the backlash the show was receiving, otherwise he wouldn't have put #thehomiesrolldeep or #thefansmaderoom.

[schubox]

ACL2006 said: "I feel the producers are trying to figure out what to do ASAP. As of now, they have no one to play Pierre after August 13. It's either they find someone immediately or the show closes on August 13. I can't imagine anyone wanting to take over the role considering the mess the show is going through now.

 

"

Yeah I imagine they're scrambling to either beg Patinkin back, or have a big name start real soon. Or, more likely, accepting the inevitable and preparing to close 

[hmph]

LxGstv said: "Oak only retweeted support for the show well after announcing he was done with it and Mandy had dropped out as well... by then the damage was done.

And on his Instagram where he announced he was done with the show, he did acknowledge he was aware of the backlash the show was receiving, otherwise he wouldn't have put #thehomiesrolldeep or #thefansmaderoom.

"

I'm still trying to figure out what Rafael Casal meant when he tweeted "Better question - what makes you think they didn't try? What does silence tell you?" in response to a question regarding why he was interviewed and not Oak. Is that pretty much confirmation that he was acting as Oak's mouthpiece and/or that Oak agreed with everything Casal was irresponsibly tweeting/saying?

[LxGstv]

hmph said: "LxGstv said: "Oak only retweeted support for the show well after announcing he was done with it and Mandy had dropped out as well... by then the damage was done.

And on his Instagram where he announced he was done with the show, he did acknowledge he was aware of the backlash the show was receiving, otherwise he wouldn't have put #thehomiesrolldeep or #thefansmaderoom.

"

I'm still trying to figure out what Rafael Casal meant when he tweeted "Better question - what makes you think they didn't try? What does silence tell you?" in response to a question regarding why he was interviewed and not Oak. Is that pretty much confirmation that he was acting as Oak's mouthpiece and/or that Oak agreed with everything Casal was irresponsibly tweeting/saying?

 

"

I didn't see that tweet... but I would have to say your assumption sounds about right in my opinion...

[froote]

Assumptions are great.

[mullein]

Random thought: I wonder if they ever looked into casting a "celebrity" as Mary, since Gelsey Bell is actually (unlike Brittain was) away for other obligations through July and August? Did it never occur or was it a fruitless search? It just seems like a missed opportunity.

[GeorgeandDot]

^It's probably too small a part to attract a name.