Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
#1Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:55am
He basically blames the world for not appreciating the show, neglecting the fact the show just... wasn't very good.
He manages to cite the Iggy Azalea cultural appropriation controversy (neglecting the fact the show's bookwriter is a white male), the fact that audiences prefer stories like Rocky (not mentioning it is also a flop), and suggests people were gunning for the show before it even opened (when, in fact, many people were optimistic, though unsure of how well it could do).
'It Was Going to Be an Uphill Battle'
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Updated On: 7/23/14 at 09:55 AM
evic
Broadway Star Joined: 3/5/04
#2Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:59amHe is so out of touch- someone tell him that Rocky was a big flop also. Maybe he can tour with the show somewhere.
#2Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:28am
I like how they blame TKTS for telling people it's a bit of a downer and got bad reviews, aren't both of those things true?
Don't people typically look at the list in advance and figure out what to buy on their own? No wonder that line is so slow if they are jawing about shows once they get up there...
Updated On: 7/23/14 at 10:28 AM
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#3Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:34amHe's obviously never been to a Broadway show if thinks getting standing ovations means anything.
#4Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:37am
Poor thing. But a totally American attitude that the failure of the project rests completely on other people, not those who created the inferior/unwanted product.
It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#5Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:49amI gotta hand it to the producers of HOLLER for doing everything they could to keep HOLLER open. I didn't see it, as it just didn't look interesting to me, but in an age where Wall Street-bred producers just close a show if the reviews are poor, they worked hard. Yeah, the actor seems bent out of shape but it's part of the actor's job to fall in love with the show he's doing.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#6Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:59amHe's an Actor whose show is closing. He believed in the show so he has to look for someone to blame. But if you are gonna speak out about it in a national publication, first do some homework (the ROCKY thing). People will respect your opinion more if you know what you are talking about.
#7Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:59amI worked with Saul a few years back. He's not a pleasant person.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#8Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:01amStanding ovations are EVERYTHING. Sondheim gave HEATHERS a standing ovation and now that show is moving to broadway!
dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#9Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:07amWhy didn't they do an out of town tryout at Alliance or out in LA somewhere? That might have done the show a world of good. He blames everyone but himself and the fact that the production wasn't Broadway ready.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#10Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:12amRocky is stealing everybody's business. That's why Crumbs closed.
Twitter @NamoInExile
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#11Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:14amWhen people blame the world for the failure of their sh!tty show it's childish and petty. Make a real edgy rap-based musical that's good and people will go. The world isn't scared of rap music.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#12Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:16amThanks to DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince.
Twitter @NamoInExile
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#13Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:20amI bet if HOLLER and BULLETS switched casts, their shows would live forever.
#14Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:20am
A show someone somewhere enjoyed closed, so I'm never seeing theater again.
you see the logic OK? agree to disagree different strokes
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES
VotePeron
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/2/13
#15Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 12:52pmThis infuriates me. My problem with the show has nothing to do with the fact that it is rap, hip hop, or different. My problem with the show is that it's not done well. The storytelling is crap, and nothing seems to fit. That is why this show failed. Not because people don't want to see something different - they do. They just want to see something different and GOOD.
neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#16Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 1:10pm
^ Yup.
Isherwood's piece actually explains the problem rather well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/theater/closing-of-holler-if-ya-hear-me-raises-questions.html
"In truth, the problem with “Holler” wasn’t really the music at all, but the ham-handed, sentimentalized story line concocted to underpin it. I tended to perk up during the musical numbers, which capitalized on the forceful rhythms of Shakur’s raps, layered over music that often had a strong melodic core. Then I’d sink back into my seat when the clichéd narrative ground back into gear, telling us what we already knew about the travails of young black men in the ghetto, trying to resist the toxic environment to forge viable futures for themselves. The characters — the ex-con trying to go straight, the drug lord beginning to question the path he’d chosen — were underwritten and familiar, and while the cast members were strong, there was little they could do to imprint any true originality on the material."
But look, the Holler team is looking for someone to blame. And they won't blame themselves. So they can blame white America.
#17Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 1:21pm
"I tended to perk up during the musical numbers, which capitalized on the forceful rhythms of Shakur’s raps, layered over music that often had a strong melodic core."
I love when musical illiterates try to write analytically about music.
#18Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 1:36pm
Holler tried so hard to be preachy when it had no message to...well...Holler. Tupac deserved better.
So to you Saul Williams, I say shut up.
#19Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:11pm
Wait. Did Saul Williams really say THIS:
America's been on the wrong side of history lots of times. We were allies with Germany until Charlie Chaplin came out with The Great Dictator and then we were like, 'Holy F*CK' and we switched sides.
We were allies with Germany?
Huh?
#20Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:29pmOh my. Many actors should simply never speak unless they've had their lines written for them.
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#21Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:35pmI'm with Isherwood - the score was not the problem but that book was DOA. I'm surprised that a pro like Leon couldn't help Kreidler shape it into something more viable.
#22Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:36pmWell, Leon is a competent-at-best director.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
FishermanBob
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/9/12
#23Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:37pmHe's just pissed that his parents didn't name him something cooler than "Saul".
#24Saul Williams on the Closing of Holler
Posted: 7/23/14 at 2:37pm
"America's been on the wrong side of history lots of times. We were allies with Germany until Charlie Chaplin came out with The Great Dictator and then we were like, 'Holy F*CK' and we switched sides."
Sounds like he could do Drunk History sober.
