Oak Speaks out on great comet controversy- Page 11

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/27/20 at 4:30pm

Love him, he has Hamilton and Shonda money, he is doing pretty damn great. 

[VotePeron]

Posted: 3/27/20 at 5:12pm

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 3/27/20 at 5:13pm

No, Oak, people didn’t love you being underprepared and unprofessional.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 3/27/20 at 5:13pm

No, Oak, people didn’t love you being underprepared and unprofessional.

[sparksatmidnight]

Posted: 3/28/20 at 10:59pm

That was in 2017???? How time flies

[kennedy_rose]

Posted: 3/30/20 at 6:59pm

Sutton Ross said: "Love him, he has Hamilton and Shonda money, he is doing pretty damn great."

Now I know why we disagree on so many things.

[jonah3500]

Posted: 4/27/20 at 6:52pm

ladypresent said: "Evreyone calm down...his point is this:

there is a difference of putting a black man into a white role and making a show about black or minorities.
ie: carousel is using a "gimmick" (oak's words) by casting a black man in the role of billy bigelow. That is the gimmick and selling point of the show. There is almost no other reason to cast a black man in this role than the gimmick and the selling of tix and Scott Rudin knows this. Josh Henry is incredibly talented, im not saying he isn't and will perform the hell out of this (probably), but the GIMMICK of him being black in a role that has ALWAYS been played by a white man will sell tix and as such ...GImmick.

Right now black actors and minorities are being used primarily as Gimmicks to get press or sell tx. Norm Lewis as the "first black man to play the phantom!! come see it!!" (eh..)

Ali Ewoldt is the first phillipinoperson to play christine come see it!! (she is the best christine i have ever seen. They should have hired her years ago)

until the actor who is hired is not seen as a gimmick to sell tix, we are deluding ourselves that race is still not an issue. So what oak is saying is that until we are done with the gimmick of this...we won't be able to move on and just cast racially blind casting or create art for just art.

(watch....in 8..12..20 years when Hamiltion starts to slow down they will re cast the whole thing white and have king george be black and people will ooh and ahh about the amazing artistic choice)

its like doing a 1776 with all women. gimmick
its like doing hamlet with a woman as hamlet...gimmick.

although i don't know if the "gimmick" works inversely.

Like if you had an all white once on this island i bet people would lose their minds and protest. Or if there was a white Lion King. I think it only works if the minority takes over the presumed constant majority's job. You wouldn't see it flipped because the PC police would go nuts"

I was reading about the controversy and this quote certainly aged well :)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 1:41am

Oak is bad. And it sucks we reward that. But such is our current climate. 

[broadway86]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 10:34am

This is all very interesting, and I'm just hearing about it... I saw Oak on what I now realize was his final performance, and thought he was great. For the people who are complaining about his Pierre, what did you think he lacked?

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 11:22am

broadway86 said: "This is all very interesting, and I'm just hearing about it... I saw Oak on what I now realize was his final performance, and thought he was great. For the people who are complaining about his Pierre, what did you think he lacked?"

It's not that his performance was lacking.  It's that he first of all, showed up to rehearsals completely unprepared and unwilling to take direction, ultimately resulting in them having to push back his start date.  And then the show was struggling so the producers had no choice but to hire a name actor in order to try to keep the show running and keep hundreds of other workers employed.  And then he tried to make it all about race, when the fact is, this happens all the time--shows have to stunt cast when their grosses are low enough if they want to keep them going.  I'm not saying it doesn't suck for him, but unfortunately that's part of the business.  And Mandy Patinkin likely would have sold enough tickets to keep the show running longer.  But alas, everyone got put out of a job instead because Oak couldn't handle it.

[Impossible2]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 11:38am

Broadway61004 said: "broadway86 said: "This is all very interesting, and I'm just hearing about it... I saw Oak on what I now realize was his final performance, and thought he was great. For the people who are complaining about his Pierre, what did you think he lacked?"

It's not that his performance was lacking. It's that he first of all, showed up to rehearsals completely unprepared and unwilling to take direction, ultimately resulting in them having to push back his start date. And then the show was struggling so the producers had no choice but to hire a name actor in order to try to keep the show running and keep hundreds of other workers employed. And then he tried to make it all about race, when the fact is, this happens all the time--shows have to stunt cast when their grosses are low enough if they want to keep themgoing. I'm not saying it doesn't suck for him, but unfortunately that's part of the business. And Mandy Patinkin likely would have sold enough tickets to keep the show running longer. But alas, everyone got put out of a job instead because Oak couldn't handle it."

Plus the fact he agreed to it and then turned around behind their backs and starting all the drama with his vile friends.

[broadway86]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 11:48am

Very interesting. I saw the production with no context, and thought he was remarkable, so I'm definitely surprised.

[Impossible2]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 12:27pm

broadway86 said: "Very interesting. I saw the production with no context, and thought he was remarkable, so I'm definitely surprised."

Well all he had to do was stand and sing as apposed to all the other Pierre's who actually played all their instruments live as well. It's not like Pierre is a massive role either, he spends most of the night sitting beside a piano watching what is going on...

[broadway86]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 3:47pm

Impossible2 said: "Well all he had to do was stand andsing as apposed to all the other Pierre's who actually played all their instruments live as well. It's not like Pierre is a massive role either, he spends most of the night sitting beside a piano watching what is going on..."

Again, no context, so I couldn't compare his musicianship to anyone else's. It's not a huge role, not that a role needs to be for a performer to excel in it, but it's not an incidental role either. There's a poignant arc, I thought he nailed it, his behavior off-stage and in the rehearsal room notwithstanding.

[raddersons]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 3:58pm

I'm not gonna lie -- this left such a sore spot for me that when Rafael Casal is recommended to me on Spotify, I immediately skip it.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 5:43pm

Recently watched the new HBO film Bad Education and it took me a bit to realize Rafael was the character Hugh Jackmans was cheating on his partner with. But I guess causing drama suits him!! Great film by the way, albeit a bit homophobic, but the story is fascinating.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 6:54pm

I have to say that I am soooooo tired of this topic.  The whole subject comes down to two things for me: (1) the producers were STUPID to think that, just because he was a member of the original cast of Hamilton, somehow that would help the box office when the show's huge huge star left.  What were they thinking?  It wasn't exactly like Hercules Mulligan was a character that people left the theatre thinking about or praising the performance; and the reason at least half of the audience was attending every performance (at least at full price) was because of that huge star  THEY WERE STUPID.  (2) The Great Comet -- which i liked, not loved, but absolutely loved the physical production and absolutely love the cast recording -- was never a show that was going to appeal to a huge audience...it was just too 'cerebral', for want to a better word.  When the mega-star attraction left, the only way they were going to survive was by either hiring another mega-star or figuring out a way to reduce the operating costs big-time.  I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that the operating costs were high enough to require great business to eek out a long run.  Given the material, that was NEVER going to happen.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 7:58pm

Jarethan said: "I have to say that I am soooooo tired of this topic. The whole subject comes down to two things for me: (1) the producers were STUPID to think that, just because he was a member of the original cast of Hamilton, somehow that would help the box office when the show's hugehuge star left. What were they thinking? It wasn't exactly like Hercules Mulligan was a character that people left the theatre thinking about or praising the performance; and the reason at least half of the audience was attending every performance (at least at full price) was because of that huge star THEY WERE STUPID. (2) The Great Comet -- which i liked, not loved, but absolutely loved the physical production and absolutelylove the cast recording -- was never a show that was going to appeal to a huge audience...it was just too 'cerebral', for want to a better word. When the mega-star attraction left, the only waythey were going to survive was by either hiring another mega-star or figuring out a way to reduce the operating costs big-time. I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that the operating costs were high enough to require great business to eekout a long run. Given the material, that was NEVER going to happen."

 

Totally agree with you on your first point. 

As for your second point - it contains its own rebuttal. You say it was "never going to happen" UNLESS they found big stars to sell tickets, but that's exactly what they did, and what they were trying to continue doing. As we all know, star-casting was, in fact, their business strategy. And for a while, it worked, and if things hadn't gone awry, it might have continued to work. So I think the show very well could have recouped if their strategy hadn't been interrupted. It might have been a long, slow road, but it could have happened.

Updated On: 4/28/20 at 07:58 PM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 8:30pm

JBroadway said: "Jarethan said: "I have to say that I am soooooo tired of this topic. The whole subject comes down to two things for me: (1) the producers were STUPID to think that, just because he was a member of the original cast of Hamilton, somehow that would help the box office when the show's hugehuge star left. What were they thinking? It wasn't exactly like Hercules Mulligan was a character that people left the theatre thinking about or praising the performance; and the reason at least half of the audience was attending every performance (at least at full price) was because of that huge star THEY WERE STUPID. (2) The Great Comet -- which i liked, not loved, but absolutely loved the physical production and absolutelylove the cast recording -- was never a show that was going to appeal to a huge audience...it was just too 'cerebral', for want to a better word. When the mega-star attraction left, the only waythey were going to survive was by either hiring another mega-star or figuring out a way to reduce the operating costs big-time. I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that the operating costs were high enough to require great business to eekout a long run. Given the material, that was NEVER going to happen."



Totally agree with you on your first point.

As for your second point - it contains its own rebuttal. You say it was "never going to happen" UNLESS they found big stars to sell tickets, but that's exactly what they did, and what they were trying to continue doing. As we allknow, star-casting was, in fact, their business strategy. And for a while, it worked, and if things hadn't gone awry, it might have continued to work. So I think the show very well could have recouped if their strategy hadn't been interrupted. It might have been a long, slow road, but it could have happened."

Don't disagree at all; of course this thread would never have existed if they had been successful in hiring a big name to replace Groban.   The irony of course is that, as good as Groban was, this was an ensemble show, and one that he did not have to carry.

This is one where I can't wait to see if they can ever figure out a way to introduce it in regional theatres, where a modest budget will be critical.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 8:51pm

I don’t think hiring Oak was meant to be star casting as you perceived it to be. The producers knew he wouldn’t sell tickets. In fact, wasn’t it noted that once Groban left the show the bulk of their advertising focused on the diversity of the ensemble and not on either of the leads? I don’t even recall them promoting Ingrid Michaelson when she was in the show. I think casting oak, the producers were betting on the possibility of winning the Tony Award. When that didn’t happen, they had to reevaluate how to sell the show. So then, they relied on star casting. It was strange they announced Oaks run so early, though.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 9:22pm

raddersons said: "I'm not gonna lie -- this left such a sore spot for me that whenRafael Casal is recommended to me on Spotify,I immediately skip it."

I'm baffled this has ever happened to anyone. What's wrong with your Spotify suggestions?

[raddersons]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 9:29pm

VintageSnarker said: "I'm baffled this has ever happened to anyone. What's wrong with your Spotify suggestions?"

Great question. A few months ago I got one song of his on a discover playlist, and all I was thinking was "why do I know this name and why do I hate it". I wonder if it's a mix of independent labels and theater that makes the algorithm think I'd be into it. Now I get one of his songs every few weeks. He won't leave me alone!

[pollster2]

Posted: 4/28/20 at 9:32pm

I can safely say that after the Great Comet debacle, I won't support anything that has Rafael Casal, Cynthia Erivo, or Oak attached to it.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 4/29/20 at 2:48pm

Ok, so, do we know as a fact that he came into rehearsals not prepared and wasn't taking direction? As in, is that a fact or  something that came through the rumor mill? I was talking to a theatre friend of mine about this. The powers that be could easily thought it would take less time than it did for him to be ready.

There was an interesting article that I read awhile back on the NPR website during all this. It never talked about the rehearsal process. But, it did mentioned a website that tweeted (prior to any of the "names" that did) that was geared to black performers. For people in that world, they were angry because, Great Comet touted its ethnically diverse cast. Yet, for whatever reason, decided to kick out Oak in favor of a white actor.

[Impossible2]

Posted: 4/29/20 at 2:56pm

Islander_fan said: "Ok, so, do we know as a fact that he came into rehearsals not prepared and wasn't taking direction? As in, is that a fact or something that came through the rumor mill? I was talking to a theatre friend of mine about this. The powers that be could easily thought it would take less time than it did for him to be ready."

Yes Dave confirmed it all in an article.