i don't understand it! There are PLENTY of BROADWAY actors who have done and would to do those roles, and instead he is picking mainstream pop stars and Disney kids!! I think it is a poor decision on his part and am very disappointed!
Making bank? Also, there ARE Broadway actors in it.
Mark, Roger, Angel, and Joanne are being played by actors who have been on broadway. Plus...Gwen Stewart.
Formally Stews_Bitch:::
Shows in the 2010 Season for me. 101 Dalmations tour - Jan 24th, Xanadu Tour - Mar 9th and 10th, Wicked - May 14th, Legally Blonde - June 12th:::::::Upcoming - South Pacific, Young Frankinstein (Two Cities) Rock of Ages (Two Cities) Shrek (3 Cities) Les Mis, DreamGirls, Spring Awakening, Color Purple, and 9 to 5!
Actually, Nicole is very talented-she is a strong vocalist and dancer. She should be Mimi. Also, Nicole is very A-list now with her DWTS win-she will sell tickets and Vanessa is still very popular with the tweens who will ask mom and dad for tickets. I'm not saying I love the casting, but its pretty sound for selling seats. Wayne Brady is very popular and well known-people really do love him.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
One just won a reality competion - like it or not, that gives her a kind of name at the very least. I wonder if Neil will give the direction and concept a new spin or if it will be mostly just a tweaked version of the original.
Neil being in the show previously has nothing to do wih it
Lizzie
I do not plan to waste my time nor money.
Everyone pointing out money being a leading factor in the decisions has pretty much summed up my thought. Sacrificing art for the dollar is sad. A slightly talented tween star and a Pussycat doll. We should just have Madonna play Maureen and Cher play Mimi, and why not Tina Turner as Joanne. Now that would be a show and would rake in the bucks
He is directing a 2 day concert... in LA. What exactly are you expecting here? This is a concert that isn't truly even geared toward the typical Broadway audience in the first place. You are likely to have never made it to the concerts in the first place, so why do you even care?
I have attended several events at the bowl and was looking forward to this one until the casting came out. I could understand the crowds they are trying to attract like for their Grease sing along event, but RENT in concert seems to me to draw broadway fans who know and love the show, not your everyday bowl subscribers. don't get me wrong, i am no "reant head" if that's what they are even called, but I am a broadway fan who loves to see works put out with amazing casts. I just think they are missing out on something great here by not using the talents BROADWAY has to offer, not HOLLYWOOD. Even with the bowl's Les MIs,I mean what a great cast (minus Rosie)
Just because YOU don't like the casting, doesn't mean it won't work. Maybe that's why he's a professional and you are an audience member. It just might be wonderful.
You certainly have your right to your opinion (and maybe it will suck) but you are missing the point of the Hollywood Bowl concert.
And based on the comments here, it doesn't look like too many other folks agree with your assessment.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Have you never been to a board where people don't agree? MANY times on here people have questioned casting and such. A lot of times these people are right.
Don't talk down to people just for saying what they think. It has nothing to do with Neil being the professional. WTF are you even talking about.
Your comment made it look like you've never read a BWW thread before. Did you expect every response to agree with the original poster? Come on now...
I told the poster he was right to have an opinion. I even told him he might be right that the choices might be poor ones. I just pointed out that MOST folks here didn't agree with him.
OF COURSE, people don't agree...so explain YOUR post telling me I shouldn't say what I did?
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Hollywood Bowl has been dead to me since they cast Jessica Biel as Brian Stokes Mitchell's love interest. They were teetering on the edge with Jan as Fantine. This is nothing.
I'm a huge Rent fan. Probably more so than many of the people expressing outrage in response to this. And in all honesty, I don't care. If these stuntcast Hollywood performers bring any life to these characters, it will be an improvement over many of the Broadway actors in Rent of late whom you're touting as superior.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never
knowing how
I love how every time somebody remotely famous is cast in a Broadway musical, everybody has a fricking conniption.
No, no, you're all right, though. I mean, for God's sakes, look at all the stunt casting disasters that have happened:
Reba McEntire in Annie Get Your Gun Antonio Banderas in Nine Harvey Fierstein in Fiddler on the Roof Toni Braxton in Beauty and the Beast and Aida Fantasia in The Color Purple Clay Aiken in Spamalot Melanie Griffith in Chicago Ana Gasteyer in Wicked Deborah Gibson in Gypsy and Beauty and the Beast
Scherzinger was a theatre major in college where she played leads in Chicago and Show Boat. Chill.