Mandy Patinkin to join THE GREAT COMET as Pierre for 3 week run!

[curel1]

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/189211/mandy-patinkin-will-return-to-broadway-in-natasha-pierre-the-great-comet-of-1812/

From Aug 15 to Sept 3.

Wonder why Oak's run is so short

[Kad]

Uh... this is.... certainly a choice.

[CorkySt.Clair]

WOW. Did not see this coming! Should be interesting though....

[ethan231h]

w o w

[JustAnotherNewYorker]

(insert required Princess Bride joke here)

OK. Guess I'm seeing this again

 

I do wonder why Oak is leaving so soon--he isn't Dave (or Josh), but Pierre isn't the most important part in the show and he does fine in it.

[ACL2006]

Maybe he was interested in the role & possibly the producers aren't exactly pleased with Oak in the role?

[IdinaBellFoster]

Also strange that Oak is ending his run late when he didn't start it as schedule either.

This is STRANGE.

[Skimbleshanks2]

MANDY PATINKIN first of all is a TALENT and a LEGEND... I WILL BE GOING!!

But let's be honest... This OAK stuff is soooo shady... first he delayed, now he cuts it short??? WHAT HAPPENED???

[trpguyy]

It's pretty simple. Oak started late because he wasn't ready, and is ending early because the producers found a bigger name to replace him. 

[Kad]

People on this board are way too eager to read into things.

[ChairinMain]

Um...so they're firing Oak. That's what happening, yes? They booked a bigger star and are firing him. I don't know there's another interpretation.

[trpguyy]

Don't know if that was aimed at me, but mine was a statement of fact, not supposition. 

[kuhset]

I wonder who will take over for Mandy + why his run is so short. 

[ChairinMain]

Does Patankin play the Piano, let alone the accordian? I can't imagine him learning on such short notice. 

[ColorTheHours048]

This is really bizarre. Both the casting and the behind-the-scenes stuff we don't know. Even if the producers are unhappy with Oak's performance, surely there's a better way to handle it than cutting his run short to only a month and change and replacing him with someone completely too old and deranged for the part. Yes, Patinkin is a legend, but that legend is based almost entirely on his younger days. And let's face it, he's not the same actor he used to be.

All of this is bizarre.

[trpguyy]

ChairinMain said: "Um...so they're firing Oak. That's what happening, yes? They booked a bigger star and are firing him. I don't know there's another interpretation."

Think of it as a paid vacation, but yeah. Also not the first time it's happened with this production. 

[CorkySt.Clair]

Oak drama notwithstanding, it's quite shrewd of Comet to have these celebrities come in for short amounts of time. Obviously people want to see the roles interpreted differently, and I hope this helps them make their run even longer. 

[darquegk]

With Criminal Minds and Homeland in recent memory, Patinkin is a bigger star to the mainstream than he was in his Broadway heyday. 

[slow_the_rain]

Yeah it wasn't Oak's choice to leave early. He, and Brittain when Ingrid came in, were both notified well after their star replacements had started rehearsing. 

[DottieD'Luscia]

This is much too bad (for Oak that is).

[JustAnotherNewYorker]

So if I'm not mistaken, Ingrid is performing through the 15th of August?

 

If so, there's one show where both are in, right?

[Rainah]

That's rough for Oak. I wonder if it's something bigger going on. He did fine in the role when I saw him, (July 14th, so one of his first shows) and the audience was eating it up (Almost the whole theatre full, extended applause after Dust and Ashes) but I will also note that both Rachel Chavkin and Dave Malloy seem to be in the theatre a lot lately. 

I don't know, it just feels like something is up

[Brave Sir Robin2]

This is fantastic, but I'm shocked to see it's such a short run. Why isn't GREAT COMET trying to get longer runs out of their stars? Still, inspired casting.

 

Also, for the next cast replacements, my dreams include Norbert Leo Butz as Pierre and Nicole Scherzinger as Helene.

[quizking101]

This is all just so flippin' weird...

[everythingtaboo]

I mean Mandy is only in the show for three weeks. Oak couldn't take a three-week holiday and come back in September? Or do they have someone lined up? Or were they just not feeling Oak after all.