Riedel on Diana Rigg being annoyed Ambrose misses Sundays- Page 9

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/9/18 at 11:44am

Benanti is being brought up because much of her reputation was gained when people were only assuming and surmising why she kept being out and leaving shows early without knowing the real deal. It's the same thing happening here really except, this is the beginning of the process with people making all sorts of assumptions about Ambrose and using their distaste for her casting and performance to support their assumptions. A lot of the assumptions and attacks on Benanti were also fueled by rumors and people talking about her performances to support those assumptions.

Updated On: 7/9/18 at 11:44 AM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/9/18 at 4:35pm

Elfuhbuh said: "because never once did I say that people who gave Ms. Ambrose a chance but ultimately didn’t like her in the role are in the wrong."

Cool. Because this is how I felt. Sure, I wanted different casting. But I spent the months leading up to the performance staying away from all chatter and promo videos trying to lower my expectations. And when I saw the show I genuinely wanted to like it. At times her singing impressed me and she was great in the book scenes but I honestly do not understand how people could be raving about her performance based on what I saw. My opinion falls in line with everyone who thought she was struggling with the music and thus not acting the part. I actually don't begrudge her an alternate, even with it being announced late but if the production continues past her contract, I would like to revisit the show with a different Eliza.

[sdrick]

Posted: 7/9/18 at 5:24pm

And with ALL due respect to the hard-working, talented Dame Diana Rigg: she has never had a role as vocally-demanding as this.

What?? Really? Let's consider 3 of her non-musical roles . . . MEDEA, MOTHER COURAGE, and Martha in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF.  We could forever debate the vocal challenges of classic theatre to Broadway show tunes.  She did these roles before everything was so heavily miked, so I'd submit, that is the greater challenge. Unfortunately, this is all detracting from Ms. Ambroses' fine performance, but she should have, as Bette Midler did, only sign a contract for a 7 or 6 day performance week, up front.  It's as if all of a sudden we a throwing in an 8 performance week.  And with all due respect to Ms. Ambrose or any of the film and TV people who aspires to take these roles . . . if you can't keep up, stay in your lane.

 

[wendy72]

Posted: 7/9/18 at 7:20pm

I'm confused. What does "stay in your lane" mean? What do you wish she had done instead? Should she have totally quit the show so someone else would take over the role completely? Should she have not agreed to do the role in the first place? (Then only people who know they can handle carrying a Broadway show should ever be cast in a starring role, and that's a catch 22!) Yes, it's unfortunate that some ticket-buyers aren't seeing the original cast and weren't informed properly, yes it's unfortunate that the cast wasn't informed properly. But she opened the show, and whether or not you think she's wonderful in it, she has now decided that she can't or won't do all 8 shows. So what would you like her to do? Muscle through and possibly injure her voice or her mental health or whatever? That seems crazy. It's a shame that she's disappointing your expectations, but so what? Maybe this conversation matters when she's being considered again for another leading role in a musical. But I imagine the next time she'll get the 7-show-week in her contract up front because now she knows what she can handle. But for this time, why is it such a disgrace?! She's a human, and a human starring on Broadway for the first time, and a human with two small children. I wish people had more compassion. 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/9/18 at 8:23pm

Should mostly theatre people stay in their lane as well?

[sdrick]

Posted: 7/9/18 at 8:40pm

I think she's a terrific actress and does very well in all she does, but she should have not signed on for 8 shows if she couldn't handle it. That's the nature of the beast and a lot of people do it. She should have signed on for a reduced schedule up front.  And I think you can figure out what a common idiom like "stay in your lane" means.

[sdrick]

Posted: 7/9/18 at 8:44pm

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Should mostly theatre people stay in their lane as well?"

Probably.

 

[wendy72]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:10pm

"she should have not signed on for 8 shows if she couldn't handle it"? That's my whole point. She *thought* she could handle it and then it turned out she couldn't. She's only human! She can't go back in time and negotiate her contract for a 7-show-week. At the time she thought she could handle 8. And when it turned out she couldn't, she scaled back. It's like everyone is giving her a hard time because when she signed onto the role she wasn't able to see into the future.

 

As I said, I wish people had more compassion. 

[DAME]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:16pm

wendy72 said: ""she should have not signed on for 8 shows if she couldn't handle it"? That's my whole point. She *thought* she could handle it and then it turned out she couldn't. She's only human! She can't go back in time and negotiate her contract for a 7-show-week. At the time she thought she could handle 8. And when it turned out she couldn't, she scaled back. It's like everyone is giving her a hard time because when she signed onto the role she wasn't able to see into the future.



As I said, I wish people had more compassion."

The only thing that needs compassion is my wallet.  Sorry.  Broadway is the big leagues .  And it doesn't matter what lane you take to get there.  But once your there.. you better deliver.    

[wendy72]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:27pm

I hear you. But let's say you do get there, and it turns out you can't deliver? Your voice is struggling and you keep getting sick? Then what? 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:29pm

Then you get Madeline Kahn-ed.

[DAME]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:36pm

Sally Durant Plummer said: "Then you get Madeline Kahn-ed."

 

EXACTLY!

 

[wendy72]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:37pm

So everyone is mad that the powers-that-be aren't just firing and replacing her? Then why so much outrage directly at Ambrose, when she's just doing the best she can in the circumstances? 

[broadway86]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:44pm

It's possible that all involved, including Lauren, initially believed that she could handle eight shows a week. She probably works continuously with a vocal coach, and she has detailed in interviews about how she keeps herself healthy and prepared for the grind. The show had an extended preview period, and it was a while into the run before she started missing. For all we know, things just got to a point where she needed that extra show off in order to be at her best for the other seven.

I don't believe it's a question of work ethic... did she ever miss during Awake and Sing or Exit the King?

Updated On: 7/10/18 at 01:44 PM

[DAME]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 1:48pm

wendy72 said: "So everyone is mad that the powers-that-be aren't just firing and replacing her? Then why so much outrage directly at Ambrose, when she's just doing the best she can in the circumstances?"

 

Who is mad?  People are just discussing and commenting.  Thats what we do here.  I have no investment in the show.  I could actually give a rats a*s.  

 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 4:18pm

DAME said: "wendy72 said: "So everyone is mad that the powers-that-be aren't just firing and replacing her? Then why so much outrage directly at Ambrose, when she's just doing the best she can in the circumstances?"



Who is mad? People are just discussing and commenting. Thats what we do here. I have no investment in the show. I could actually give a rats a*s.

"

Could have fooled me with your posting history. I missed it when you used to end every post with "Hussy".

[7thbighero]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 5:10pm

DAME said: "wendy72 said: "So everyone is mad that the powers-that-be aren't just firing and replacing her? Then why so much outrage directly at Ambrose, when she's just doing the best she can in the circumstances?"



Who is mad? People are just discussing and commenting. Thats what we do here. I have no investment in the show. I could actually give a rats a*s."

If you don’t care, why are you discussing? Just sayin

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 5:42pm

I would say, having not seen and reading many of the contributions here that there is a problem.

Surely the sensible answer would be 2/3 WEEKS of total vocal rest to see if the voice and performance can improve, and if not, 'personal problems' etc.etc.

What is the understudy like?--she couldn't be 'less' known to the general public than Ms Ambrose.

Another Julie Andrews has not been discovered, but perhaps she is just waiting in the wings for her turn.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 7/10/18 at 6:09pm

What is the understudy like?--she couldn't be 'less' known to the general public than Ms Ambrose.

That's a good point. The number of people who are seeing this production specifically for Ambrose is likely very small. She's barely a household name. Her biggest credit is a supporting role on an arty TV show that's been off the air more than a decade. She hasn't made a feature film since 2012. She's done a few small roles on Broadway and two shows with Shakespeare in the Park. We can argue about this till we're blue in the face, but the likelihood that missing Ambrose is not an unbreakable compact for most audience members.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 1:49am

How may of you here have done 8 shows a week? It's grueling. And I think, in rehearsals, you think, yeah I got this. But literally every waking moment of your day is checking the voice, checking the body, eating right to make sure you have energy, but not over eating so you don't feel gross. Even your day off isn't really a day off because it can effect the rest of your week. It's a lot. And yes, that sounds very ho-hum, but it's not like a normal job. A normal job you can slack off and give 10% and still survive, but being in a show you have to be at 100% 8x a week, and I think it can really kick a lot of people in the ass. 

That said, I liked Ambrose, but I'm curious to see her understudy. If I see it on TDF I'd def snag a ticket. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 1:58am

In my limited experience, rehearsals were more grueling than 8 shows a week. In rehearsal the tough parts are drilled over and over. Once you open, that song or that dance step you thought you'd never master only has to be done once or twice a day.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 2:21am

Dealing with an actress who had never been in a musical before, even in a feature role, it is, I think, clearly on the casting director to judge whether the actress can meet the demands of the role. 

Georgia Stitt, the wife of Jason Robert Brown, tweeted Sher, in a tweet that was probably never meant to be shared by the public, that she thought his place was in New York mediating this friction that had broken out between two of his stars. Sher was, of course, in London. He responded with one word.

Bartlett Sher‏ @bartlett_sher Jul 6

Replying to @georgiastitt

Agree

Her original tweet is no longer public. Stitt also weighed in on the controversy

Georgia Stitt‏Verified account @georgiastitt Jul 6

Oh Diana Rigg: your public response to the inner workings of your show are so disrespectful. You wanna talk about what makes Broadway special? Taking care of each other and understanding your own vocal health. Not complaining to the press & throwing your cast mate under the bus.

[Papi2013]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 9:42am

OlBlueEyes said: "Dealing with an actress who had never been in a musical before, even in a feature role, it is, I think, clearly on the casting director to judge whether the actress can meet the demands of the role.

Georgia Stitt, the wife of Jason Robert Brown, tweeted Sher, in a tweet that was probably never meant to be shared by the public, that she thought his place was in New York mediating this friction that had broken out between two of his stars. Sher was, of course, in London. He responded with one word.

Bartlett Sher‏@bartlett_sherJul 6

Replying to@georgiastitt

Agree

Her original tweet is no longer public. Stitt also weighed in on the controversy

Georgia Stitt‏Verified account@georgiastittJul 6

Oh Diana Rigg: your public response to the inner workings of your show are so disrespectful. You wanna talk about what makes Broadway special? Taking care of each other and understanding your own vocal health. Not complaining to the press & throwing your cast mate under the bus."

Talk about busy body .  Sticking her nose in something she knows nothing about .

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 9:51am

Stitt isn't wrong. Producers and possibly Ambrose handled this poorly, but Rigg made it far worse. 

[newintown]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 10:45am

"How may [sic] of you here have done 8 shows a week? It's grueling. And I think, in rehearsals, you think, yeah I got this. But literally every waking moment of your day is checking the voice, checking the body, eating right to make sure you have energy, but not over eating so you don't feel gross. Even your day off isn't really a day off because it can effect the rest of your week. It's a lot. And yes, that sounds very ho-hum, but it's not like a normal job. A normal job you can slack off and give 10% and still survive, but being in a show you have to be at 100% 8x a week, and I think it can really kick a lot of people in the ass."

Just speaking for myself, I've done 8 a week (longest run was 8 months). The situation you describe is an extreme one, and not reflective, in my opinion, of most actors' experience. Different people have different levels of strength and stamina. I knew an actress who rocked Rose, and still went out partying on 2-show days. I confess that she was the type of performer I most enjoyed working with, not the ones who moaned about the difficulty of their life. Remember when LuPone did her regular Monday night show at Les Mouches while playing Eva Peron? Listen to that recording and you'll hear a voice of iron.

Remember, Merman only said "you gotta live like a f-ing nun" about Call Me Madam, not every show she was in.

I also confess that I find a nonentity like Stitt telling off a major star like Rigg to be not only hilarious, but utterly in tune with her husband's delusions of grandeur.

Updated On: 7/11/18 at 10:45 AM