Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
She never signed and returned her contracts or even submitted a W-2?! Never heard of a company letting someone start work without returning those documents.
And the direct deposit for that $555 a week - how was this woman able to feed her three kids?! Bet they held her checks back.
I was confused about the unsigned documents, too. How was she allowed to start working?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
It's not uncommon to start rehearsals without contracts signed. They are usually given out the first day. But indeed, some stage manager or employee from CSC should have reminded her, no question. As for the money, I am sure she was fine. Her husband is Patrick McEnroe, tennis sportscaster (and brother of John McEnroe). Not insinuating they are uber rich, but I think they are fine. It's all very unfortunate, really. I thought the three leads in PASSION were really great. No doubt there are probably two sides to this story, so we'll never really know.
It says to wait till blog 5 for the rest of the story, but I tried getting there the old-fashioned way (i.e., replace "4" in the linked URL with "5") and it's password-protected. Does this mean we don't get to see the other half, or it's not ready yet, or what?
I'm confused what the issue is. They replaced her because she couldn't perform?
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
I gave up after a couple of sentences, and she's added another part. Fark me!
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
I feel for her as it seems this production was very important to her but I think it is silly for her to play the victim here. There were TWO WEEKS left in the run.
I cracked up at the photo caption stating she doesn't understand a direct deposit form. If she never filled out a W-4 I'd imagine she never actually got paid as they wouldn't know how to tax her.
She didn't fill out a W4 or I9? That's illegal. How does she file taxes? There is definitely actions that were taken without her knowledge or understanding. It's impossible to pay someone with their tax documents, so she must have signed them at some point.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
They can't not pay her. I believe that they have to take out the maximum taxes out of the check, however.
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.
Errico was clearly paid as she states how much she earned every week after agent commissions early in the blog post. As others have said, they probably just deducted the maximum possible deductions from her check.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
^You're right, it's just processed as if they claimed no exemptions. I just find it weird that nobody in Payroll thought to investigate further. OR They went to her with another set of forms and she just kept the original blank forms.
I cracked up at the photo caption stating she doesn't understand a direct deposit form. If she never filled out a W-4 I'd imagine she never actually got paid as they wouldn't know how to tax her.
I always have to ask someone for help whenever I fill out a W-4, but a direct deposit form is the easiest pre-employment form to complete.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
I'm sure the fact of her being paid isn't the main thrust of her blog.
It's kind of worth reading the whole thing-- incredibly honest and naked tale of that one terrible day when she got the news. I think it's immaterial that there were only 2 weeks left in the run. (There was also the cast recording to consider, which would be the permanent record of the show for posterity.) I feel for her, particularly since I saw her shine in that early press performance that was posted on BWW, but missed seeing her full onstage performance when I went to the show. No disrespect to Amy Justman, but in the show I saw, the part of Clara was a marked weakness in the dynamic of the show's triangle. I hope one day I get to hear Melissa Errico have another shot at the part.
I'm confused. If she was fired and let go from the company, what was all of that nonsense of pushing back the cast recording for HER? Did they intend for her to record the part after firing her??/
ljay, if you read her earlier blogs, she says the initial postponement of the cast recording happened prior to her firing. Since she claims she was well enough vocally to go back into the show before the end of the run, it's clear now that the decision to ultimately replace her for the recording with Rebecca Luker later on was made due to the circumstances surrounding Errico's "departure" from the show, not her vocal health.
I can almost guarantee that her anger over being left off the recording is what has spurned her to out this whole story publicly, since she could have otherwise let people continue to believe that her not going back into the show was entirely medically related.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
I, too, just read the rest of her blog. When I made my earlier comment I did not realize that the cast recording was still a factor.
Her understanding of Clara was truly remarkable and her dedication to the piece really shows through in her writing. It's a shame that she didn't get to record it but you have to look at it objectively. In any other workplace, if someone is out of the job for an extended period of time, you have to promote someone to get the job done. Amy stepped in when Melissa couldn't and that's life.
Oh my God. I read the first paragraph and quit. Jesus Christ. Comparing herself to a "good little deaf girl" was a bit much. I stopped there.
"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
Her blog says she was paying $950 a week for strobes. If that's what I think they are (meaning I searched the internet and I think it has something to do with reiki - but it's different from "heart-healing" whatever that is). So yeah, it sounds like money's not a problem.
I feel for her on one hand, but one the other I laughed at her for seemingly being flummoxed by a direct deposit form, but if I read all that and the seemingly GOOD stuff is on an enrypted page, then I can't say I have too many f*cks to give.
Also,I have to confess, after that Aaron Tveit thread fracas, I'm not sure what performers are considered acceptable to speak of in nothing but glowing terms.