Riedel on Diana Rigg being annoyed Ambrose misses Sundays- Page 5

[SmokeyLady]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:02pm

SmoothLover said: "Rigg should have kept her mouth shut. Her public comments supported the old stereotype that women are incapable of supporting one another. Even her nicer comments to Riedel were backhanded.

"

Except they weren’t public comments . 

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:03pm

When she released a statement to Riedel, they became public. 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:04pm

I knew this thread would be used for some critics of Ambrose to bash her performance. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea and I do think there is valid criticism there even though I loved her performance. That said, in the end, Sher's gamble did pay off as Ambrose received an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony nomination when there were other women who could have received one for the role not mention she received some of the most glowing reviews of the season. Sure you can point to one or two so-so or bad ones, but the vast majority were singing her praises. Again, I'm not saying you're not allowed to hate her performance, but in the end she wasn't a bust whatsoever.

Anyway, here is Elaine Stritch on the 8 show performance schedule from back in 1999:

https://youtu.be/XGwOUdLUfqU?t=1375

She basically says she doesn't blame anybody for wanting to go down to 6/7 performances and asking for 8 shows a week in "musical comedy" (a term she says is outdated) is almost asking too much for anybody. She then explains why musical comedy is really one of the hardest genres to perform and requires way more endurance and stamina than people think it does. She quotes Merman who says "you wanna do musical comedy? Then you have to live like a [four letter word] nun."

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 04:04 PM

[behindthescenes2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:04pm

March 15, 1956, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City. It transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre and then The Broadway Theatre, where it closed on September 29, 1962, after 2,717 performances, a record at the time. Harrison was replaced by Edward Mulhare in November 1957 and Sally Ann Howes replaced Andrews in February 1958.

Andrews  just shy of 2 years and Harrison 1 year and 8 months  and l suspect they left to do movies not because they couldn't do the roles, I believe I read in her memoir she states she didn't miss a performance, but I could be wrong, but that sentence or paragraph sticks out in memory

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:06pm

Hmm I'm just reading Julie's autobiography and here's some more old-school advice that Ms. Rigg could have followed:

"When actors work together, there is a tacit understanding that the show and its message are what matters above all else. Personal issues are set aside once the curtain is up. I hadn't felt much trust between Rex and me in the early days, but as the months in MFL passed, we came to a place of mutual respect, and our work together became all about performing the glorious verbal music of George Bernard Shaw."

Eta: Here's the passage where she talks about the show being stopped at intermission and what happened afterwards:
"The following morning the press simply mentioned poor Tom Helmore and the fact that he had a very bad cold. There was not one mentoon of my vocal troubles. Amazingly, Tom wnet on again for the next few nights, and with some very decent slpeep, I too recovered enough to manage three or four more perfmances until Rex returned, though I was out of my mind with worry. Finally I took time off and my understudy went on. I went to see various specialists."

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 04:06 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:07pm

I don't blame anyone for wanting to go down to 7/6 performances a week in a challenging role. But said performers should know their limitations before contracts are signed and tickets released. It's only fair to the public who might want to see a Tony-nominated performance. Were emails sent to ticket buyers updating them that Ambrose will be out that performance?

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 04:07 PM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:09pm

Spammedalot said: "First of all, imagine how many shows off Ms. Ambrose would have need had the misguided, miscast FUNNY GIRL revival with her as Fanny happened."

I keep forgetting about that. I really can't imagine how she was the best casting for that role.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:12pm

Well considering it's her first musical role and a leading one at that (and it ain't a talk-singing role), and she hadn't missed any performances since previews in early March (except for the 2-3 consecutive missed performances) I can't expect her to know what her limitations actually are until she does it. She probably now knows her limitations or know what she needs to work on for next time.

The irony is that BWW's fave performer Laura Benanti who so many wanted to see do this role USED to be skewered and called all sorts of nasty names and had people laugh at her because she used to miss so many performances in multiple shows in a row. The joke was that she'd only stay in a show long enough to do the cast recording. Then people found out about her health issues. Then Gypsy happened and then a string of good performances and attendance (especially her heavenly performance in She Loves Me) and now she's the bastion of professionalism and talent that BWW is holding up.

Somebody mentioned Lupone as well...well, remember how she was treated during her first big starring musical role? She certainly remembers it as she chronicled her hardships with doing the role and what it was doing to her voice in her autobiography. It got to the point where some members of the chorus were supposedly wishing she'd drop out. I remember someone mentioned an old joke back in the 1980s saying that if they wanted to see Patti Lupone really sing Evita, go catch her concert instead of seeing the actual show.

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 04:12 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:22pm

Perhaps I'll write a post detailing why it's unfair to compare the situation with LuPone and Evita with Ambrose and My Fair Lady, but I'll just say that Evita is so monstrously difficult that the actress playign Eva only ever goes on 6 times a week. And in the revivals, the score has been altered because it is just so difficult. Add the the fact that Eva is only offstage to change costumes and has to act the sh!t out of the role because the show doesn't work unless the actress playing Eva brings humanity to a role that isn't written to have any. Eliza is whole different animal, but I don't think it's even in the same ballpark as Evita in terms of difficulty.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:25pm

And yes, Sher's fixation with Ambrose is... odd, to say the least.

(And surely this comment can't warrant deletion... but we shall see.)

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:33pm

I don't think it's fair to suggest that Benanti isn't a professional, especially considering that her absences were due to a broken neck and a secret, unexpected pregnancy. I would argue those are two pretty good reasons to call out of a show. I don't recall her missing many performances of Gypsy and Women on the Verge. Ambrose is missing from this production simply because she's not equipped to perform the show 8 times a week. It's not like she's doing Evita. If they really felt sure that they wanted to cast someone without much musical theatre experience, they should've trained her months in advance to make sure that her voice was in the strongest, healthiest shape to perform the role in.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:36pm

Yes and so are people using her going down to 7 shows a week to continue vocalizing their distaste that Ambrose got this role is also odd to say the least.

This reminds of the 2004 Tony race. Donna Murphy was winning as many awards as Hugh Jackman was for her celebrated turn in Wonderful Town. However, she missed a lot of performances. It got to the point where Riedel was writing about it and she was upsetting theatre-goers. Some surmised that's why she lost the Tony. Idina Menzel...at the time on BWW, people actually were worried about permanent damage to her voice and some said she needed an alternate as the vocal strain and asthmatic gasping she was doing was more and more noticeable during her run. Kristin Chenoweth who has near perfect vocal training and technique also had to miss a few performances. There was a story when she called out but ended up going on while being high on pain killers because both of her understudies/stand-bys had to call out too. Apparently people told her it was one of her best performances. Then there's Tonya Pinkins whose vocal strain also became apparently and people wondered what the state of her voice would have been if the show did not close early.

Bernadette Peters in Gypsy was also another one whose attendance record was criticized as she also missed a lot of performances as well.

I agree that I think LCT could have handled her going down to 7 performances a lot better as the timing seems very last minute, but after a month of so people will know ahead of time that she's missing Sunday matinees and can plan accordingly. So at least this is more of a preemptive move that gives people a few months of notice if they buy tickets later on.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 4:42pm

GeorgeandDot said: "I don't think it's fair to suggest that Benanti isn't a professional, especially considering that her absences were due to a broken neck and a secret, unexpected pregnancy. I would argue those are two pretty good reasons to call out of a show. I don't recall her missing many performances of Gypsy and Women on the Verge. Ambrose is missing from this production simply because she's not equipped to perform the show 8 times a week. It's not like she's doing Evita. If they really felt sure that they wanted to cast someone without much musical theatre experience, they should've trained her months in advance to make sure that her voice was in the strongest, healthiest shape to perform the role in."

You probably weren't around BWW from 2000-2008 ish , but it was bad regarding Benanti's treatment. People didn't know her health history (just like we don't know Ambrose's reasons for going down to 7 shows) but people really took her to task for her absences during Into the Woods, The Wedding Singer, etc. Like I said in my original post, it was not until Gypsy and her opening up about her health issues that caused her to miss so many performances and to leave shows early that people changed their tune. I like to think it taught some people a lesson in assuming things about performers. The critiques she was receiving was so bad that Benanti even did an interview where she castigated the entire Broadway online community (calling it chatlines) and saying they are ruining Broadway with their negativity and talking smack about performers who work so hard and put so much craft and workmanship into that these negative people online have no idea about.

In other words, from a certain time period on BWW, not many would have bet hard money that Benanti would have been able to handle She Loves Me 8 shows a week.

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 04:42 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 5:19pm

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "Yes and so are people using her going down to 7 shows a week to continue vocalizing their distaste that Ambrose got this role is also odd to say the least.

This reminds of the 2004 Tony race. Donna Murphy was winning as many awards as Hugh Jackman was for her celebrated turn inWonderful Town. However, she missed a lot of performances. It got to the point where Riedel was writing about it and she was upsetting theatre-goers. Some surmised that's why she lost the Tony. Idina Menzel...at the time on BWW, people actually were worried about permanent damage to her voice and some said she needed an alternate as the vocal strain and asthmatic gasping she was doing was more and more noticeable during her run. Kristin Chenoweth who has near perfect vocal training and technique also had to miss a few performances. There was a story when she called out but ended up going on while being high on pain killers because both of her understudies/stand-bys had to call out too. Apparently people told her it was one of her best performances. Then there's Tonya Pinkins whose vocal strain also became apparently and people wondered what the state of her voice would have been if the show did not close early.

Bernadette Peters in Gypsy was also another one whose attendance record was criticized as she also missed a lot of performances as well.

I agree that I think LCT could have handled her going down to 7 performances a lot better as the timing seems very last minute, but after a month of so people will know ahead of time that she's missing Sunday matinees and can plan accordingly. So at least this is more of a preemptive move that gives people a few months of notice if they buy tickets later on."

 

Chenoweth had to perform on painkillers because the understudy (Melissa Bell Chait) had just had a stroke and standby Laura Bell Bundy flew off to Los Angeles without telling anyone because she didn’t think she’d be needed. She ended up getting fired for that.

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 05:19 PM

[Mediamaven2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 5:25pm

Just want to add, as a media maven, NO where in Riedel's column does it say that the email was 'leaked'. Everyone jumps to all kinds of conclusions, it's so interesting.

It merely says the email was "obtained" by the NY Post. That can mean anything. Dame Diana could have sent the email to Riedel herself, frankly. And he could have then called her for follow up quotes to elaborate on a statement she emailed directly to him. 

Or it could have been "leaked" private communication to someone else that Riedel received, and she openly owned up to and spoke on the record to him about, as some here jump to the conclusion. WHO KNOWS.

 

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 05:25 PM

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 5:46pm

Nothing Riedel gets his hands on stays private, particularly if it's juicy gossip. Period.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 6:25pm

BroadwayRox3588 said: "NothingRiedel gets his hands on stays private, particularly if it's juicy gossip. Period."

That may be so, but Rigg very easily could have said she wasn’t going to comment on her private communications. Instead she clarified and elaborated on her stance. It’s foolish to suggest that Riedel did something untoward here when Rigg explicitly expanded on her position. She clearly had no problem with this becoming public. 

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 06:25 PM

[BroadwayRox3588]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:02pm

adamgreer said: "BroadwayRox3588 said: "NothingRiedel gets his hands on stays private, particularly if it's juicy gossip. Period."

That may be so, but Rigg very easily could have said she wasn’t going to comment on her private communications. Instead she clarified and elaborated on her stance. It’s foolish into suggest that Riedel did something untoward here when Rigg explicitly expanded on her position. She clearly had no problem with this becoming public."

Oh absolutely not, that wasn't what I was saying. I'm not defending her at all here. If anything, I'm saying if Rigg didn't want it to go public, she shouldn't have let it be even remotely possible for him to get Riedel's hands on anything she said. Because it's perfect stuff for him to put out. Either she was being extremely naïve & irresponsible, or she was being petty. My money is on the latter.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:14pm

To quote a friend in the show, “if she learned about this from the news, it’s because she didn’t read the callboard.”

[haterobics]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:25pm

wonkit said: "I believe that Julie Andrews lost her singing voice because of a botched surgery on a node on her vocal chords, not performance stress."

True, although performance stress could have been responsible for the node.

[Elegance101]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:28pm

haterobics said: "wonkit said: "I believe that Julie Andrews lost her singing voice because of a botched surgery on a node on her vocal chords, not performance stress."

True, although performance stress could have been responsible for the node."

This is correct. She wouldn't have needed the surgery if not for performance stress, not exclusively caused by My Fair Lady, but from years of going too hard.

[Elegance101]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:29pm

trpguyy said: "To quote a friend in the show, “if she learned about this from the news, it’s because she didn’t read the callboard.”"

TEA

[SmokeyLady]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:39pm

Hey board,  So I got a pm from the moderator saying that my comment was deleted because it was not appropriate discussion for the board.  In particular about a "speculation" I had made about something.  But that I was welcome to comment again without that speculation.  So I will try.. but I am not sure how.  Here goes.  I found Ambrose to be good in the show but nothing special.  So I was wondering what this director saw in her that would make him not only cast her in this but a few years ago he was aiming to bring a major revival of Funny Girl centered around her.   I guess my "speculation" was a bit on the TMZ side of things.   I made it right after Sher's tweet.  I do know nothing.  I have always enjoyed broadway gossip ,love stories. and stories about backstage drama .    I guess I am rambling.  But I would like to be able to discuss what I was talking about while following the moderators  request.   Also; I guess a few of you had responded.  But my guess is those comments were deleted as well.  I was encouraged by the moderator to comment again without the speculation.  And as I am writing this I see this is pretty lame.  BELOW HIS EYE.  ( or is it under)

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 07:39 PM

[Elegance101]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:47pm

SmokeyLady said: "Hey board, So I got a pm from the moderator saying that my comment was deleted because it was not appropriate discussion for the board. In particular about a "speculation" I had made about something. But that I was welcome to comment again without that speculation. So I will try.. but I am not sure how. Here goes. I found Ambrose to be good in the show but nothing special. So I was wondering what this director saw in herthat would make him not only cast her in this but a few years ago he was aiming to bring a major revival of Funny Girl centered around her. I guess my "speculation"wasa bit on the TMZ side of things. I do know nothing. I have always enjoyed broadway gossip ,love stories. and stories about backstage drama . I guess I am rambling. But I would like to be able to discuss what I was talking about while following the moderators request. Also; I guess a few of you had responded. But my guess is those comments were deleted as well. I was encouraged by the moderator to comment again without the speculation. And as I am writing this I see this is pretty lame. BELOW HIS EYE. ( or is it under)"

I completely agree with you. Not sure about your speculation, but I guess a lot of people see something magical in her and we don't. That's subjective art for you, I guess.

And it's "under his eye" (great reference!).

Updated On: 7/6/18 at 07:47 PM

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 7/6/18 at 7:52pm

I'm wondering when y'all saw Ambrose? I saw her both in early previews and when the show was frozen a few days before opening night.

During early previews I would have agreed that she wasn't that special. She had this hunched over posture when singing and also did not seem comfortable projecting to the huge auditorium. She also went up on lines during the Ascot Gavotte and at one point shrieked "help!" 

By the time the show was frozen it was a different interpretation. Her timing was much improved -- funnier, wittier, really got the "comedy" part of "musical comedy." Musically she was also much better.