Toni Collette & Mandy Patinkin. — Page 2

When I was doing an off-off Broadway show in the late 90's, it was a habbit of several members of the cast to "pass the bottle" in the dressing room before the show, and there was a lot of talk about the "drug of choice" for the evening's performance. Each night, two cast members in particular, would do completely unscripted lines and blocking on stage (because they were unprofessional, had no training, and were either drunk or high during the performance) it was an open ended run, and after 4 weeks, I left the show. I tried talking to the director/producer, and here's his response: "funny, I usually wait until AFTER the show to get drunk!" and then he laughed in my face and walked away from me. I found it so highly unprofessional that no matter what I was being paid, there was no way I was gonna stay with that group and keep getting thrown off gaurd every night by someone doing something that made no sense on stage in context of the play. It was a great learning experience for me, because I got several chances to improvise like crazy when thrown the new lines and blocking, but I wouldn't want to have to live through that again for anything. We even had a scabber in the show (it was non-equity and one of the guys found out that they used his equity stage name in the advertisements and demanded that they all be reprinted with his alternate name - talk about skeevy behaviour.) I've noticed that most of the guys who were in that production no longer perform at all - I wonder why?LOL....of course, this has nothing to do with Mandy or his behaviour - this thread just reminded me of a bad theatre experience!

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Updated On: 9/9/05 at 08:07 AM

First of all...Riedel HATES Patinkin and always has so it is not surprising he said this (he also said a lot of things about other people that proved untrue...so take it for what it's worth).

Secondly, the adlibbing he did was encouraged during previews by Wolffe and by Lachiusa and he is known for being in character all the time when he's working (offstage or on) so this is a bit disconcerting to his cast members if they don't know how to work with him.

He WAS Burrs...whether you liked the character or not (read the poem...Burrs is abusive and horrible) and the reason the show didn't work off or ON broadway was not his fault it was that it was tough to watch unlikable people run around the stage for 2 hrs...which is what the poem creates in terms of characters and what was mirrored on stage.

And lastly, Colette is no joy herself. There were problems between them and problems in the show because of lots of variables...not the least of which was that the show (though I did enjoy it) didn't have an audience and everyone from the lighting people to the cast was struggling to make it work. There was a lot of stress.

Patinkin has not been on Broadway since because he much prefers doing concerts and because he's done some movies and TWO television series since then. When would you think he'd be doing a Broadway play?

And YES he does have a very loud, and very passionate belly laugh. I'm sure he wasn't trying to disturb the audience in the show he was watching when you saw it boobs...that's just the guy unvarnished. He is passionate about everything he does. Wish some other performers were as committed to their craft and their lives, religion and family like this guy is.

Anyway, all the stories you've heard about Wild Party are exaggerated and as for Colette reporting him to Equity...have you SEEN the report? I really love that we can just say things and they become true.

If you really want the truth about something that happened, why not go to the people who were there instead of listening to board members or to a gossip columnist?

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Updated On: 9/9/05 at 12:57 PM

Why do all my favorite performers turn out to be crackpots? It's so disappointing. Or maybe they're all crackpots?

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This actually makes me think of Christopher Plummer's behavior during "Othello". Kelsey Grammer got a few broken bones from Plummer's "performance".

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Is Christopher Plummer a whack job as well?!? My world is crumbling around me!

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His daughter's beaver is mean too....it almost attacked me when I saw it in "Killer Joe".

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Sorry Margo...you know I couldn't resist. Well it did scare the crap out of me....I almost puked when I saw it.

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Updated On: 9/9/05 at 03:07 PM

I just can't handle it, rath. I love Christopher Plummer! Why does he have to be horrible? Why!!! I guess this is when I need to work on my separation of respecting a perfomers work and understanding that performers aren't always nice people. Sigh...

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Oh yeah, Kinski was/is completely out of his mind.

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I know, I know. But it still makes me a little sad. But, hey, I love Woody Allen, but find him repulsive as a person, so I should be able to apply this to others, correct? Correct. Thanks for the valuable life lesson, rath.

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Rath is so wise....it must be her YEARS of experience.

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Not at all... Lily dear.

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