1776's Sara Porkalob Brutally Honest Vulture Article - Page 4

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 12:30pm

Honestly, as a working producer, if Porkalob is this honest in an interview, I'd love to hear their own work. There's a definite voice here, one that is clearly not heard often enough.

[hmph]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 1:01pm

Glancing at Twitter, I guess I’m sick of these arguments where pithy comments take the place of a conversation, and then everyone on every side is obnoxious. I get that it can be frustrating, but if you want a conversation now’s the time to be having it, right? Stop posting outdated memes and maybe articulate what’s being misunderstood. If this is true, that’s excellent, but a person introduced to you via Vulture isn’t seeing that.

Maybe it’s the misanthrope in me, but theater “conversations” can be so eyeroll-inducingly annoying. Maybe I would feel differently if I had seen their performance or any of their shows. 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 1:11pm

RoyiG said: "Also given statements they made like "I also think that they cast the best people for the roles" and "My favorite thing in the whole process is my cast", comments on this board painting this interview as trashing and bashing feel incorrect and possibly made in bath faith."

There are a whole lot of other people involved in a production besides the cast. She bashes the director, designers, writers--all of whom are her co-workers and fellow artists. So just because she says "I like the cast" doesn't excuse her for talking down about all the other members of the company.

[RoyiG]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 1:20pm

Broadway61004 said: 
There are a whole lot of other people involved in a production besides the cast. She bashes the director, designers, writers--all of whom are her co-workers and fellow artists. So just because she says "I like the cast" doesn't excuse her for talking down about all the other members of the company."

Fair, there are more involved than just the cast. I just truly didn’t read her comments about the directors or the production as bashing- they were critical of specific decisions. 

[DaveyG]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 1:26pm

Jeffrey Page, 1776's co-director has responded on Facebook:

Dear nameless person, I know that you feel good
about that thing you said….I didn't feel good
about it.
I know you feel like it is now your time in the sun.
You ain't put in the time and you ain't done the
work. You are ungrateful and unwise.
You claim that you want to dismantle white
supremacist ideology…I think that you are the
very example of the thing that you claim to be
most interested in dismantling.
You are fake-woke, rotten to the core, and stuck in
the matrix; I hope that you get that increased IG
following that you so desperately thirst.
SADH (figure that out, trick)

Updated On: 10/15/22 at 01:26 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 1:52pm

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:02pm

I am BIPOC, gay and progressive, but this whole phase the Left is going through where it cannibalizes itself on social media over things that don't matter in any substantive way can't end soon enough.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:03pm

DaveyG said: "Jeffrey Page, 1776's co-director has responded on Facebook:

Dear nameless person, I know that you feel good
about that thing you said….I didn't feel good
about it.
I know you feel like it is now your time in the sun.
You ain't put in the time and you ain't done the
work. You are ungrateful and unwise.
You claim that you want to dismantle white
supremacist ideology…I think that you are the
very example of the thing that you claim to be
most interested in dismantling.
You are fake-woke, rotten to the core, and stuck in
the matrix; I hope that you get that increased IG
following that you so desperately thirst.
SADH (figure that out, trick)"

I think that’s worse than anything Porkalob said, considering she made no personal attacks.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:25pm

https://twitter.com/sporkalob/status/1581325268026765312?s=46&t=uS4WRiLdmCn5XGjG31Jq4w

"One last thought for the haters: I lead w/integrity, not respectability politics. Broadway is lucky to have artists like me & my entire 1776 cast. Y'all are salty bc I'm speaking the truth? Bc I'm actually doing the work you say you want to do? Stay mad.

Ok this is my last thought to those who are pissed and saying, "who does she think she is?". Google me, hoes. I've been doing the work, been speaking the truth. I know who TF I am. I do this for the community, for the real ones. The rest of you can choke"

[nativenewyorker2]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:27pm

If you look on Mr.Pages post, Lillias White also commented a reference to what she may have going thru this week

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:28pm

Kad I am so confused by your stance. This isn't a progressive step in the right direction, and I'm going to guess the director clearly has had issues with her, this is someone throwing a fit because things on a show that she has stayed with haven't gone how she would like them to go. It's not her show, not her vision and not her place to go out and give interviews about how she's unhappy with her job because she doesn't like the show she has STAYED with. This is crazy that anybody is defending her, if abuse etc was the story here, that's different, call that s**t out, but what she has done (and her toxic attitude) is horrific. 

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:30pm

This is all following such a predictable path. She makes idiotic comments (interesting article, yes, but unprofessional to be sure). Then people get mad and she acts like a martyr who was "speaking her truth." It's so tiresome. I would not hire her for anything ever.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:30pm

Oh no, Broadway is in absolutely no way lucky to have this 1776.....

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:34pm

Damn. Page is rightfully PISSED. I guess Porkalob won't be continuing with the show on tour...or performing in any show they haven't written themselves for a long time.

I've seen comments on the article and on social media that praise Porkalob's interview as "refreshing." Here's the thing though: every actor has felt what she does at some point. Every actor has been in a show they don't like. It's part of being an actor. Not every production you do is going to be a winner or something that you feel proud to be a part of. But part of being a professional involves having a certain amount of grace. This isn't specific to the theatre - it's every occupation. You may not love your job. You make think your boss is an idiot and that you could have done it better. And you are absolutely allowed to feel that way and to tell that privately to your friends. But to say these things publicly? That's unprofessional and unkind, even if her comments are ones many others would agree with.

P.S. I've wanted to play Routledge for almost as long as Porkalob has been alive. Next to John Adams, it is definitely the juiciest role in the show - and it's a great show (it won Best Musical at the 1969 Tonys for a reason). "Molasses to Rum" is a fantastic showcase for a singing actor, and of course Porkalob is getting positive attention for it. Clearly that has gone to their head, and they have made a career-killing error. I feel bad for her on some levels, but I agree with Page: Porkalob is ungrateful and unwise.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:35pm

I hope that really is her "one last thought" on twitter. I enjoyed the interview but clapping back at "haters" and chasing social media clout never ends well. And as bad as she thinks it is, there's a privilege in how this article has been received that I don't think would have been afforded had she ties to different marginalized groups.

I did appreciate her candor and her thoughtfulness in the article and only time will tell if it gets her a talent agent or a Tony nomination or more Instagram followers.

[pethian]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:37pm

 

As an example of an actor self-destructing, this is right up there with Will Smith's televised assault and battery. I am more concerned for her, and what might be going in her life,  than offended. As outrageous as it is.

I'm trying to think of another example of a stage actor so publicly trashing their own show. The only other example I can think of is Zero Mostel in FUNNY THING in the '60s.

 

[karen24]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 2:49pm

 Her comment about the show being a “dusty old thing” made me think that she really doesn’t understand it at all. And if that was the message being communicated by the creative team, no wonder their concept had so many problems. 

Updated On: 10/15/22 at 02:49 PM

[leefowler]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:06pm

As the song from Chicago goes:
The name on everybody's lips
Is gonna be..
Sara Porkalob

I admire her honesty. Her narcissism and callousness, not so much.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:07pm

Really? Comparing this to someone smacking somebody on live television? Horrific? Lord.  I’ve reread the interview several times. She bashes nobody. She trashes nobody. It’s not a tantrum or a fit. She never even says or implied  she dislikes being part of the show. Yes, she strongly criticizes directorial choices- but not baselessly, and carefully explains why. The fact that this has caused more passionate discussion than the actual production itself seems to prove her point. Frankly, she is far more able to articulate what she perceives to be failings in a production more than most reviewers or posters here are able to. 
 

She more or less says this sort of work isn’t what she wants to continue doing, so who cares? She’s done nothing criminal here, only buck expected polite behavior. Instead of saying these things over drinks at Bar Centrale or at a party like nice respectable actors do, she said it to Vulture.  Can’t theater fans go a week without clutching their pearls? 

Updated On: 10/15/22 at 03:07 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:11pm

Kad said: "DaveyG said: "Jeffrey Page, 1776's co-director has responded on Facebook:

Dear nameless person, I know that you feel good
about that thing you said….I didn't feel good
about it.
I know you feel like it is now your time in the sun.
You ain't put in the time and you ain't done the
work. You are ungrateful and unwise.
You claim that you want to dismantle white
supremacist ideology…I think that you are the
very example of the thing that you claim to be
most interested in dismantling.
You are fake-woke, rotten to the core, and stuck in
the matrix; I hope that you get that increased IG
following that you so desperately thirst.
SADH (figure that out, trick)"

I think that’s worse than anything Porkalob said, considering she made no personal attacks."

Agreed. Her comments may have been unprofessional and unwise, but they were thoughtful and certainly not unintelligent. If she came across as a jerk, he comes off as an unhinged loon. Frankly, some of her comments--like the thoughts and feelings of the non-Black POC being ignored and those actors lumped in, or assimilated into whiteness--make a lot of sense based on this response.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:24pm

All this situation confirms for me is that I have no desire to see this production of 1776.

Updated On: 10/15/22 at 03:24 PM

[BroadwayBen]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:36pm

I find it very interesting that not one cast member of the 1776 has come forward to support her, this article or her observations on the production.   Their silence is speaking profoundly.   I can't imagine the mood backstage today on a 2 show day.   

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:51pm

Agreed. Don’t share a stage with Carolee Carmello and then admit to giving 75% until its your own number. The audacity! I’m shocked thinking that Sara thought this interview was going to work in her favor. Her twitter account is an absolute scramble rn. 

[bear88]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:51pm

The silence from other actors doesn’t surprise me at all. There’s no percentage in it. What do you gain? Unlike Porkalob, the other actors probably still want a career. (Porkalob’s critiques in the article may be well-founded, so perhaps they have a future as a critic. Some of the Twitter stuff is, uh, less thoughtful.)

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/15/22 at 3:59pm

Given the state of Vulture's theater coverage since Helen Shaw left, it might not be the worst idea for Sara to become their new critic.