2021: Cynthia Erivo calls out COLOR PURPLE producers for replacement casting communication

I don't really understand the complaint –– Jennifer Holliday's casting was publicly announced 6 weeks before her first performance, and Erivo would not have had any level of casting approval over replacements since she was a non-entity when her contract was signed. This is all completely normal behavior whether it's a Tony-winning production or not; a full-cast onstage meeting is a typical place to share this info.

The producer (let's assume she's talking about Scott Sanders) shouldn't have lost his cool, but I'm going to assume she and her agents had other demands or incidents before and this was teh culmination of that...



From Vanity Fair:

If someone leaves, they just replace them without really talking to anyone. So, I’m playing Celie, and they’re replacing Shug, who is my co-star. I have no idea who’s coming in until the week they’re coming in. And this was the third time around they’re replacing. The producer announces on the stage who’s replacing Heather [Headley], and I have no idea. And I remember going, “Why wouldn’t you tell me?” It was after a show that the producer told us, on the stage. And I remember going, “Well, do you mind if we talk about this?” And he was like, “Yes.” And then he sneaks off so I can’t find him. But I see him walking off and I follow him.

I follow him, and I call out to him, I call his name, I call his name. He ignores me. He doesn’t stop. This man at the end of the corridor goes, “She’s calling you.” So, he stops, turns around, comes back. And I go, “Why wouldn’t you tell me what’s going on?” and he flies off the handle. Yells at me in the corridor, points at my face, says, “You don’t have the right to talk to me like this. You just do this show.” And Michaela, this is after I’ve won the Tony. The show itself has won a Tony. And I’m now annoyed. I’m like, “I can’t believe this. You don’t care about me or the show. You care about the fact that you’ve won. Now you’ve won your Tony, and I don’t matter. I don’t matter because you won the thing.” And it was that moment for me that, all the work, all of the stuff I had done to at least gain the respect of the people I’m working with went out the window.

Good lord. She sounds like an absolute nightmare.

Erivo is directly responsible for the misinformation around Great Comet's casting, which ultimately led to the show closing. I cringe every time she is on my TV. I am sure this is a fabricated lie.

@Mods, I am not sure why my post was deleted but I absolutely stand by it.



As a performer, Erivo is incredibly talented. As an "activist," she is downright insufferable.



If this warrants deletion, please DM me.

GiantsInTheSky2 said: "It still boggles my mind why she would agree to making her Aretha series when Jennifer Hudson had already been cast by Aretha herself, and the biopic was already underway."

Don't blame Erivo for this –– it's more about the hubris of Brian Grazer & Ron Howard who produced it despite the biopic already being in the works.

On paper though, the miniseries had Suzan-Lori Parks, Anthony Hemingway (who has directed some great TV episodes), and Howard/Grazer attached, which is a more esteemed group than the movie. I hear the movie and series both had flaws.

She already rubbed me the wrong way with the Comet fiasco, and now this? Like, girl, you're an actor, you are the least important person in the room. That's just how it is. They don't need to tell you ****! Maybe now she'd have more pull, but she makes it seem like she won the Tony now she can control everything.

Right? Their discomfort with each other was so obvious with one another, it took me a minute to figure out they were supposed to like each other since I knew nothing about this show going in. That's how bad it was.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Erivo most definitely has casting approval now(or at least consultation) if she's attached in a leading role, being that she's a 2x Oscar nominee. But no producer is going to grant casting approval to a "nobody" making their Broadway debut (and at the time of her hiring was the least famous of the 3 leads –– yet still got first-position billing for playing the indisputable lead role).

Incorrect -- not even the megastars (Jackman, Lupone, Peters, etc.) have casting approval (or even consultation) in their contracts. As a courtesy, some producers may like to discuss casting of certain other roles -- but that's about it.