BREAKING: Mandy Patinkin Withdraws from THE GREAT COMET — Page 10

GeorgeandDot said: "I'm saying what Sally said.

I'm infuriated by his behavior here. I feel terrible for Denee and Amber and Brittain and Rachel and Dave and the entire cast and crew of this production and also Mandy. My heart goes out to them. They've all worked hard for this and they're about to all be unemployed because of someone's selfish choice. I understand that Oak was put in a crappy situation, but he needed to think about all the lovely young actors in that show. He could have sacrificed himself and returned in the fall like he was offered, but he instead chose to make this a big deal. He's hurt himself and his Comet family. I've seen this before and it's always unfortunate, but Broadway is business and this stuff happens. This doesn't make me racist, or a Trump supporter, this makes me someone who once worked on broadway and understands how this all happens. I was a blasian woman working on Broadway many years ago and we have come so far and it is so beautiful to see a show this diverse on Broadway. It's a shame to see it shutter because Oak made a poor decision to not shut his friend down on twitter. The show would have at least made it to the fall, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Sorry, if I seem far too passionate about this, but this whole situation is just so unfortunate.



"

You don't have to be of a certain ethnicity to discriminate the others, though this is not the case and the point here. That being said, I don't understand why you keep assuming Oak is the one who stirred and is still stirring the pot and insist that he should give up his pride and dignity for what? So IF Patti wants to be in the show, other performers should just eat the bullet and give up what they've worked so hard for as well? Actors are not machines, they are human beings who deserve at least the minimum level of respect, so honor this please. You may have been in this industry for quite some time and know how things have been working pretty well, but that doesn't mean the way the industry works is airtight. It's times like this when people voice their needs and wants that make the industry think of better ways of handling things and treating people so it is not as cold as the mammoth downtown.

It's a nice idea that you're sharing, but it's unrealistic. Producers have a duty to make their investors money. If an actor isn't working out financially, it may be in the best interest of the show to buy them out of their contract and replace them with a bigger name.

Also, I've only called racist people racist on this board. I called that one Trump supporting guy racist and all the racists telling me that I wasn't allowed to be offended by some of the things in Saigon, even though I am Vietnamese. It's not a word that I throw around at anyone. I haven't made any racist remarks towards Oak. I'm simply saying that in not shutting his friend up he's screwing over the entire cast and crew.

Updated On: 7/29/17 at 11:56 PM

Mandy tweeted that he never would have accepted the role knowing it would harm another actor.

Can someone please explain how this was hurting Oak exactly? Being treated poorly, yes, but harm??

This was purely a last ditch effort to keep the show going. It wasnt about race. This is one of the most diverse shows thats been on broadway.

I saw The Great Comet a month ago and I thought it was amazing. Josh Groban did perform but the only thing I felt weird about after the show was why there was such a huge deal about Pierre when the show is such a strong ensemble piece. While it is great to have someone like Josh or Mandy play him, I don't understand why people would think that who plays Pierre would have such a huge impact. As long as they sing amazing for Dust and Ashes I would be satisfied.



I do think Mandy would be great as Pierre as I'm also sure Oak is. The situation just did seem so weird at the beginning because no details were given so people just felt bad for Oak. It's too bad that the people giving The Great Comet so much backlash are also probably not buying tickets to go see Oak, so now the whole show is jeopardized.



Compared to Brittain and Ingrid, due to Oak's short run there was no way it could be handled like their switch. It was reasonable for Brittain to take time off and come back, a forced vacation was not even expected.



It's a shame what is happening, but I hope the cast and show can enjoy the long run it deserves.

blaxx said: I agree it has nothing to do with racism. This is the case of 'Don't do good things that look bad'. Of course people went nuts and tried to find their own reason behind the action. What I'm saying is that THEY can't be blamed for coming to their own conclusion when the production decided to take the desperate measure.

The fact that they didn't how awful it would look, makes me sympathize with the conspiracy theorists. Of course their assumptions were wrong, but I don't blame them for feeling the way they did when you take it from their perspective.

Um, no. Feel your feelings, sure. But starting a hashtag, being vile to Malloy and Chavkin and Patinkin, and who knows who else, heaping scorn and wishing terrible things on the production based on a conclusion that was easy to disprove with a tiny bit of thought or research. Heck, just even coming to this board. They have no excuse. They're on twitter so they clearly have an internet connection. I'm so tired of trying to have sympathy for people who live in a bubble and take one out of context or biased excerpt and use it to form their opinions instead of actually caring about facts and the truth.

"I AM HALF BLACK AND HALF ASIAN I DON'T THINK I CAN BE RACIST TO MYSELF."

Updated On: 7/29/17 at 01:53 AM

Maybe just maybe Oak was not good in the role. It would not be the first time producers are not happy with an actor and they are let go. To bring up the race card is outrageous. Despite the good reviews the reason the show was successful was because people bought tickets to see Josh Groban a major star. I for one fled after the first act. Sorry folks but this whole black thing is out of control. Not everything is racist if something unfortunate happens to a black person.

Yeah it is a weird predicament. I mean, the show should be selling because it's good. And it is good. And the reviews will back that up. But apparently, for whatever reason, it just isn't. That said, I saw it in the tent and loved it. I thought it was special and interesting. I haven't seen it on Broadway - I will go this week - but perhaps it's a little too left of center. It's got the "Les Miserables" feel to it, but with a much more current aesthetic. I think Groban would have been a good choice about this time of year, but not for the original star of the show because then you're essentially saying it is "his" show. So they sort of set themselves up for failure. Like, if "War Paint" decided to just use the understudies after the leads left.

VintageSnarker said: "blaxx said: I agree it has nothing to do with racism. This is the case of 'Don't do good things that look bad'. Of course people went nuts and tried to find their own reason behind the action. What I'm saying is that THEY can't be blamed for coming to their own conclusion when the production decided to take the desperate measure.

The fact that they didn't how awful it would look, makes me sympathize with the conspiracy theorists. Of course their assumptions were wrong, but I don't blame them for feeling the way they did when you take it from their perspective.

Um, no. Feel your feelings, sure. But starting a hashtag, being vile to Malloy and Chavkin and Patinkin, and who knows who else, heaping scorn and wishing terrible things on the production based on a conclusion that was easy to disprove with a tiny bit of thought or research. Heck, just even coming to this board. They have no excuse. They're on twitter so they clearly have an internet connection. I'm so tired of trying to have sympathy for people who live in a bubble and take one out of context or biased excerpt and use it to form their opinions instead of actually caring about facts and the truth.



I don't excuse the ignorance, nor approve of the extremist reactions; none of which would have happened had this been handled better. It was under the production's power to prevent the fiasco and they blew it. You can't hold an internet mob accountable for their opinions, you can't even assume they know how to do research on the matter.

What you should know as a professional theater producer is that social media can and will take your actions and statements at face value. Give them nothing to support you and they will create a monster out of it. Again, a professional producer can't assume the level of expertise or education from "the internet". Be clear, transparent, fair and people will likely side with you. Make a move that seems unfair and you're done. When people have been walked all over for a long time, they will accuse you of the worst unless you know how to articulate your actions much better than TGC producers did.

And I'm sure none of it was ill intentioned. But man, they failed at professionalism by trying to hide the "why" behind the move. You hide it, the mob will make you sure you'll hear from them; and if they are wrong, make sure it wasn't because you didn't give them enough information to begin with.

Margo319 said: " "I AM HALF BLACK AND HALF ASIAN I DON'T THINK I CAN BE RACIST TO MYSELF."







Why do you keep on trolling me? I never said anything about Oak's race in this thread. I am a dark skinned woman. I look more black than I do Asian. I understand what actors of color go through. Back in the 80's a PoC would've been laughed out of the audition room if they were to audition for this show. Now we are blessed to have casting directors who are open to PoC. There's a long way to go, but this show and Hamilton have both taken big steps towards a more diverse Broadway, so to say that racism played a part in this decision is hilariously dense. If that's you in your picture, than I sure as hell know more about being black on broadway than you do. Sit down, sister. You may have more understanding of the xenophobia going on right now in this country, but you definitely don't know what it's like to be black in America. I would never attempt to suppress your opinion in a matter that involved your heritage, so why are you pretending to know more about mine? Have you ever been the person in charge in a room and overheard someone call you the n-word or a "race mixer," or a "chink?" Because that was a daily happening on Broadway back in the day. These kids on Broadway now have no idea how beautiful it is right now. It brings tears to my eyes to see a cast like Comet. I've put up with too much sh*t in my life to have some kid call me racist on a Broadway message board.

Updated On: 7/29/17 at 03:27 AM

Because a good marketing technique is telling the public "Nobody's coming to see our show so we need a star". Anyone with a half a brain can read between those lines. They probably didn't think about the reaction of Oak's "fan base" because, judging from ticket sales...

Updated On: 7/29/17 at 03:37 AM

Obviously, you don't lead with "we're in trouble," you lead with "Mandy Patinkin joins Great Comet" and outside of the insular world of this message board and diehard theater fans that's all the public at large is going to see and care about. Even knowing what was going on didn't stop people on this very board from buying tickets, just like not knowing didn't stop my friend. Admitting the truth couldn't have been any worse than letting people read between lines.


Of course, either way they'd need competent people to handle it, which they don't have so it was never going to end well. Poor decisions were made all around and now the people who can least afford to are going to pay for it by possibly losing their jobs earlier than they had to.

ETA - Oak has enough friends and fans to start a Twitter campaign that contributed greatly to this mess and Mandy backing out so... Small but mighty and all that. I only mentioned them specifically since their uproar was an unanticipated result that could possibly have been avoided with another tactic.

Updated On: 7/29/17 at 05:09 AM