Great Comet TRUE STORY

here are the facts:



oak showed up day 1 well over 3 months behind schedule. There was preperation that never took places. Lessons never attended and paid for by the show.

this set Rachel off DAY 1. So rehearsals were already off to a horrible horrible start because e began behind. Thats aside, to HELP HIM. His opening was delayed a week.

Also to assist the box office with Oak coming into the show, Ingrid stepped in and Brittan stepped aside for a small period of time. This plan was used to "roll out Oak" into a new show. To get him up and running and real following.

One week into Oak's arrival at the actual show Rachel yes Rachel went into Oak's deessing room and fired him. Told him he was awful and being replaced by Mandy Pantik& . Which was untre. Rachel speaking to Oak BEFORE Oak's agent and Press Rep had a chance to get around Oak and explain the roll out plan. The SAME plan used with Brittan and Ingrid, and Betsy Wolfe And Sara Barelles... the plan was to do a joint press conference with mandy and oak and announce a return, NONE of that happened when Rachel opened her mouth and fired oOak.

Oak went solent, rumors swirled and now the show is cloaing. There was never NEVER any racial overtones here. Rachel over stepped as a director, Oak is good working actor who showed up un prepared, and then his silence allowed these things to continue.

If these people would simply come clean and stop "leaking" things to the press, and putting their fellow actors out of jobs none of this would be happening.

Take responsibility for the actions they created! Let other people know who was at fault so the show could be saved. But at this rate it will not happen.

the black white conversation does not apply to this show. People should really stop commenting on this rhetoric. Encourage peole to buy tickets. Make the show a better place to come to work so other people will lnow being apart of the wonderful company that is The Great Comet pf 1812 is stunning and beautiful. Otherwise it will sink.



All because of a few folks who will not speak up. And others who have NO knowledge first hand have put put some bad press!

I don't really believe Rachel Chavkin would say that Oak was "awful" or being replaced like that. She's a professional and that claim is extremely inconsistent with what those who actually know her have said about her as a director/person.

Do you have a source? A connection to the show? Anything to make us believe you beyond your own word?

Updated On: 8/10/17 at 04:00 PM

I never believed the staff weren't ready for Oak following Groban. My first thought was he didn't want to follow Groban with only a day between them. Getting Malloy on the stage created an expectation buffer, i.e., lower your expectations. That's when I saw Malloy for first time. He's no Groban; neither is Oak. Hell, Dixon from Shuffle Along and Ham has a better voice than Oak.

If he was really doing no prep work and skipping lessons the show was paying for, how would the show not know? I assumed he told them he was doing the work and progressing and they took his word for it.

if they set it up and he literally did nothing, wouldn't the people supposed to teach him call and say, "uh this dude isn't showing up." And if they either weren't checking on his progress, or taking his word for it, they have to assume some responsibility for that

I don't know if I believe that of Rachel. Complete opposite from what I've heard from the stagedoor manager (Who was free and strong with his praise of her levelheadness and lack of ego) and from a friend of a friend who is her assistant director on Hadestown

@Rainah: Subject the most polite person you know to these circumstances and see if they would break. It happens as easily to saints as to sinners. I could be the most polite person on earth (I'm not, asking FindingNamo if he ever comes back), but if I had an actor who I brought in that didn't do their job, and I gave them the olive branch of accommodations hoping this was a fluke, and then discovered when they finally came to the table that they were terrible, I'm pretty sure I'd lose my decorum in a hot second.

And it would look something like this:

Updated On: 8/10/17 at 05:19 PM

If any of that story is true, they made a hell of a lot of concessions for an, as you put it "hard working" actor- which is instantly negated by your acknowledgement of his unpreparedness. The production spent money it didn't need to spend on Ingrid then, not only salary, but also promotion. How any Director put up with that from- get ready for it- a virtually unrecognizable name outside of Hamilton, seems inconceivable. You're also overlooking the fact Oak himself tweeted that "they weren't ready" in regard to his start date being pushed back- which seems wholly untrue based on several reports, that though conflicting, have always had unpreparedness as a factor. In all honesty, as soon as he hit that rehearsal room unprepared on Day 1 he should've been let go and cited as being in violation of his contract- hindsight is 20/20, but think about where the show might be had this whole fiasco have been avoided from the first sign of trouble. Then, IMO, to almost literally brag about not being prepared in a tweet is really ballsy and another red flag. I don't wish ill will on anyone, but I think when this resume comes across any casting director's desk, there will be great pause...poison Oak- PERIOD

Well this sounds like a ****show. All this happened, and Oak's buddy Rafael Casal still took up for his cause, straight away cheapening the complex discussion that should be had about race? And Cynthia Erivo, for all her talent, really had no idea what was going on--so her "sticking up for both actors and the rest of the cast" or whatever was nonsense. That one in particular annoys me because I liked her so much after seeing The Color Purple and in a few interviews, but she was so so so wrong about everything and you'll never hear otherwise from her.

I get that maybe he wanted to mold the part to suit him better, but he's coming in as a replacement. There are certain marks you have to hit, etc, to make the show work. It's not going to be an organic process. It's going to be cross here cross there because the lights are programmed to hit you there. That's what a replacement is, and then you work within those boundaries. But maybe he didn't get that? Who knows.

What I don;t get is why a show that ran off-Broadway for years and had numerous tryouts, was consistently in the millionaire club for many months with Josh and even after Josh left was making over 800k a week found themselves so short of funds that they couldn't even weather a few weeks. Oak or no Oak this screams major financial mismanagement.

Seriously, where did the money go?

Here's another:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2017/08/08/great-comet-controversy-could-continue-after-closing/#177e848a2c31

I'm glad RippedMan agrees. I thought I was alone. I didn't think Oak would fit when they first announced him. I saw Oak in Ham and loved him. But the finesse of Josh vs the rough Oak just couldn't reconcile in my head. Now I've seen Oak a couple of times. He's gotten better since his first appearance. And he got ovations each time. He just needed time or at least a month.

He added humor to the role that Josh didn't and the audience loved his facial expressions. In fact, the cast was cutting up a lot on Wednesday, 8/9 that brought roars.

I keep hoping a miracle will keep it open, but not likely.

Poor planning? Yup, no doubt. Hedge fund folks are generally sophisticated gamblers. Looks like Hagan didn't gamble right. They should've had a replacement lined up for Groban and Oak in early Spring.

I thought the show needed some serious editing to tighten up the story. Sometimes being too busy isn't good. Theater goers seem to like simplicity like DEH and ComeFrom Away. Simple story, easily told.