Posted: 11/13/19 at 7:47pm
Posted: 11/13/19 at 8:27pm
This whole “off night” phenomenon is very new and it bothers me just how accepted it has become, again only with younger people. And I’m not even old! But I am old enough to remember when the time you step out on that stage in front of those ticket buyers to the time you step off was sacred time and you left EVERYTHING either in the wings or on the other side of that stage door and the only thing you cared about was your performance.
I’m not saying that 99.9% of the actors on broadway today don’t do that still but the others I feel believe it’s acceptable because they get validation for it on Twitter, Instagram and the stage door from people who want to be included in their lives. And again, it’s an insult to every single actor (struggling or otherwise) sitting at home at 8pm or working any other job they’d leave in a heartbeat for the chance that these people have.
Updated On: 11/13/19 at 08:27 PM
Posted: 11/13/19 at 8:44pm
Posted: 11/13/19 at 8:46pm
Presuming any of this is beyond mere speculation: Adlibbing? Unprofessional. Do the damn show you were hired to do. Walking through a performance? Unprofessional. Do the damn show you were hired to do. Someone mentioned it was a sound/mic issue - what has that to do with a conductor? And who exactly does this person think she is to behave like this? And is someone actually suggesting on a Broadway stage in a musical that performers are now wearing earpieces so they can hear the band??? The hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of monitors isn't enough for them? And what ever would these poor dears have done before sound designers kept pushing things to become more unnatural? Somehow musical theater did just fine without all this crap and overdone and over processed sound. I always harken back to the original production of A Chorus Line - one of the most perfect sound designs I've ever heard in a Broadway theater, with nary a body mic anywhere. Foot mics and shotgun mics, the end. In the revival everyone had a mic and the band was pumped up, sound-wise - and guess what? It sounded like merde compared to the original.
If anyone has any actual and real information about what the deal was, present it, please.
Posted: 11/13/19 at 9:01pm
As an actor, I've definitely felt like I've had off days - and I've had fellow cast-mates tell me when they felt like they were having an off day. But an "off day" for us usually means that we made several small mistakes that made us feel like things were a bit off-kilter. Or maybe we cracked a bit on that big high note we always dread. Or maybe we felt that we hadn't QUITE connected to the emotions of the scene as fully and completely as we usually do.
But 95% of the time, these things that constitute an "off day" were not noticeable to the audience, or if some of the audience caught it, it was only for one moment of the show, and the rest of the performance seemed perfectly normal. This situation is on a whole other level. And my experience is from working on shows that aren't even remotely close to Broadway-level standards.
Posted: 11/13/19 at 9:03pm
Posted: 11/13/19 at 9:13pm
Posted: 11/13/19 at 9:43pm
SouthernCakes said: "I really wouid love to know! Can someone pay for a cameo with her and ask? ?"
This wins the thread.
Posted: 11/13/19 at 9:52pm
mailhandler777 said: "Meanwhile on the tour Mariah had to call out right before World Burns because she was gonna puke."
It was actually right before Someone Gets Hurt. I was there, it was wild.
Posted: 11/13/19 at 11:45pm
Posted: 11/13/19 at 11:56pm
This is a bummer to read. Saw her last year and she was great (although saw Olivia Kaufmann recently who was just as great!)
Random question about Broadway pits while we're kind of at it. This may sound silly, but do conductors and musicians use any sort of click track to keep tempo or is it completely set by the conductor?
Posted: 11/13/19 at 11:57pm
Posted: 11/14/19 at 12:11am
florida theatre kid said: "This is a bummer to read. Saw her last year and she was great (although saw Olivia Kaufmann recently who was just as great!)
Random question about Broadway pits while we're kind of at it. This may sound silly, but do conductors and musicians use any sort of click track to keep tempo or is it completely set by the conductor?"
There are click tracks when it's absolutely necessary to play at a certain tempo (like recorded parts that NEED to play along no matter what, like the lover part in No One Mourns the Wicked or the Prologue of The Phantom of the Opera, when some instruments are recorded), but most often than not it's completely set by the conductor.
Posted: 11/14/19 at 12:20am
florida theatre kid said: "This is a bummer to read. Saw her last year and she was great (although saw Olivia Kaufmann recently who was just as great!)
Random question about Broadway pits while we're kind of at it. This may sound silly, but do conductors and musicians use any sort of click track to keep tempo or is it completely set by the conductor?"
It's a case by case basis. There are some shows that will and some that won't. For those shows that do use a click track sometimes it may be for an entire song, sometimes it may be used just for a certain sequence because it needs to time a precise way due to some combination of tech elements and safety reasons. Other songs and sections may be freer where the creatives want the actors to have a little more freedom and the conductor is almost following the actors more than the actors the conductor.
Posted: 11/14/19 at 12:22am
Posted: 11/14/19 at 12:36am
Seems like it's all IG but stuff gets deleted.
Posted: 11/14/19 at 1:20am
Luminaire2 said: "Hearing she removed Mean Girls from her instagram bio... and she was out today... wondering if she’s permanently removed from the show."
From what I'm seeing, she also unfollowed the Mean Girls instagram account. Not trying to jump the gun and say that she is absolutely quitting the show or that this would be a good way of knowing that, as it's pretty subjective... but yeah it does seem like that might insinuate that she is preparing to leave or will be leaving permanently after last evening's performance. Which is a bummer, what a horribly crappy way to end such an acclaimed run.
Posted: 11/14/19 at 1:42am
VotePeron said: "Can people making claims about what happened please provide links to sources, or mention that it’s a personal source on your end?"
My claim that she's not coming back was a personal source
Posted: 11/14/19 at 1:48am
Posted: 11/14/19 at 3:57am
Posted: 11/14/19 at 4:33am
WestEndGal said: "My issue is that BWW obviously extended her contract beyond the usual 1 year by choice ... so feeling tired or bored with a show and therefore giving a half baked performance shouldn’t be used as an excuse. Maybe there’s other stuff going on with her though which caused her to act unprofessionally, but it obviously feels like she could have handled things better. Not a good look for her.
Idk, maybe there’s just general issues BTS right now with the show? Taylor Louderman was quite vocal also (on her insta) about how she wasn’t enjoying it anymore before she left, but I’m not sure if she meant mt in general rather than the show."
Taylors reason for leaving the show was not related to backstage drama or problems with the cast or anything. I think she was quite vocal about how she wasn't getting the same creative joy out of doing the same thing 8X a week anymore. I reread her post about it and could be wrong but I think that's what it was. As for BWW, I'm honestly not sure.
Posted: 11/14/19 at 11:15am
If there were problems with the monitors, how is that the conductor's fault? Surely the sound op or general technical fault was at the root of it?
Seems an odd reason to get into a fight with the conductor?
Someone leak the show report!
Posted: 11/14/19 at 11:37am
devonian.t said: "If there were problems with the monitors, how is that the conductor's fault? Surely the sound op or general technical fault was at the root of it?"
All of this has been, and continues to be speculation. But, monitors can only amplify what's being sent to them. *If* for whatever reason she wasn't hearing what she was used to hearing, it could be because somebody in the pit wasn't playing what is normally played. On a show like Mean Girls, the monitor mix does not change from performance to performance -- the levels are set in tech and don't change.
Posted: 11/14/19 at 11:41am
That's why the whole thing so strange. If there was a big argument it could well have been "you didn't play that line"- "yes I did" at the root of it but surely this far into a run it's hard to not hear when to come in?
Posted: 11/14/19 at 12:34pm
I concur with @trpguyy
Her "I can't hear anything" quote doesn't seem like it was directed at sound levels. To me at least. More probable is that she could not hear entrance notes in the music. Perhaps b/c the conductor (whether it was a sub or not) and orchestra were not giving her some music line which is normally in, and that she normally finds her notes from. And if, as other comments note, she has been out for quite some time, she would likely be relying on the music to find notes more than usual.
