LA CAGE LEADS THE PACK WITH 14 NOMINATIONS!- Page 2

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 2:40pm

Thenardier, you're not the only one =) I also loved Gary Beach in 'La Cage'. I loved Daniel Davis, too. In fact, we went back a second time because we enjoyed their performances, as well as the show in general, so much.

I am behind this production for Best Revival 100% and while Beach is not headed for a win, I feel that his nomination was deserved and I am happy for him. He is an extraordinary performer and an incredibly kind human being.

[Mamie]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 2:53pm

popcultureboy's right about the producers staying mum. I think it was Reidel who came right out and started the poison about Davis. Had any of the producers given a damn they should have stopped it at that point. Their behavour was entirely wrong. It's left a bad taste in my mouth about this entire production and that's a real shame.

[grizzabella]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 3:27pm

I have to agree with you, Mamie! I had exactly the same reaction to the handling of the whole thing. It struck me as exceptionally nasty and unprofessional. Usually, when someone exits a cast, for whatever reasons, there is simply a statement about "creative differences" or somesuch. This deliberate attack on Mr. Davis's professional reputation by "sources at the Marquis" through Riedel was underhanded. If "What happens at La Cage stays at La Cage," were true, this would have happened differently.

[sassypanz]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 4:26pm

Its SQUASH the rumours not quash! LOL. That made me laugh! quash!LOLOLOLOL

[~Leah~]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 4:27pm

"Also, Gavin Creel disagreed with the press about Daniel Davis from the beginning. He was verbally sticking up for him throughout the whole ordeal."

Umgeoboy, where did you read or hear that Creel commented on what happened? In fact I've never read a statement by a cast member about what was going on backstage - besides what Michael Benjamin Washington had to say. I thought his comments where very vague and not at all meaningful. It sounded more like something one "would say" in cases like that.

So... was there an interview with Creel or Beach after Davis left the show? I suspect that most of what we think to "know" is gossip and not at all reliable. Just my opinion tho. It's just so ironic that the sentence "What happens at La Cage stays at La Cage" got so meaningful for this production!

[justthefacts2]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 8:07pm

quash is synomous with squash.

Michael Benjamin Washington's comments were not vague. He was very specific about his dealings with Davis, noting the circumstances under which he found him "kind" and "patient", and specific about the time frame in which he dealt with him. It covered the rehearsal period through to Davis' departure. To my knowledge, he is the only eyewitness to this situation identified on written record in the public forum.

Gary Beach is on record as of his nomination saying of the stories about backstage problems "most of it wasn't true." But he mentions no names and no specifics.

It doesn't surprise me that stories "filtered" from the Marquis to the detriment of Davis. What does surprise me is that they should be unquestioningly accepted as if such sources were completely without agenda or prejudice. Has no one on this board ever been lied about in their lives?

I presented my "theory" of what could have happened. So far, it's as good as anyone else's. Witches were hanged in Salem based on "inside knowledge."

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 7:54am

Witches were hanged in Salem based on "inside knowledge."

Overreact much?

I want to remake my earlier point that Mamie seconded. If these stories "mostly weren't true" then someone from Davis's camp or, much more importantly, the producers of La Cage, should have taken steps to get rid of these rumours and make the truth known. If there is almost no truth to it, it certainly shouldn't get to the point of being reported on theatre websites that Davis has been let go for being difficult. And if it did (which it did) something should have been done to get it all retracted. So why wasn't it?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 8:08am

". . .it certainly shouldn't get to the point of being reported on theatre websites that Davis has been let go for being difficult."

Maybe the lesson , in the end, is that people aren't concerned with what's happening on a theatre web-site.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 8:10am

I meant official theatre websites as a news article, like playbill.com and Broadway.com, to name but 2. Not message boards such as these.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 8:12am

Until I hear of VERY SPECIFIC and ON THE RECORD reports of EXACTLY what Davis did to merit his firing, then I'm convinced he is being smeared.

And often, performers who are accused of being "difficult" are the most demanding. And usually the most capable.

Updated On: 5/12/05 at 08:12 AM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 8:15am

Pop - I figured that's what you meant - but I still wonder if it matters to most people.

[LaCageAuxFollesFan2]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 9:02am

All the Daniel Davis talk aside, I just want to go on record and say how very happy I am that LA CAGE was recognized with 4 Tony Nominations!

Especially GARY BEACH for his now layerd and nuaunced turn as ZaZa & Albin. Jerry Mitchell for what hopefully will be his first Tony Award for having the best ensemble of a musical to work with this season. If there was only a way to give each of those boys an award! William Ivy Long for costuming this production with so much sparkles, feathers, spangles, and glitz! And to the entire production...it has been one hell of a ride from the Cast Recording to Danny Davis to Robert Goulet...you deserve the best Musical Revival Tony and will prevail! Thank god what happens at the Marquis doesnt stay at the Marquis and people have told folks to go and ENJOY! Bravo!

[Albin]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 10:02am

...but did you like the show?

[bonna]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 11:08am

"the producers of La Cage, should have taken steps to get rid of these rumours and make the truth known."

The producers wouldn't take steps to get rid of these rumors because I suspect that they contributed to putting the stories out there in the first place, as a way to sway public opinion that they did the right thing in replacing Davis with Goulet.

"If there is almost no truth to it, it certainly shouldn't get to the point of being reported on theatre websites that Davis has been let go for being difficult."

But that's what often happens. One news outlet reports a story and then scores of others -- from Playbill.com to the New York Times -- copy that first story and attribute it "to a published report." If there are inaccuracies, those inaccuracies get repeated.

"And if it did (which it did) something should have been done to get it all retracted. So why wasn't it?"

Sometimes I think people prefer just to let these stories die out and move one. Advice I should probably take myself.

[grizzabella]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 1:09pm

You got that right, Bonna! That seems to me to be what happened, too. I think they wanted a BIG STAR from the start and most of it was engineered to replace Daniel Davis with Goulet. For those of us who love Daniel Davis's work,(in La Cage & other things) we have to be forgiven for not wanting to see the smearing he got from the Post and which was later picked up by the other services and reported as "FACT" as several people pointed out. I hope the man can move on (and hopefully into another production!) without the professional damage that some people tried to do to him - whoever they actually were! Okay, soapbox put away. Nuf said.(I hope!)

[justthefacts2]

Posted: 5/12/05 at 9:21pm

"Overreact much?"

Okay, I give ya that one. Still, look at the board we're on.

I agree that Davis is probably letting this die out, and that is the best thing he can do at this point. Fighting gossip is a losing battle, and if that statement, as Pop pointed out, is actually Reidel and not an official statement from the producers (Wow! I let that get by me!) then gossip is all it is. He can't fight the producers.

Loved your comment about "difficult" performers, MasterLcZ.