Ladies and Gentleman....Taye Diggs is your next Hedwig — Page 13

I hope Taye settles into the role soon. It does seem, based on some of the comments here, that he has a great deal of potential, with some people commenting on his beautifully soulful and unique delivery of the songs, and the sadness he brings to the role that others have commented upon. I know he has not been involved on Broadway for quite some time, so he must be adjusting to stage acting again. Taye himself had commented that he has talked to Darren several times before while Darren was in the role, and watched some of Darren's performances, so it does sound like they were communicating before Darren left. I imagine John must be available to help too. I'm hopeful that he'll settle in the role soon. quizking101, ethan231h, and timrobb1414 stated they are seeing him next week. Hopefully, things will be much improved by then.

Updated On: 7/24/15 at 07:00 PM

It's so great that each Hedwig actor passes on advice to the following Hedwig. It really seems that the actors who have played Hedwig have been supportive of each other. I know Neil commented very positively on Taye's promo photo and he wished Darren good luck before Darren's run. HedwigOnBway also listed Darren's tweet of good luck to Taye. I'm sure John is always there to help each and every Hedwig.

Updated On: 7/24/15 at 07:11 PM

MaddieBB12, yes, that was just so great of Michael to help out when John hurt his knee and needed some time to recover.

Updated On: 7/24/15 at 07:29 PM

I thought Darren had a new bit of physicality after he was Tommy, and into Midnight Radio, where he ran his hands over his chest and torso like he was sort of reconnecting with Hansel after so many years, which made the moment where he refuses the wig more powerful when I saw him. That was the only thing I didn't recall from the previous Hedwigs... although aside from JCM, I only saw each other one once.

My interpretation was always the Wicked Little Town Reprise is Hedwig dreaming that Tommyfinally gives her what she needs in regards to the appreciation for what she did for him. It's Hedwig coming to terms with all of the hurt and pain. Then Midnight Radio is Hansel finally realizing he is enough as himself. That despite all of the pain he has been through that he doesn't need another person to complete him. He is enough on his own.

Again, just my interpretation and I am a newb HedHead.

"My interpretation was always the Wicked Little Town Reprise is Hedwig dreaming that Tommyfinally gives her what she needs in regards to the appreciation for what she did for him. It's Hedwig coming to terms with all of the hurt and pain. Then Midnight Radio is Hansel finally realizing he is enough as himself. That despite all of the pain he has been through that he doesn't need another person to complete him. He is enough on his own.
Again, just my interpretation and I am a newb HedHead."

Agreed 100%

I agree, Wicked Little Rent head.

I agree with that interpretation except I don't think of her as Hansel at the end. I don't think of her as Hedwig either, really. She's both. She's realized she's enough as herself, but it's still an open question who Hedwig/Hansel is now that she's come to terms with everything she's been through.

As for Taye, it's really disappointing that he would go on so unprepared, struggling for lines. It seems from interviews that he respects the part and recognizes that it's extremely challenging, so I wonder what happened.

"I also went last night, and I have to disagree with those who are loving his voice. It's way too low and just sounds "off" for virtually every song, though his Exquisite Corpse might actually be one of the worst things I've ever heard on a Broadway stage.

However, the core issue is that he doesn't know his lines at all. He's saying every sentence so slowly, reaching into his brain for the next part of it, resulting in the show running over two hours, and also in him being so focused on trying to remember the next word that he hasn't had time to create any character or make any acting choices (other than an accent which sounds Jamaican more than anything else). He doesn't appear to have thought about who Hedwig is for a minute, and as a result, we never - even for a moment - get caught up in the story/character or believe the artifice. It's just Taye up there, trying (and failing) to prove he can sing, dance, and remember his lines.

I saw an interview with him where he was asked what was something new he would be bringing to Hedwig, and he answered something in the vein of "Darker skin." I thought it was just a laugh line on a talk show, but it seems that's about as much thought as he gave it. I've seen this piece many, many times and it's never been more apparent to me how much work and ability it requires from an actor.

He may know his lines better in a month or so, but he's going to really need to work on actually thinking about the text and creating a character here. I'm not sure whether or not he'll be the last Hedwig of this production, but I will be very surprised if he finishes his scheduled run."

I'm so happy you mentioned the Jamaican accent thing!! That's exactly what it sounds like. So awful.

Your post is pretty spot on and I agree completely, but I did like his version of those 3 songs, though they are not the best versions by a long shot.

He has a lot of work to do.

So far Taye seems to sell well so I doubt he won't finish his scheduled run. Of course word of mouth could be bad for sales later on, in case he doesn't improve much, but I don't know, I think saying that you'd be surprised if he doesn't end his scheduled run early goes a bit far.

Quite honestly if he keeps selling like he is, they could extend it. After all, this is a numbers business, not ways quality.

I do plan to see him again because I can't stay away, but I'm not going to see him for a while.

I saw the show last night as well and I agree with StageStar and WickedLittleRentHead. Taye's accent was really strange and he clearly was fumbling for lines, and almost fell off the car during his first few scenes. He called out some of his troubles with the mic and make-up (the "whitney rag" may be the temp fix but it was unbelievably distracting). I think one of his strong points is he doing well with improv and off the cuff remarks (much more than Darren did), so that was refreshing. Overall it was a bit disappointing but I'm glad I had read thoughts from others on his first two shows, so it helped temper my expectations. I definitely agree that if you haven't got tickets, to wait a bit.

I was able to pick up a 'Hurt Locker' playbill, and as of last night, those have not changed. And for anyone curious, my TDF seat was in the last row of the orchestra, next to the sound board (I had similar back orchestra TDF seats during Darren's run).

NPH very wisely trained for the role for months, like the marathon. He worked on his voice, the songs, got into very specific shape. And apparently spent much time exploring the text. All things that prove: this role requires a very specific set of triple threat chops. I remember reading about Cerveris going in, the 2nd Hedwig in NY, and he was so daunted, he began training, too. And he had the rock band experience on his resume. Replacements on Broadway face comparisons, invariably, often without anywhere near the prep time. In this case, it seems the role is being rehearsed -- to learn the requisite stamina -- in front of audiences. Not the first actor to learn how to pace a performance. Yet from these reports, it sounds like the specific homework needed to nail a character 180 from Diggs simply wasn't accomplished. As others above suggest, those kinds of decisions aren't easily made once an actor is in performance, when simply finding the energy and rhythm are the nightly 90 minute focus. I wonder how much if any rehearsal is continuing? Were this a new show, he could be putting in 3-4 hours a day, as per previews. But under the traditional put-in circumstances, probably not. Too bad.