Leslie Odom Jr Leaving Hamilton — Page 12

LOL @ some of the comments on this thread.

I was going to say... I don't even want to know how some of you act during contract and offer negotiations for your own employment. It's show business. It's not personal. Many of you need to stop treating it something it's not.

Clearly most of them never have had to do this.

I am finding him to be a little ungracious. He was on Bravo's Watch what happens and wasn't very gracious about SMASH. Don't know what kind of axe he has to grind with them, but dude, it's been 2 years.



And, oh gee, I guess he's gonna show the Hamilton producers by not being in their filmed stage version. So, who loses on that one Leslie? Like no one but you and the fans.



He was good in it, but not THAT good. Let's just see how his album sells. And this cautionary note, Jennifer Holiday was all that and more in the original Dreamgirls, but what else has she done of national note? And I think they replaced her just fine in (1) the original production and (2) the movie (didn't another Jennifer win an Oscar?).



Only time will tell on this one.

Updated On: 6/23/16 at 06:54 PM

Broadwayhunk said: "I doubt the producers give one whit about replacing any of the leads since they are advertising for people with no experience necessary. Anyone can talk over a booming beat and call it art."

Well this gives me just the nudge I needed to attend a casting call.

SMH.

What about actors in PLAYS? I mean they just have to get up on stage and TALK. I could totally do that. I don't even know why there's a Tony for it.

Talk about the suffocating amount of bigotry in this thread. Bottom line: don't be the grandma / aunt / grandpa / uncle that you don't want to tell you what you should and should not do every step of the way or make decisions for you.

Stop turning Leslie leaving into something it isn't. Him leaving doesn't mean that he's ungracious. It doesn't make him selfish or rude. It doesn't mean that he doesn't care about the show. There are a million reasons why he might've decided to leave, and only he knows those reasons. The man has been playing Burr for so long, perhaps he needs a break from the role. People talk a great deal about how he should renew just because he won the Tony, however some folks don't keep in mind that Hamilton opened very early in the season, after a run at the public almost 2 years ago. The man is allowed to leave without being accused of being ungracious.

Updated On: 6/24/16 at 12:14 AM

I know that Odom brought up the possibility of not being in the filmed performances himself, but is there any new information aside from that impossible-to-decipher tweet?

I will concede that I am much too interested in whether Odom (and everyone else) is in a filmed performance that might not see the light of day for years. My selfish interest is that everyone be in it, because I'd be happy to pay for a high-quality recording of the show.

In the end, it's not up to me, but I have an opinion. The producers see the show selling out for the next year on Broadway with only Javier Munoz named, and for six months in Chicago with no names attached at all. They probably don't feel the need to placate Odom or anyone else in the original cast with extra money, because the show is the star, blah blah blah.

But wasn't the point of recording the original cast, bringing back Groff, to replicate - as best as they can - the show as it existed in 2016? Not including the Tony-winning co-star seems like it defeats that purpose.

I realize it's possible that Odom may be making unreasonable demands or something. But given his oft-stated love of playing Burr, I find it hard to believe that he would pass up an opportunity to be in the recorded performance unless he feels he is being treated unfairly.

On the bright side, my wife and daughters got me the cast recording for Father's Day. I will always have that, regardless of how this particular little mini-drama plays out.

They aren't really. ...they are on own their own side. ...booohoo, I don't get to see Leslie, how dare he not make me happy.

I don't think it's that selfish for a fan of a musical that has announced it is being filmed professionally (which is pretty darn rare to begin with) to hope for the complete cast to be there. if they had waited ten years like I thought they would, then sure, who really cares who is in the cast. but if it's the original cast they're attempting to film, it should be the complete original cast. not some understudies filling in because the producers couldn't do what they had to do to ensure the filming would be accurate.

gypsy101 said: "not some understudies filling in because the producers couldn't do what they had to do to ensure the filming would be accurate."

Do you think they should've achieved some crazy logistical feats to include Betsy Struxness and Emmy Raver-Lampman as well, then?

I don't think it's that selfish for a fan of a musical that has announced it is being filmed professionally (which is pretty darn rare to begin with) to hope for the complete cast to be there.



It's actually super selfish. You should probably look up the word in the dictionary. These actors are not performing for you. They're performing to make a living, to get a paycheck and to advance their careers. It's not a difficult concept to grasp. When you express disappointment, anger or frustration, and then proceed to place those negative feelings on to the actor in question, you are making the situation only about you... and what you care about. That is selfish.