Lips Together..Has just been cancelled !!- Page 2

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 3/25/10 at 11:33pm

I agree that this reflects very badly on Mullally.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/25/10 at 11:41pm

I checked Ratatouille's website and he hasn't updated since Monday, so there's no word on what it was like when Karen was dissatisfied with his performance, but I'm pretty sure we all remember how mean Karen can be when she doesn't like you. Heck, she was mean when she did like you!

[Brick]

Posted: 3/25/10 at 11:43pm

"She is a beloved TV personality and clearly this whole production hinged on her."

Bingo. She was this production's draw. And if she felt the play was going under, and no one was listening to her, and she would get raked over the coals in a second turkey show, then she left.

It smells like there was more. NO ONE, not even super famous Mantello with the best rolodex in town could get a replacement to B'way revival? Something tells me there was tension and everyone was a little concerned.

Sounds like Mullally was just concerned (perhaps wrongly) that the heat was on her, and she decided she'd rather be with her mom.

This won't end her career. This isn't a Piven incident.

[crushgroove]

Posted: 3/25/10 at 11:49pm

If you hinge a whole show on the popularity and talent of one actor in an ensemble...you shouldn't be mounting the play in the first place.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 3/25/10 at 11:53pm

I think she should have just stuck with the show. This reflects terribly on her professionalism. She's surely not the first actress to realize she was stuck in a crappy project, but she should have just fulfilled her contract, get the only good reviews, and then forget it ever happened. (This is the same woman that did that horrible sitcom about the moms but promoted it until the cows came home.) This would've been a forgettable blip, only two months of her life, yet she chose to cause this debacle. Good reasons or no, she's a quitter.

[Brick]

Posted: 3/25/10 at 11:58pm

Eh, you're probably right.

I imagine her statement will focus on her ill mother, which in all compassion may have been the largest part of her decision.

I don't think Roundabout will come after her, though. When things like this happen, it doesn't come out of nowhere. I have a feeling its a little more complex than it seems.

And also, it isn't. She didn't want to do it. So, she quit.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:01am

Still, Ratatouille must feel like crap. "Karen quit a show over me!"

In his defense, I saw him emcee a Michael Penn & Aimee Mann show and he was hilarious.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:18am

"I think she should have just stuck with the show. This reflects terribly on her professionalism. She's surely not the first actress to realize she was stuck in a crappy project, but she should have just fulfilled her contract, get the only good reviews, and then forget it ever happened. (This is the same woman that did that horrible sitcom about the moms but promoted it until the cows came home.) This would've been a forgettable blip, only two months of her life, yet she chose to cause this debacle. Good reasons or no, she's a quitter"

Indeed, you are saying exactly what I was thinking. I mean, she had a flop with "In The Motherhood", that was a hit online when Chelsea Handler starred in it, but then couldn't commit to the project due to her contract with E!
Megan had a failed sitcom, also had a failed talk show, a flop on Broadway, and promotes butter. How could a play by one of America's most respected playwrights ruin her career to begin with?

[wonderland01]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:55am

Re: muscle23ftl

If Butz were being replaced in this analogy, this would be very true. But we're comparing Mullally to Piven, who is just as famous (and more recently so) as Mullally.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 7:01am

"If Butz were being replaced in this analogy, this would be very true. But we're comparing Mullally to Piven, who is just as famous (and more recently so) as Mullally"

I agree, but they were saying they got Butz to replace Piven, as if Butz was a big BO draw. Piver and Mullally might be, but Butz was an emergency replacement, not on the same level of popularity as the other 2.

[crushgroove]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 7:49am

I wasn't saying Butz was as popular or as big a box office draw. I was saying that Piven was quickly replaceable--AND by someone more talented. I think Butz only had a week to learn the show and take over for the understudy when Piven left. As I remember, Butz was even better in the part. I was saying Mullally could have been replaced. No doubt about it. I think there were more problems with the show than we are aware of.

I was saying that EVERYONE is replaceable.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 8:09am

You are right, most people(I don't think everybody though) is replaceable, but it could get tough to find a big name. Evidently they wanted a 'name' to lead this play.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 8:28am

I heard that Kristen Chenoweth is leaving "Promises, Promises" and that Mullally is going to assume the role.

[MissNYC83]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 8:48am

Broadway is used to facing departures like this one and they always recast within two days. Actually, every single theatre has a list of names, just in case something like that happens. If The Roundabout didn't recast anyone, it means there was something more than Megan's departure.


The cast of The Receptionist in which she played this past summer wasn't that experienced and it didn't stop her the slightest bit. She got involved into a car crash while the show was running and she didn't quit in spite of her broken wrist.

So I don't think she is very diva-ish. She doesn't mind working with brand new actors and doesn't give up because of a minor injury.





Updated On: 3/28/10 at 08:48 AM

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 9:51am

Thanks, Karen....errr....I mean Megan.

Updated On: 3/26/10 at 09:51 AM

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 9:59am

Megan,

Have we got a part for you, baby! Hit us up!!

[newintown]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 10:15am

Personally, I always thought it was not the best idea to re-mount this 2nd-tier tiny play in the huge American Airlines. It would get lost, just like the Prelude to A Kiss revival.

Maybe not as bad as a revival of The Belle of Amherst in the Gershwin starring Jenna Elfman, but that probably won't ever happen anyway... or will it?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 10:47am

I thought Jenna was doing "Belle of Amherst" at Madison Square Garden, the WaMu Theater.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 11:50am

"I don't think it necessarily reflects bad on Mullally, or well, at least not in my opinion since I actually think it makes sense she didn't want to open with a show that was going to receive the same critical dismissal that YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN got and she cannot keep getting herself involved with that kind of show."

I love how the "fact" that this was going to be a bad show is just common, accepted knowledge on this board.

She is atrocious.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:05pm

Karen said that backstage kettle was for tea.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:07pm

Those of you who are comparing this to Jeremy Piven being replaced with Norbert Leo Butz are also forgetting that he basically was only filling in for a couple of weeks until William H. Macy was available to play the role. He's definitely not as famous as Piven or Mullally but he's also more well-known than Butz (who, regardless, was fabulous in Speed-the-Plow).

As others have said, there's probably something else going on that they would just cancel the production entirely after Mullally's departure.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:11pm

None of this would have happened if the folks at the Roundabout would just read my signature quote.


Turn the tub around, indeed!

Updated On: 3/26/10 at 12:11 PM

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:15pm

There were a few things that make SPEED-THE-PLOW very different from this situation.

1. Piven's understudy had received plenty of rehearsal by the time Piven left, so the understudy was able to go on for a week while Butz prepared, and they did not have to cancel performances. In most Broadway shows, the understudies do not begin rehearsing until after the show opens, so it is very possible that Megan's understudy could not have been ready to go on in time for the first preview.

2. Both actors they pulled to replace Piven (Butz and Macy) were veterans of David Mamet's acting school and company, so they knew the play very well and it was only a matter of refreshing themselves and learning the blocking. That's why they were able to go in so quickly.

That said, I do agree that there must have been something else going on besides Megan for them to cancel the show altogether.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:20pm

Given Joe Mantello's track record for directing actors and Roundabout's pedigree of recent flops, I certainly don't think Mullally's concerns about Oswalt not improving were unjustified.

While her level of professionalism in the situation can be debated ad nauseam, I hope this teaches Roundabout a lesson about their "star over substance" policy. If Oswalt didn't have the chops to pull off the role, he should have never been hired in the first place.

Was he really selling any tickets?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/26/10 at 12:35pm

Do NOT discount the Ratatouille/King of Queens demographic.