Mandy Patinkin to join THE GREAT COMET as Pierre for 3 week run! — Page 10

This whole situation is such a mess and should have been handled way better, really unfair to Oak given how his run started late and now is getting cut early :/

Interesting thought but for the long run, I think Ramin Karimloo could potentially be fantastic as Pierre. Thoughts?

PaulWom said: "Here's something no one is saying out loud, but plenty of people have mentioned in conversation w me: where was your support for Oak yesterday? A week ago?"

A week ago, I bought 7 tickets for my family visiting from Texas to see Oak, with many of my nieces and nephews making Oak in Comet their first Broadway show. Ingrid even signed my youngest niece and nephew's arms at the stage door. So, I think I supported Oak ok.

And, yesterday, I bought three onstage seats for Mandy.

Good for Oak for being a professional, not that I doubted he would. Saw that he wore his Hamilton hat to stage door with, at least the guy knows he's friends with Lin, which almost always means future jobs down the road.

TNick926 said: "Since Mandy is only doing the show for 3 weeks, isn't it possible Oak will be right back in the role after Mandy's brief stint?"

If that were planned, one imagines it would have been announced as such. The question of Oak's brief run was always seen as a holdover to a big-name Pierre coming in for the fall.

mullein said: "Would the brief sales boost be worth it in the end?"

To be fair, the show never said they were bringing Mandy in to boost the box office, the Internet decided that was the reason. They may have just wanted Mandy in the show.

Some comments in this thread are insane.

What it boils down to is that the producers didn't make the best business decision, and as opposed to having integrity and sticking to the decisions they made, they took the easy and shady way out. The show was doing fine business without Groban, and as long as they had a name to come in after Oak they would be fine. They cast Oak months ago, and knew he wouldn't blow up the box office. The producers have had one hit, and they weren't even the lead producers on it. They're tone deaf to how this is playing.

Patinkin will be great, but now his run will be tainted with how poorly this was done.

Link:

https://twitter.com/dave_malloy/status/890573499156353026

seaweedjstubbs said: "As a very small member of the black NYC theatre community, I have to defend the people who are vocally upset about this decision. While I don't think it's completely fair to call anyone racist in this situation, it still hurts to see a talented black actor have to give up a role to anyone, even a legend like Mandy Patinkin. None of us besides Oak and the producers know exactly how this situation was handled, but from the outside looking in, it doesn't look good at all. It just adds to a growing list of situations similar to this, namely the way that the closings of SHUFFLE ALONG, MOTOWN (the 2016 return), and AFTER MIDNIGHT were handled. Each of those shows received abrupt closing notices under shady circumstances and were thoroughly discussed on this board and elsewhere. As a black actor, it just begins to feel like producers have very little faith in black performers unless they're in a show that's a hit right out of the gate like HAMILTON. I think this outcry is a culmination of those feelings. The anger and hurt people are expressing is not all stemming from this one decision. It's just hard not to take these decisions personally when they feel like they keep happening over and over again. Hope that this makes sense and explains why people are "bringing race into it" as you're all so fond of saying.



"

ITA with you and am sorry that people are reacting so rudely towards the people who are upset or at least looking at this situation critically. I think it speaks volumes that Oak hasn't made a statement on twitter about the situation and the fact that even with objectively decent looking numbers, TGC may be in trouble financially does not speak well to the show's future at all.

It's such a shame, after Hamilton there seemed to be such a naive hope that projects with POC actors would be presented with more perfect opportunities to showcase their talents. And now with this latest disaster I'm sure, as you mentioned, seaweed, that it just seems like a slap in the face no matter if the decision was based in race or not. My heart goes out to Oak and any who are frustrated and disillusioned by the way this was handled. This whole debacle smells a bit of the Oscars mixup, as now Oak and Mandy are both only going to be viewed by this mess during their stints in TGC. Such a shame.

Jarethan said: "schubox said: "In reference to the seating, they only removed 200 seats and there are probably nearly that many in stage

"That is not what is shown on the weekly grossers list, both number of seats and gross potential.

"

I think they are about 200 down net, including the additional stage seats

It's the Kagans. What do you expect?

To all those who keep yelling "it's just show biz," SURPRISE there's also the basic level of respect that any performer or person deserves. Oak's basically forced into a situation where there was no other way but to step down, voluntarily or not. The rest of cast is suddenly pulled into the rehearsal process at the whim of the producers, especially the Kagans whose Ars Nova farce is still a fresh memory for many of us in this community. Moreover, Mandy's only got four weeks' time of rehearsal for a role that requires a very nuanced, intricate understanding of the character, the show, and the book; there's just so much in Malloy's and Tolstoy's writing that takes time to digest. I'm not questioning Mandy's ability as an actor, but it's unfair for him, as well as the audience, to undertake a role in four weeks that other actors take months to prepare.

If you still think business should at any time override the respect that every living being deserves, think again.

Updated On: 7/27/17 at 11:36 AM

ChairinMain said: "Oak got a raw deal. Absolutely. But actors get raw deals all the damn time, and no one cares. Henry Goodman got fired from The Producers...."

Henry Goodman was terrible. Every performer needs time to settle into their role, and evolve. I respect that. I understand that.

He performed like it was his first time on a stage, EVER. He did not have the humor for the part, let alone to be anywhere near that show. It was a mismatch from the beginning. How he made it past rehearsals without that being evident, I'll never know.



That said: the man is very talented and has done other wonderful work.

Dave Malloy's tweet is the perfect summary - this is an economic decision that has turned into a PR disaster.

Controversial opinion time: Oak is not a great fit for the role and was not artistically doing all they expected him to.

I saw Hamilton 6 times (3 times off, 3 times on Broadway) and have seen Great Comet 8 times (Groban, Malloy, and Oak). I thought Oak was terrific in Hamilton and was thrilled to see him all 6 times.

In my opinion, Oak's portrayal of Pierre was my least favorite for three reasons:

- Constraints related to the role (he is not very good on the piano and it is distracting to me, curious re: the theories on whether Mandy will play)

- His own character choices (I feel he did a lot more active acting instead of internalized acting and it didn't ring as true to me)

- Choices I assume were production related (styling him as a disheveled nerd type which although consistent with other portrayals I don't think plays to Oak's strengths or how I would picture him as Pierre)

The fact that he started a week late is a pretty fair sign that some of the above was at play - e.g. either he or the production was not fully happy with how things were clicking into place.

So I do think there is a little bit of that playing in here. This is just my opinion of how the show played for me with him in it. I understand he put in a ton of work to get to the point he got to and I respect him for that and look forward to his next role!