Mandy Patinkin to join THE GREAT COMET as Pierre for 3 week run! — Page 6

leighmiserables said: "I'm upset with how this went down, too, but I think he's being very inappropriate in response to it."

If we have to wait for facts, what is the point of our opinions?!

I'm not really liking Casal's tweets either. Yes, Oak getting pushed out isn't a great look for the show racially, but it's not like they're shoving out Denee Benton or Amber Gray too. Comet has done a lot in terms of diversity, and cutting an actor's run short because of Mandy Patinkin's schedule shouldn't cancel all that out. I do hope Oak returns, and that there are more diverse actors in the role of Pierre through the run of the show.

I would absolutely love to see this, but I was just in NYC earlier this month so it's not gonna happen.

I think Pierre is a very flexible part in this adaptation, and I'd buy a lot of different types of people in that role as long as they could sing and act.

What an exciting headline to read after spending the rest of the day worried about our national headlines.

The Great Comet Twitter feed just highlighted the Broadway.com story quoting Howard Kagan saying Oak "graciously agreed to make room for Mandy's schedule and we sincerely hope he'll return to us this fall/winter." There may be a bit of damage control going on now. (For what it's worth, the responses are rather scathing, considering that it's the show's own Twitter account.)

But it's clear that Oak's return is far from certain. And he's not quoted in the story, not that he would say anything critical anyway.

Malloy is very enthusiastic about Patinkin. The show doesn't rely on a hint of romantic interest between Natasha and Pierre until the very end, so that might be a little less creepy. But he's still much too old for the part.

The show is clearly going to rely on a whole lot of stunt casting going forward. (Patinkin is a Broadway vet, so it's not stunt casting in the classic sense, but he's only there for three weeks, probably can't play the instruments, and isn't age-appropriate. So it feels like a stunt to me.)

I'm glad I saw the show when I did, with a cast of unknowns (to me) along with Groban, who knew their roles so well.

Updated On: 7/26/17 at 03:10 PM

Ok, but who the fuck even is Rafael Casal?

bear88 said: "The Great Comet Twitter feed just highlighted the Broadway.com story quoting Howard Kagan "

That is the story that had the original quotes from them, and broke first, so not surprising they would promote the outlet to which they gave the scoop.

quizking101 said: "imeldasturn said: "How long before Patinkin starts beating cast members in character



"

Dolokhov can stop him. He's a crazy good shot."



he got lucky with the Shah's brother



He can't even hit Pierre

haterobics said: "Does Patinkin count as stunt casting a celebrity on Broadway? He got his start on Broadway. Not some Hollywood type dropping in for street cred."

I know there's been a lot of disagreement on this board about what constitutes "stunt" casting, so I won't open that can of worms (notice I didn't use that term in my original post). But it is celebrity casting. Patinkin, as you said, is no stranger to Broadway, but this doesn't strike me as the kind of show we would expect him to be in if the producers weren't looking to sell tickets with a star name. And much of the discussion in this thread surrounds firing a virtually unknown actor over a big TV and Broadway star.

Now I kind of want them to cast LuPone as Marya D. Wouldn't you kill to see her do "In My House"?

Updated On: 7/26/17 at 03:40 PM

If I were Great Comet's Publicity team and saw all the hate these Hamilton Fans are giving twitter, I would respond...If you had bought full price tickets instead of being a twitter troll we wouldn't have to replace Oak with Patinkin to keep the show open.... #moneytalks

Then again, I don't work in publicity, and probably shouldn't.



Also clearly none of these people realize the cast is completely colorblind.....with Oak being the first black man to play Pierre in over the course of 4 different productions and 5 years. Its not like they cast Patinkin to play Hamilton, or Patti Lupone to play Effie instead of Amber Ryan in the upcoming Dreamgirls revival.

Updated On: 7/26/17 at 03:46 PM

bdn223 said: "If I were Great Comet's Publicity team and saw all the hate these Hamilton Fans are giving twitter, I would respond...If you had bought full price tickets instead of being a twitter troll we wouldn't have to replace Oak with Patinkin to keep the show open.... #moneytalks

Then again, I don't work in publicity, and probably shouldn't. "

Yeah, because that argument doesn't really make any sense.

haterobics said: Ingrid filled in for Brittain's planned vacation time, and it sounds like Patinkin juggled his Homeland schedule to make these three weeks happen, so not sure much can be read into these. Oak was scheduled for a small run from the outset, though."

"Planned vacation time" ... not how it happened. Like Oak, she did not take the time voluntarily, and is still being paid. Which kinda kills the racism narrative, the producers will also replace a white person with a bigger name.

Updated On: 7/26/17 at 03:57 PM