Meanest Broadway Directors

[BWWMatt]

Meanest Broadway Directors#1

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:03am

Hey guys, I need your help. I am trying to think of who some of the most legendarily mean directors in Broadway history are. I have a few, but I am drawing a blank on any more. Could you help me?

[Jordan Catalano]

Meanest Broadway Directors#2

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:07am

Lea Michele

[Wynbish]

Meanest Broadway Directors#2

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:08am

Lloyd Dallas

[BWWMatt]

Meanest Broadway Directors#3

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:24am

Haha, I wasn't aware that Lea had directed any Broadway shows yet!

[Jordan Catalano]

Meanest Broadway Directors#4

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:25am

She tells everyone what to do, so I just assumed...

[BWWMatt]

Meanest Broadway Directors#5

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:25am

Yes, Lloyd was a little mean at times in NOISES OFF, but I meant real directors. Like Arthur Laurents in known for being very hard on his actors; which usually involved quite a bit of swearing.

[jv92]

Meanest Broadway Directors#6

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:49am

Ooooh swearing! I never new directors swore!

[theatregeek6]

Meanest Broadway Directors#7

Posted: 9/20/13 at 12:05pm

Derek Wills

[ggersten]

Meanest Broadway Directors#8

Posted: 9/20/13 at 12:08pm

I don't know if ever directed on Broadway, but Darren Nichols was pretty mean up at New Burbage.

[broadwaydevil]

Meanest Broadway Directors#9

Posted: 9/20/13 at 12:23pm

Arthur Laurents was infamously tough, as was Bob Fossee.

Scratch and claw for every day you're worth! Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming You'll live forever here on earth.

[FishermanBob]

Meanest Broadway Directors#10

Posted: 9/20/13 at 12:50pm

Matt, I can provide the information you are looking for but as I'm sure you can imagine, information of this type is very sensitive and can be damaging if not used correctly and for the right reasons. Please explain in detail why you require this information, how you plan to use it, whether you will share it beyond BWW and are you bonded in the event of legal action from those named?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Meanest Broadway Directors#11

Posted: 9/20/13 at 1:00pm

Didn't Honi Coles used to hit people with his cane as he got older?

Formerly gvendo2005
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05

Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28

[Borstalboy]

Meanest Broadway Directors#12

Posted: 9/20/13 at 1:15pm

Jerome Robbins and Alan Schneider both had reputations for being a-holes.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

[Unknown User]

Meanest Broadway Directors#13

Posted: 9/20/13 at 3:07pm

George Abbott could be stern. I can't recall who he did it to but here is a story of him telling an actor to move to the left..little more...few more steps....until they were in the wings. Mr. Abbott then said "Now if only there was a way to not HEAR YOU this would be perfect."

[goldenboy]

Meanest Broadway Directors#14

Posted: 9/20/13 at 4:00pm

Jerome Robbins was notoriously disliked albeit brilliant. I remember hearing a story about him chewing out the cast. And the cast tried to ask questions. He said "I don't want to hear another word." And the enitre cast kept silent as he backed and fell into the orchestra pit. That's how disliked he was.

[PalJoey]

Meanest Broadway Directors#15

Posted: 9/20/13 at 4:08pm

That story is told by members of the casts of every show Jerome Robbins ever directed.

But it actually happened during a post-runthrough notes session for Billion Dollar Baby.

Or was it High-Button Shoes?

Or West Side Story?

There are gypsies who will swear they were there when it happened.

[Borstalboy]

Meanest Broadway Directors#16

Posted: 9/20/13 at 4:50pm

Maybe he did it every show.

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

[jnb9872]

Meanest Broadway Directors#17

Posted: 9/20/13 at 5:57pm

I second ggersten.

Darren Nichols forever

Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Meanest Broadway Directors#18

Posted: 9/20/13 at 7:46pm

I've heard that falling into the pit story about so many different directors and choreographers, from the big names (such as Robbins) to every disliked small time and community theatre director out there.

[jv92]

Meanest Broadway Directors#19

Posted: 9/20/13 at 8:11pm

Abbott pales in comparison to Robbins. Stern is different from cruel. Actors (and some dancers) HATED and FEARED Robbins. I haven't heard dancers or actors speak vehemently about Fosse. Maybe writers, though...

[LimelightMike]

Meanest Broadway Directors#20

Posted: 9/20/13 at 8:42pm

George C. Scott.

That is all.