Michael Riedel on LENNON (8/10)- Page 2

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:46pm

Tiny-Toon - BROOKLYN was a cheap show to run on a weekly basis. I'm not sure if Lennon can surrvive only taking in $265K per week. Unless Yoko props the show up with some money.

Updated On: 8/10/05 at 02:46 PM

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:49pm

Yoko will probably do that...
I mean, after all, the show is just about her.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 2:51pm

MEOW!!

[Shawk]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:01pm

Well, obviously he doesn't NEED to see the show to write negatively about it gossip-wise, but it sort of makes his very focused hatred of it a bit bizarre.

I mean, short of the hand of God coming down and plucking Yoko Ono and Don Scardino away from the production so he could direct the show Himself, I'm not sure what exactly Riedel would like to see happening to make "Lennon" work.

[kooky]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:03pm

That show is not all about Yoko, She happened to be his wife when all his
creative works took place. If he were married to someone else - - - would we be
putting HER DOWN TOO ! Or do we feel that way JUST about Yoko ?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:03pm

Clearly, he'd like to see the show not happen at all. Why bother trying to figure him out? The guy's an ass; it's easy to see how he operates.

Updated On: 8/10/05 at 03:03 PM

[Thenardier]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:10pm

What about a musical about him?

Off-Broadway of course.

We'll have Betty Buckley in the title role.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 3:50pm

Wasn't The Sweet Smell of Success about a character who's something along those lines?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:10pm

I do think Yoko might throw money at the show if the reviews aren't good, but the Broadhurst is a VERY desirable theatre. I know of two pending productions that have expressed interest in the space. The owners will probably give LENNON the boot if it stays at 50%.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:17pm

Riedel is just a columnist (and a very popular one at that). All of Broadway reads him, whether they admit it or not. Writing only happy positive things means nobody will read you. His job is to be as provocative as possible. That's what sells newspapers.

I've never understood why people get so upset about what he writes. By his own admission, he knows very little about theatre -- he's just a gossip columnist who provides a bit of tongue-in-cheek entertainment twice a week. No one, except obsessed fans on internet boards worry all that much about him. Even the producers of the shows he slams (who, given all they have at stake, would be well within their rights to hate him) remain cordial, even quite friendly for the most point and are happy to contribute all of those anonymous quotes that make up his columns. Several of the people whom he's been hardest on have been willing guests on his weekly Theatre Talk show on channel 13. If the people he's dishing dirt on know, for the most part, to take him with a grain of salt, why do so many people who's only relationship to the shows and stars he talks about is that of a fan, take everything he says so personally? He's a court jester, a nobody.

He doesn't have any real power to speak of. I mean, how many theatre fans base their ticket buying decisions on what they read in the Post? Not many. Ben Brantley is the only journalist in town with any real power in this scene and even he has seen the power of the Times erode as fewer and fewer people read newspapers anymore (only 11% of the public at last count).

Look, Riedel can be bitchy, unfair, and occasionally mean-spirited, but his info is generally accurate (though one can quibble that he's sloppy with the small details) and he gets major scoops on a regular basis that almost always turn out to be true. For that alone, he's worth reading. Yes, he's an annoying little weasel, but hey, at least he's never boring.

Updated On: 8/10/05 at 04:17 PM

[Thenardier]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:20pm

Sweet Smell was about a gossip Columnist who HAS power...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:28pm

Yes, the Sweet Smeall character was based on Walter Winchell who could (and did) close some shows, save some others and destroy careers with a single sentence in his column. Riedel couldn't affect the weekly box office figures for any show plus/minus .1% if he tried. Word of mouth and marketing savvy (and a Times review, sometimes) helps or hurts ticket sales -- not that little weasel.

Updated On: 8/10/05 at 04:28 PM

[justme2]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:30pm

I admit freely to reading Reidel...if only to see who hates who and why. He is amusing, and many of his scoops are as well. He is what he is.

However, if he insists on making statements about a show, instead of just opinion and rumors...(example, that the space shuttle video in Lennon is a "new and wacky" idea) he should AT LEAST do a fact check before it goes to print!

[midtowngym]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 4:31pm

Riedel DOES have real power. The NY Post's circulation is over 650,000, placing it in the Top 10. It's also a second read for Wall Street Journal and NY Times readers due to it's extensive sports coverage.
I have friends who take Riedel's 'pans' seriously. They're moderately interested in theater, but more important, can afford to go.
Anyone reading this is a highly educated theater consumer and knows to take Riedel with a grain of salt. But that's a very small percentage.

Updated On: 8/10/05 at 04:31 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 5:16pm

"He actually began to champion SWEET CHARITY after Applegate's injury. He also started out against MOVIN OUT when it was playing its out of town tryouts, but did a 180 and became one of the show's biggest champions. "

To be fair, "Movin' Out" had only ONE out-of-town try-out: in Chicago. And people were walking out of it...it lost roughly half of its audience EACH night! From what I know, it was drastically overhauled between Chicago and New York.

[kooky]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 6:01pm

Let Michael pick and destroy ALL HE WANTS ! The show will Speak for itself.
We give the gossip guy TOO MUCH CREDIT--- WE WILL SPEAK for ourselves.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 6:07pm

I really have to agree with Margo on this. Why is he taken so damn seriously?

lol and I love the Weisslers, they are so cheap. I find them so amusing.

And yes Riedel made a complete 180 with Charity. After the injury, he was a big supporter of Applegate.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 6:14pm

Midtown, I would be willing to bet that there's not a HUGE amount of overlap among the readers of the Post's voluminous sports pages and the Niles Crane wannabe's column.

[Sunfish]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 7:05pm

He does seem to pick a particular target and gnaw on it like a stray dog does a bone. Last season his target was definitely Rosie and Taboo. He seems to want to cut someone famous down to size, and he focuses on every possible shortcoming. Hmmm, two powerful, wealthy women.......

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 8:52pm

FindingNamo: "Midtown, I would be willing to bet that there's not a HUGE amount of overlap among the readers of the Post's voluminous sports pages and the Niles Crane wannabe's column."

HAHA. I love it. You're so right. Great comparison too, hehe.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 9:42pm

So Riedel is back with his low class trash talk just days before opening. What a coincidence. What is his problem? What is it with this vendetta against "Lennon"?

The Post is a step up from the National Enquirer. No, make that half a step up. And at least the Enquirer takes the time and trouble to verify information from their "sources". Riedel can't because he invents his sources and material too. The nonsense Riedel is printing is as far from the truth as the Post is from a real news organization.

Riedel has to write this garbage at the Post because he knows he couldn't qualify for a job as a janitor at a legitimate newspaper. But Riedel works for Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch is a pimp who hires sluts like Riedel to whore for him. For this Riedel does qualify.

Riedel is a POS working at an organization that rewards that lifetime achievement.

If Riedel ever received a lifetime achievement award it would be a bronze statue of a turd.

Ignore this lowlife. Just ask yourself, how much of Riedel's last broadside against "Lennon" turned out to be true?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 11:44pm

Most of u guys are right
Mostly Margo, of course, (luv her)
But you should see actors chattin and being all kissy kissy with Reidel at Angus mcEndoe
One nite I saw him eating with the 3 strippers from GYPSY after he trashed Bernadette.
He knows what he is, a troublemaker, and some people get him and some don't.
I think he steps over the line now and then
(well more now than then)
I did find it upsetting one night on his TV show that he said he enjoys the flops more than the Hits
That's just smarmy
Sorry i wasn't at Angus the nite Leveaux decked him.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/10/05 at 11:46pm

I think stuff that like would be obvious - I mean, you've got to kiss ass.

How many times has Raúl Esparza said nasty things about Reidel? Deservedly, because of the things Reidel has done to him, but there's a picture of the two of them looking pretty buddy-buddy from a few months ago. It's called making nice for the cameras.