Oak Speaks out on great comet controversy — Page 3

Welp, I know all my points have been reiterated by others, but indulge me on my huge outburst of anger when I saw this headline.

Why the **** is he doing this??

Setting aside the moral decency of letting this great show to rest, or EVEN to his former cast and crew members, what is he trying to get out from saying this? Not only do his points are irrelevant, but they can easily be debunked. Comet is diverse in all aspects, from the score to the singers' voices to even the choreography. Rachel Chavkin has explained multiple times her reasons for cultivating a diverse world for Comet. The show is even PROUD about it.

Defining whether something is diverse or not by the number of a minority group in the cast is NOT diverse.

This show is like a man who has been wrongly executed and finally laid to rest, but Oak just dug his corpse out and repulse everyone with its stench to make an invalid point.

Bettyboy72 said: ""Norm Lewis as the "first black man to play the phantom!! come see it!!"

Actually Norm Lewis was the first black Phantom and he sold a crap ton of tickets because he was the real deal. "

*first black Phantom on Broadway. Don't forget Robert Guillaume and Nicholas Nkuna.

It's so odd to double down like this so long after the whole situation kind of blew over.

KJisgroovy said: "It's so odd to double down like this so long after the whole situation kind of blew over."

Definitely. Feel like he could have done some non-theater stuff for a while, coasted on some Hamilton royalties for a year or two and most people would have forgotten all about this

I think the last thing Ellen's wants now is more controversy.

Wow, the guy is fierce. First he went out of his way to make one of the actually diverse shows get out of NYC and now he's doing the same to his own career! Talk about commitment, people.



Looks like he'll forever live on the shadow of Hamilton. Good thing that will at least give him some royalties.

theater_tech said:

This show is like a man who has been wrongly executed and finally laid to rest, but Oak just dug his corpse out and repulse everyone with its stench to make an invalid point."

Theatertech, this describes the situation perfectly. For most of us on the boards and many more besides, the fortnight of Comet drama was aggravating and felt unfair. Now he's gotta bring back all those feelings? Why....?

I'd be happy never seeing Cynthia in anything again, too.

I'm not sure I get what he wants to be "cultivated".....the tone of the show? Did he want Pierre to be a stereotypical "brotha"? That's not the story they were telling here. I wonder if that's what some of the issues he was having with Rachel were about, his desire to change the landscape of the part. IF that's the case, isn't his real problem with playwrights....but still keeping an "us" v "them" situation and throwing away color blind casting.



I'm disappointed, it was so much easier to lay much of the 'blame' for this getting out of hand on Erivo and his friend (sorry I don't remember his name...Raphael?), but that is obviously not the case.



And yes, I believe people should speak up about what they are feel is right, but in this case, since he felt strongly, that should have been part of this dialogue before accepting the role. Grave meet foot.

I'm starting to get the feeling that Forbes isn't very good at covering the theater. First, they take a shot at Michael Moore because his financially successful one-man show doesn't have the same box office revenue as other, more expensive shows. (I kind of wrote that one off to Forbes' conservative editorial bias, although you wou would think a publication about business would get that right.)

And now this, basically a chance for Onaodowan to say whatever he wants without fear of contradiction. And he still comes off badly. I guess Denee Benton was a gimmick, as was the diverse ensemble.

In the end, the trouble I have with Onaodowan is that he makes everything about him. That goes for his high-profile supporters too. The failure to 'nurture diversity' had nothing to do with Benton, or the ensemble, because they don't matter. It was because he got fired three weeks early from a temporary, replacement job - with pay, when he wasn't prepared (see Dave Malloy's restrained comments), in a show that was on the verge of closing.

And still, he complains, linking himself to Colin Kaepernick (whose career actually is done because of a brave act of principle). Great Comet closed early, throwing people out of work at least a little earlier than expected. It's been a month since Onaodowan's run would have ended, and still he's bashing the closed show and disrespecting his fellow performers.

Updated On: 10/4/17 at 03:39 PM

The article also seems to position Oak as someone who took a stand.

But he didn't, really.

"diversity must be nurtured"

I see....nurtured as in, they must have kept you in the role? Because you are black? And anyone replacing you had to be black?

That's not nurturing, that's racism.

Be a man and accept that you were fired for other reasons Oak.

Updated On: 10/4/17 at 05:03 PM