'ROOF' DIRECTOR FLOORS POST - nypost.com

[macbeth]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 7:12am

https://www.broadwayworld.com/l.cfm?id=23293

Well, this has been bound to happen for a while.

THE Post's Broadway bomb thrower, Michael Riedel, ended up on the floor at the opening night party for "Fiddler on the Roof" last week. The musical's director, David Leveaux, still smarting over charges that his revival "lacked a Jewish soul," wrestled Riedel to the ground at Angus McIndoe restaurant during a heated argument. It happened after Leveaux accused Riedel of fanning the flames of the claim, first leveled in the Los Angeles Times, that in Leveaux's hands, "Fiddler" has been "de-Jewed" - Tevye is being played by a Spanish-Italian, Alfred Molina, and his daughters are played by actresses named Murphy, Kelly and Paoluccio. After listening to Leveaux rant, a fed-up Riedel finally responded, "David, you know what the real problem is? You Oxford-intellectual, elite directors are ruining our great Broadway musicals." Riedel tells us: "The next thing I know, I was on the floor looking at my broken watch." Riedel, who admits he had downed a few glasses of Shiraz, says, "I did cross the line, and probably deserved a good shove. Given how popular I am on Broadway these days, this will surely get David a Tony nomination."

[nyctopone]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 7:38am

Good for David Leveaux! Riedel is nothing but a hack , second rate gossip columnist who spews his hatred in the biggest pile of garbage in NYC , The New York Post.

How does anyone take this paper seriously? Its basically The National Enquirer trying to pass itself off as a newspaper.

As for Reidel. Too bad a couple of other people didn't give him a quick kick before he got back up. He deserves it. After writing what he has said about the revival, why would he attend the opening party?

Still the thought of him sprawled out on the floor is enough to give me a good smile the rest of the day.

Posted: 3/2/04 at 7:53am

Oh, so you feel people can go around pushing other people to the ground just because they want too?

..and that once the person is down that they should be kicked by others...?

I think what you just described is called a "hate crime".

You understand there are laws against that..people can go to jail because of that..

David Leveaux directed a stinker and he knows it and his actions were out of line...as well as quite desperate!

Just because he's on the BELOVED GREAT WHITE WAY does not mean he has the right to put his hands on anyone in this manner.



Updated On: 3/2/04 at 07:53 AM

[nyctopone]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 8:04am

"Just because he's on the BELOVED GREAT WHITE WAY does not mean he has the right to put his hands on anyone in this manner"

Probably not, but it made my day anyway. Riedel , after knocking the show in his column, should have had the good taste not to go to the opening night party.

Also, I like you're icon. Juan Diego Florez is amazing.

[ckeaton]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 8:08am

VoiceAnth...
Kicking someone's butt is not necessarily a hate crime. Don't step it up to that level. If someone walks up to you in a bar, and tells you that your shirt looks like crap, you're pissed and you punch him in the gut.... you are not commiting a hate crime against the jerk.

Don't trivialize hate crimes like that. This is more of a comical story.

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 8:59am

I think it's something Michael secretly loved, it cements his legend even deeper, and I for one love the entire story. Like it or not but Riedel's brand of hubbub is good for NY theater.

[leeinlondon]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:04am

Well Riedel went to the opening night party for Taboo when he had been specifically banned from attending the performance.. that type of behaviour is inflamitory when he had done his best to bad mouth the show as much as possible. Personally I am surprised this has not happened to him before.

I don't support physical violence but it is understandable when artists put their all into trying to make something work and emotions are running high round opening night..

[Craig]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:11am

While I don't think it relates to hate crime, it's still "battery" or offensive touching. While I can agree if someone comes up and insults you, it is being provoking - but one always has a choice as to how they respond - and in my opinion, violence is not the answer. Period.

I'm not excusing MR's behavior and while the story is "amusing" because of the people involved (surely we thought it would happen at the Taboo opening night party), resorting to the physical is the "easy" way out.

That being said, MR really was in the wrong place. If he isn't an invited guest (and we can assume, generally he isn't) he shouldn't be at the event. At least respect those involved in the production whether you enjoyed it or not and stay away.

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:11am

If someone walks up to you in a bar, and tells you that your shirt looks like crap, you're pissed and you punch him in the gut.... you are not committing a hate crime against the jerk.

Voiceanth:

I'm not trivializing a thing...

You seem to belive that some people "deserve" to get hit...........

Nope. That's not how it goes. No one deserves to be hit or kicked.

...Or are people who write disparaging remarks about Bernadette Peters exempt?

You walk away if someone hates your T-Shirt ...or your lousy Broadway show...

He should have been asked to leave...not shoved to the ground.

PERIOD!


Updated On: 3/2/04 at 09:11 AM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:14am

i just want to see who defends the director. how many of you folks who despise violence will make an exception for an attack on someone you despise? now had this been, say, george bush, sr. knocking al franken to the ground, the uproar would be deafening as the calls for charges and swift imprisonment filled the air. this is a journalist being attacked for something that he wrote. i for one think that it's a deterioration of society when people defend someone who is attacking someone for exercising their first amendment rights. go ahead, say, "well it's not only riedel and he deserved it." well, next time when it's someone you like, remember, that you can't have it both ways. either you support the right of people to attack their accusers physically or you don't. it's not like riedel slandered the man and accused him of being a liar and going awol or something like that...

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:18am

Yes, the main aspect is nobody should be punching or pushing anyone, it's wrong. I mean it's the theater, whatever happened to cutting wit, I'd like more "All About Eve" and less WWE!

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:28am

just to be a pain in the rumpus...

the fbi defines a hate crime (aka bias crime) to be "a criminal offense committed against a person, property or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin."

thus t-shirts would be exempted from the definition unless said t-shirt identified the victim with one of the aforementioned groups and the alleged attacker's actions were motivated by his or her realization that the t-shirt designated the wearer as a member of said group.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:37am

...that Michael Reidel will soon be taking a position in the Bush administration.

They both play fast and loose with the truth.

I think I would have tossed him out the door after I'd thrown a gooey dessert on him. What the hell was Reidel doing there in the first place?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 9:44am

if davey boy was so upset about the rumor that the show had lost it's jewishness then he should have made some changes to the way they played the show, not attack the messengers. every person i've spoken to who has seen the show has commented on the fact that she show is "jew...ish" emphasis on the "ish." if he's gonna take shots at all of them, he's got a long way to go and he's gonna be taking on some distinguished names along the way. plus he might just run across a few folks who know how to stick and move and slip the jab.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 10:30am

You can bet this is a publicity stunt for Riedel. He's trying to come off as some victim and taking some sort of moral stance in the name of Jews and musical theatre. In reality, he's just doing the same thing he always does. He provokes others for entertainment usually when intruding somewhere he's not invited. He admits that he had been drinking. If you've ever had a rude drunk provoke you and not leave you alone, then you can understand why Riedel was pushed.

Posted: 3/2/04 at 11:08am

I hope that people who have posted that it's “ Ok” to push someone because they are not liked as “a Broadway columnist” are not from the following groups:

Women

Gay and Lesbians

Children under the age of 17

Because people have lobbied long and hard to gain rights and laws protecting the people listed above from being pushed, attacked and hurt in any way.

If you are one of those people listed above and you think pushing someone, anyone, to the ground because of a Broadway show is a good idea…

…. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Updated On: 3/2/04 at 11:08 AM

[Broadwaylilhead]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 11:28am

If only someone would do this to Bush....

[ckeaton]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 12:39pm

lilhead and anth... TO THE OFF-TOPIC BOARD with YOU!!!
This liberal rhetoric must end.

Just kidding.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 1:04pm

Yeah. Verbal abuse and provocation are much more admirable than a physical shove. I'm sure Riedel did nothing wrong. He should be able to publicly abuse anyone with words, just don't physically touch him in any manner or it is immoral and offensive.

The laws protecting women and gays or lesbians are put in place to protect them from hate crimes. If the "pushee" reasonably provoked the attack verbally or physically and the attack was not based on their sex or sexual orientation, then that law does not come into effect. Leveaux's shove was not because Riedel is a "reviewer", but based on the Riedel's comments basically accusing him of anti-semetism. The argument was not just "because a Broadway show", but it was a slanderous verbal attack involving someone's career. Even Riedel admits he "did cross the line" and "probably deserved a good shove".

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 1:16pm

The last time I can recall this happening to a critic is when Sylvia Miles dumped a plate of food on top of a seated John Simon (She recieved many congratulations as she swanned away, and damned if I can remember the year it happened).

But Simon got his revenge in print in his one-time-only "POWER FAILURES of the Year" in New York Magazine which included rhyming couplets about (among others) Jim Jensen & Twyla Tharp ("Seen once dance you've seen 'em all/Modernism casts its pall.").

Simon's take on Miles was:

"Sylvia Miles, though fully stacked/Cannot act./ Sylvia Miles, adept food-thrower/can't do mo-er."

[robbiej]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 1:18pm

Matt,

That's not what happened at all (at least according to the Post). It seems to be that Leveaux began the verbal altercation, Riedel (I cannot believe I'm defending him) responded and was then pushed. His response as quoted in the Post is also one I whole-heartedly agree with. From the de-Southernization of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF to the de-Jewing of FIDDLER (I'm seeing it tomorrow night...I'll have a full report Thursday), British directors of late have not been able to understand what is truly and particularly American about these shows (although FIDDLER takes place on a shtetl, it is VERY American).

And I don't think anything Riedel reported ever accused or even hinted that Leveaux was anti-semitic...but on that point I could be wrong.

Posted: 3/2/04 at 1:18pm

God, I ADORE Sylvia Miles..

Have you seen "Heat"! OutSTANDING!

"Is that a way to bring up a boy? He'll be a lesbian!"

One of the great ad-libs of all time!

[stop!]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 1:22pm

michael riedel loves this its more press for him......he alwasy trashes a show then crashes parties....he loves talking crap.....hate crime please........oh god anyway riedel reminds of some people on this site........maybe hes one of them

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 3/2/04 at 1:25pm

Here is my question. Can anyone walk into these "Cast" parties? Is this just being held at a public bar or are they bought out private events? If they are private why was he let in in the first place. You would think that at TABOO in particular, Rosie would have had someone at the door barring undesirables from joining the festivities.

Posted: 3/2/04 at 1:27pm

Matt... I seem to have read, as well as heard, a totally different story than you did...

Your story seems to be totally twisted around from what the press and buzz was..

You must know something we don't....The press may be very interested in talking to you about it....

and again, Mister Matt, Is there ever an instance when someone should resort to violence? That's my point!