Riedel on Straight White Men casting changes
Posted: 7/13/18 at 7:56am
Stephen Payne had some trouble with his lines when I saw the show last Sunday night. And Austin Pendleton was in the audience -- I wonder if they might put him in there before the show opens.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 8:24am
"As a straight white man myself (don’t laugh)"
I always assumed Riedel was a queen.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Posted: 7/13/18 at 9:03am
Posted: 7/13/18 at 9:38am
uncageg said: "Riedel has a girlfriend he has mentioned a few times."
Does she live in Canada?
Posted: 7/13/18 at 9:44am
LOL at Riedel describing himself as straight.
Other than that, his reporting seems like what I would have expected from this situation. Skerritt is hardly the first older actor who's gone into rehearsals and realized they're not up for an 8-show-a-week commitment (remember Diahann Carroll in A RAISIN IN THE SUN a few years ago?). It sounds like they just wanted Arndt to come in and do as he was told and he wasn't having that.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 9:47am
Fosse76 said: "uncageg said: "Riedel has a girlfriend he has mentioned a few times."
Does she live in Canada?"
Posted: 7/13/18 at 10:01am
^ Y'know, it's deeply unsettling when you realize Riedel actually bears a strong resemblance to that puppet.
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Posted: 7/13/18 at 10:10am
Posted: 7/13/18 at 10:18am
My interpretation of the rules may not be the best (probably isn't), but I'm going to wager that it was considered a personal insult. Am I right, nameless moderator?
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Posted: 7/13/18 at 10:21am
Posted: 7/13/18 at 10:38am
I say unless people here know Riedel personally, don't judge a book by its cover. I know a lot of men who are happily married, very straight and people just "swear" they are "really gay".
And since he addressed it in the article he must be aware that people think this of him. JMO
Posted: 7/13/18 at 11:59am
adamgreer said: "Why was my post calling Riedel a “closet case” deleted??"
Uhh, because it's false and defamatory? Now do you understand?
Posted: 7/13/18 at 12:12pm
It's only defamatory if you think being called homosexual is defamation.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 12:16pm
Kad said: "It's only defamatory if you think being called homosexual is defamation."
^ This.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
Posted: 7/13/18 at 12:19pm
A friend of mine says that calling someone gay who is not should be considered false praise ... an idea that I love.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 12:21pm
Lot666 said: "Kad said: "It's only defamatory if you think being called homosexual is defamation."
^ This."
This is honestly the best thing I've seen on here. Small, but I hope more people can be this kind to eachother more often here.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 12:52pm
Kad said: "It's only defamatory if you think being called homosexual is defamation."
Bingo.
These moderators are out of control.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 1:22pm
Telling someone they are a closet case, when they aren't, is in fact rude. And I'm gay.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 1:29pm
To get back to the topic: The understudy was not very good last week. Still having a little trouble with lines. The play is preposterous and hits a person over the head with a sledgehammer with its "relevant" message about straight white men. Yet, it is not boring and the actors playing the three sons (although dealing with roles that are so removed from reality) are quite good. Hard to recommend but if you find yourself in the theater, it's only 90 minutes, but get there late if ear piercing pre-show music gets to you.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 1:31pm
In general, questioning someone's sexuality is not something that is appropriate for the boards. However, the moderator who deleted the post in question had not read Riedel's story, so didn't realize that he had first made a joke about his sexuality, somewhat opening the door for the discussion. The moderator simply saw the post in a vacuum of our review system and deleted it.
We then discussed internally and decided that since Riedel had opened the conversation, in general, the discussion is allowed to continue; however, the deleted comment by AdamGreer likely straddled the line of being an attack anyway.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 1:36pm
JayG 2 said: "To get back to the topic: The understudy was not very good last week. Still having a little trouble with lines. The play is preposterous and hits a person over the head with a sledgehammer with its "relevant" message aboutstraight white men. Yet, it is not boring and the actors playing the three sons (although dealing with roles that are so removed from reality) are quite good. Hard to recommend but if you find yourself in the theater, it's only 90 minutes, but get there late ifear piercing pre-show music gets to you."
My thoughts exactly. I cringed several times when the "understudy" obviously forgot his lines. Even Armie Hammer looked scared. And the play is truly awful and pretentious.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 3:02pm
Lot666 said: "Kad said: "It's only defamatory if you think being called homosexual is defamation."
^ This."
Except the post didn’t say he was gay. It said he’s “a closet case” implying that he is a gay man who is either so ashamed of his sexuality or so afraid of people’s responses that he is too scared to come out of the closet. THAT is defamatory. THAT is rude and inappropriate. Riedel himself implies that he knows people assume he’s gay and that in his jokey wording, he doesn’t particularly care. To turn that into the implication that he is someone ashamed or frightened by his sexuality is where the problem lies for me, another gay man.
Posted: 7/13/18 at 3:04pm
Is "10086sunset" Riedel? He seems to post his articles a lot ...
