This is one of those times when the fact that Riedel is the only source of information is frustrating.
I don't know whether his facts are accurate, and he's not known to be the most careful reporter. Most of the time, that doesn't matter, but this isn't his usual fare.
I don't know whether his gossip is accurate, which obviously does raise the relevant question of whether Onaodowan was treated badly by the producers or whether he played along and then ambushed them via friends, endangering the entire production. The latter is a pretty serious accusation, and one that - if true - would seem likely to damage his career.
And yet the entire story is told from the producers' side, and anonymous members of the cast, leaving me to wonder what's being left out. (Of course, if I'm Onaodowan or his allies, I probably don't want to talk to Riedel anyway, as he's already made his opinions clear.)
Other people certainly know more than I do about the situation, and Onaodowan may have done everything he's accused of doing. But for example, the timeline of events seems a little funky. Riedel says Onaodowan was playing along, was going to do publicity with Mandy Patinkin, and everything was OK. But then the social media furor broke out, and he's meeting with Rafael Casal in his dressing room, and refusing to talk to the producers.
But Casal started tweeting about Onaodowan's de facto dismissal on the morning it was announced, and urged people to post things on the Great Comet site. The criticism from Cynthia Erivo, Adrienne Warren and other black actors all started that day. Was Onaodowan fine with everything until Casal started tweeting that very morning? What's their relationship? They seem to be friends, and he's portrayed as Onaodowan's mouthpiece, a characterization Casal has done little to discourage on Twitter.
I suppose it's possible that Onaodowan said he was fine with everything until his friends and other black Broadway performers got angry on his behalf. But that portrays him in an awfully bad light, behaving in a self-defeating manner because he was egged on to do it.
And then the piece ends with some gossip about Onaodowan and Chavkin not getting along in front of the cast. Does this have anything to do with the current issue, or is just random chatter about creative tensions that could be months old?
Because I enjoyed the show so much, I am inclined to be sympathetic to the creator, the director, the cast, even the producers. But it would be nice to get some balanced reporting on this.
Updated On: 8/4/17 at 03:09 AM
