Riedel on vultures circling ‘Great Comet’ — Page 10

VintageSnarker said, partially: "an issue with Comet is that a lot of the cast ends up running around the audience and that could be unsafe for celebrities of a certain level of fame."

But Pierre spent most of his performance in his salon, the stage pit housing the piano and drums. The performers ran around the audience and stage, but when Pierre had his solo, all were at a distance. Wonder if that was planned.

The comments to the July 28 Variety story had an interesting take: "A horrible aspect to this story is in the future Producers may be extremely reluctant to hire a non-famous African-American actor for any role hence they be twitter-branded as racists should it ever be needed to replace him. Had Mandy been replacing a white actor this would be a non-story all the way – except how exciting for the show that he would be joining it."

I guess time will tell.

There are interesting and frustrating aspects of the Onaodowan fiasco that we may learn more about later, but the fundamental problem with Great Comet seems like a simple one that plagues most Broadway musicals: Not enough people are interested in seeing it.

Nobody needs to dump a member of the main cast of Come From Away to keep it running, because it's a word-of-mouth hit even without stars or the only award that matters. Brittain Ashford had been with Great Comet from the beginning, and she got put on vacation because they needed the minor box office boost of Ingrid Michaelson to make up for the loss of Josh Groban.

I don't know if the producers trapped themselves by choosing a very mainstream pop star as the lead of a very unorthodox musical. But it's also far from clear that the show would have lasted as long as it did without Groban in it. (It didn't hurt that Groban did a fine job in the role and seemed to be very well-liked by everyone from the creator to the cast. He's the biggest winner out of all this.) At the same time, Groban wasn't enough of a star, or the show was too offbeat, to make big money while he was around. It was too easy for me to get excellent, discounted tickets a week in advance with him in it.

Bette Midler is a star, and is a household name among the audience that was interested in seeing Hello, Dolly. Groban is not as big of a name, and his fanbase was likely to be disappointed by Great Comet or at least by his relatively small part in it.

The Mandy Patinkin stunt casting just reeked of desperation. Even if there hadn't been a controversy, he was only going to play the role for three weeks, cutting Onaodowan's run short. And then what? How much stunt casting would they be able to pull off? I suppose they could have stunt-casted other roles as some of the original cast left after their contracts expired.

The show has a loyal following, and I would have happily seen in multiple times if I lived in the area. But there weren't enough people who wanted to see it even once. much less pay full price. As a fan, I'm very sorry that the show seems virtually certain to end on a sour note, and that the wonderful cast members will probably lose their jobs early.

I do worry about the lessons that will be taken from this, but I doubt the ugly controversy will end up having a significant impact on future productions. The Kagans took a big swing with an expensive, unusual show, and they missed. Since I liked the show, I wish it would have turned out differently. But it didn't. That's showbiz.

Updated On: 8/7/17 at 04:39 AM

bear88, I think you hit on every aspect of the analysis. The key to it is in the 3rd paragraph: Groban kept the show from drowning, but the fact that he left it after a healthy run with an enornous hill left to climb to recoupment tells us that (as I have repeatedly said, since long before the Oak controversy and even before the Ars Nova controversy) the double whammy here was that the production was designed to fail, and then marketed to give it no chance. I don't know that Groban could ever have matched Midler as a draw, but I do know that they did not even try to give it a shot at that.

I wonder if they could have doenscaled the show a bit? Or if it needs to be this big?

^ I wouldn't have written it if it weren't based on "real information."

But Pierre spent most of his performance in his salon, the stage pit housing the piano and drums. The performers ran around the audience and stage, but when Pierre had his solo, all were at a distance. Wonder if that was planned.


Guessing that's in service to the character, vs. accommodating a star. He's a lonely bookworm who's grown older missing out on life, while his friend is off fighting a war... The show is meant to present him as sad, walled off, and lonely,

I was told the truth about the entire fiasco this morning.

All I can say right now is there's a big missing piece to this story, one that caused Oak's firing in the first place.

The show is toast. They are simply waiting to announce.

kr123 said: "Argh, I have tickets for Aug. 18 - should I make other plans? I wish they'd announce - why wait?!"

If you go by trypguy's post, it means you will see Scott. Then Dave will be Pierre the following week... no one seems to be saying the 13th lately.

HogansHero said: "That's too much, and irresponsible. If you cannot provide a source, even generically, I think you should take it down. (It also seems implausible in light of the fact he is still performing in the show.)"



Hogan, what is too much? What did I say? I said there was a missing piece.

It's not a question of cannot. It's a fact that I will not.

Saying it seems 'implausible' implies you've heard the same tale.

Look, I'm not trying to pick a fight or spread a false rumor. I was told what I was told. I shared that something else was at play. That is all.

I'm sorry you feel it was too much and irresponsible. That was not my intention. If you'd like to continue this conversation over PM, feel free. I'm going to refrain from speaking about the topic again on this thread.

We could get an announcement tomorrow, but I'm starting to think they'll keep it open with either Scott or Dave in the role and maybe close by Labor Day.

BroadwayRox3588 said: "I think that the majority of them just want people to think they know something. Which might explain why a lot of them are vague."

Knowing something would still put them in a tiny minority on people posting about the same topic on here.

10086sunset said: "

Hogan, what is too much? What did I say? I said there was a missing piece.

It's not a question of cannot. It's a fact that I will not.

Saying it seems 'implausible' implies you've heard the same tale.

Look, I'm not trying to pick a fight or spread a false rumor. I was told what I was told. I shared that something else was at play. That is all.

I'm sorry you feel it was too much and irresponsible. That was not my intention. If you'd like to continue this conversation over PM, feel free. I'm going to refrain from speaking about the topic again on this thread.

"

You have done nothing wrong at all with your post. You hinted something is missing from the story from what you've been told, and have not compromised anyone associated with the show. Just enough hints that there's more to the story - and we shall find out in due time. Nothing wrong at all.

ACL2006 said: "We could get an announcement tomorrow, but I'm starting to think they'll keep it open with either Scott or Dave in the role and maybe close by Labor Day."

Yes, Scott for a week and Dave for a week. Then... ¯\_(?)_/¯