Riedel on vultures circling ‘Great Comet’ — Page 6

Wow, I'm really done with Cynthia. To pretend she doesn't have tremendous influence at this moment, at the intersection of Broadway and social media, is just souring her to me. The embers of controversy she had a huge part in stoking into a full out fire got out of control, and now she's backtracking. She can't turn on and off her influence, unless she doesn't say anything at all, which I hope she does for awhile.

I'd really like some answers about Comet because the speculation is killing me.

I'm still confused, JayElle. Are you saying the audiences for Great Comet should be more diverse because the cast is more diverse? Or are you saying the people of color complaining on social media (though a lot of them are white) aren't relevant to the debate because they aren't buying tickets either way?

RE: Forbes article

"But it wasn't enough. No matter how well-intentioned, everyone running the show is still white. They overlooked the optics because they've never had to do otherwise. (I'm sure readers will point out things I've overlooked in this piece, and I welcome the dialogue.)"

Nope.

"They can adopt a policy that says for every white employee, a non-white employee must be hired at the same pay tier. They can pay for every member of the Broadway League to attend a workshops with the Anti-Racist Alliance, SURJ, or similar."

These suggestions are terrible.

Just curious (I don't know how to go this far back into people's twitter timelines)- Have Cynthia, Rafael, Ariana, etc ever promoted and/or celebrated Comet's diverse cast before the fallout?

PaulWom said: "Also... huh? Is Cynthia really unaware that she is not just "one of two people", but a significant voice that sways many, many people? Just look at Prince of Egypt,

https://twitter.com/CynthiaEriVo/status/891325001483341824

Also... "ticket sales shouldn't override a person doing his job?" Smh

https://twitter.com/CynthiaEriVo/status/890330830043742208



"

Adding another bad tweet to Cynthia Erivo's collection:

https://mobile.twitter.com/cynthiaerivo/status/891657945838235649

My biggest problem with this one is how it pretty much disregards everyone else involved in the production side...

Of course Cynthia relates to Oak. She couldn't sell tickets either.

Hello Dolly has diversity. Maybe not within the principle cast, but the show has diversity and the understudies have gone on a few times.

I didn't mind Benton in The Great Comet, but she didn't strike me as like "star power." She seemed to fade away when she wasn't in the literal spotlight.

VintageSnarker said: "GeorgeandDot said: "Hello, Dolly! has a diverse cast. The principles may all be white, but they all deserve their roles and I can't think of anyone who would be better for those roles. The ensemble is also extremely diverse as are the understudies.

Bandstand and Anastasia have no excuse. Those are entirely white casts.


Eh. Going to have to disagree on Hello Dolly. Also, taking a look at the cast page for Anastasia... no? I'm not saying it's Great Comet but it's better than Dear Evan Hansen. And they do have the excuse that a big chunk of the cast has to be able to play Romanovs.

http://www.anastasiabroadway.com/cast-and-creative/?gclid=CPyr-tKQv9UCFY2LswodOE4AjA





"

why do the people playing the Romanovs need to be white?

Well Dear Evan Hansen has a cast of 7 or 8 with one of the actors being black. Anastasia has a much larger cast, but only two non-white actors in the production. I would hardly say that the two of them are equally non-diverse.

Also, Dolly is diverse. There are several PoC in the production. It may not be as diverse as Comet, but it's still inclusive.

It's almost laughable that people only see black and white when it comes to color or diversity. Having one or two black performers at the back of the ensemble or playing stereotypes is anything but.

A more pressing question is, why isn't white a color?

Updated On: 8/4/17 at 11:46 PM

GeorgeandDot said: "Hello, Dolly! has a diverse cast. The principles may all be white, but they all deserve their roles and I can't think of anyone who would be better for those roles. The ensemble is also extremely diverse as are the understudies.

To clarify, this was the part I disagreed with.

schubox said: "why do the people playing the Romanovs need to be white?"

I'm not on the creative team. They don't need to be in my mind but I can see the argument for historical accuracy with real people. And I don't know how they're styled for the show but I assume it's still a plot point that she distinctively looks like the rest of them... or something to that effect.

GeorgeandDot said: "Well Dear Evan Hansen has a cast of 7 or 8 with one of the actors being black. Anastasia has a much larger cast, but only two non-white actors in the production. I would hardly say that the two of them are equally non-diverse."

To me the difference is that one is a period piece and one is a modern day story. As far as I know, there's nothing in Dear Evan Hansen that says so many of those characters had to be white. Either family could have been non-white or mixed race and Evan's friends could have been as well. With Anastasia, if you take out the actors who play Romanovs or are swings, etc. they did a decent job casting non-white actors. Could it be better? Sure. I haven't seen the show to know what the ensemble has to do. Also how are you only counting two?