Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
#1Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 3:36am
Warning: It's very nasty, and pretty pointless. Besides the anecdote about Mandela, Riedel adds nothing new to this debacle.
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/from_riches_to_ragtime_amHBRf6WA0GB0p0gVoIhuM
Updated On: 1/8/10 at 03:36 AM
#2Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 3:46amGod, he's such a ****ing tool.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
#3Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 3:51am
He's a cutie and sometimes brilliant, but that was bitchy. Kicking them when they're down. 
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#4Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 4:12am
He's neither cute nor brilliant. He's an untalented wannabe gossip columnist who works nights as an eavesdropping b!tchy barfly, hoping he'll piss someone off enough to hit him. He seems to enjoy that.
Fiddler's director aside, I have seen him deliberately try to goad people to punch him. With my own ears I've heard him say, "what, aren't you going to hit me now?". He was so very disappointed when the person he was taunting told him he wasn't worth his time or the cuts he'd get on his knuckles. The man is worse than a bottomfeeder, and that's an insult to bottomfeeders. He's hit a new low with this one.
#5Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 4:15amDon't get me wrong--he's often struck wrong and cruelly. But, let's be fair. Sometimes, he's on the money. And, I've seen him in person many times--he's awfully cute. In that older, nerdy, sexy, writer way.
#6Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 4:21am
I think he's hilarious. Some people need to be brought down a peg or two and he does it unappolegetically. If Michael Kaiser's hubris is responsible for all the money this production has lost then he deserves to be called out.
I think he's kinda cute is that nerdy way too.
....but the world goes 'round
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#7Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 4:47am
Sure, sometimes he's right. He spends enough time in theater bars eavesdropping on people who think they are speaking in a safe environment, and when he doesn't hear something he can use, he twists their words or simply makes it up or publishes someone's private emails. He's scum. There is no need for the kind of vitriol he spews.
But hey, no accounting for tastes for those who find him attractive. I find nothing appealing about him, myself. I don't find him funny or clever, and I don't think he'll end well, given how aggressively he attacks people in public, much less in print. He deliberately provokes people to violence against him - literally encourages it. I can't for the life of me why he's still employed, unless his employers consider that he encourages people to hate him a selling point.
rockfenris2005
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#9Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 5:30amSomeone should slap him and make him cry again. Yes...again.
Who can explain it, who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons, wise men never try
-South Pacific
#10Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 6:47am
What a f*cking ass. Someone didn't fact check. There are a handful of actors in this production from the DC Metro area. He makes it seem as if everyone involved resides there.
I wouldn't place total blame on Kaiser either. The show was very well received in DC and not only from the press. DC audiences tend to be very reserved, yet the 9 times I saw this production at the Kennedy Center, the audiences were on their feet cheering during the curtain call. It definitely deserved to be on Broadway, and I'm glad it transferred. By the closing performance on Sunday (which I will be at), I will have seen the Broadway revival an additional 9 times.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
Updated On: 1/8/10 at 06:47 AM
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#11Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 8:00am
He definately has a bug up his butt about Regional Theatre.
#12Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 8:20am
I agree, that's a particularly nasty column. Hindsight is 20/20 though, isn't it? Ragtime is closing because not enough people bought tickets. If ticket sales had been better these producers would be "visionary geniuses".
I remember hearing about Disney's idea of staging "The Lion King" with life size puppets and thinking it was the most ridiculous concept ever. I also thought the idea of a Juke-box musical based on the songs of the Four Seasons was pretty laughable.
"I have got to have some professional music!" - Big Edie
Updated On: 1/8/10 at 08:20 AM
Oldschool
Stand-by Joined: 3/3/09
#14Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 8:58amUgh. What is the point of being so heinous?
AnythingGoes2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/30/08
#15Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 9:01am
Nasty article...but correct, i have to say, yes.
Ragtime had an almightly slim chance of surviving. What with Finians also transfering aswell I can't help but think out of all the fantastic Kennedy and Encores shows I have seen; why these shows got transfers. If the Kennedy Centre wanted a Broadway show they should have got it together with "Mame"
#16Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 9:20amWow did he really have to be that nasty and vicious? I mean, I get that he doesn't seem to like Ragtime very much. But gee whiz, that was really nasty.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
KirbyCat
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/23/08
#17Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 9:27amI feel like any and every producer should work money into their budget to pay off "a guy" to kick the sh*t outta this guy (a few times) when he writes poorly of their show. This guy needs to take a long walk off a short pier.
#18Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 9:29am
I love Ragtime, and love this production, but...
If he had written an article that was this nasty, about, say, Wicked or Mamma Mia, the reaction here would be quite different. No one would be hating on Riedel, in fact, the article would be described as "hilarious."
#19Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 9:38amCome on, people. Is he really any nastier than most of the posters here on BroadwayWorld?
#20Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 10:04amI find him to be extremely entertaining, and I avidly look forward to reading him each week. Cut the guy some slack! Sorry to see Ragtime go but don't take it out on him. It's the economy...
#21Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 10:06am
I was just about to say that Pal Joey and adamgreer.
Add me to the list of people who find the article hysterical.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#22Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 10:09amIt's really not THAT nasty. Some people are just a little oversensitive to the fact that not everyone jizzes all over Ragtime.
broadwayjim42
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/19/03
#23Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 10:14am
It's the economy and the fact that the show isn't exactly commercial. I saw it last night and absolutely loved it, but despite several moments of humor, it's just too serious and heavy. Unfortunately, piffle still seems to win the day when it comes to popularity, at least in the long run.
As for Reidel, I like reading him too, but sometimes he is just plan mean.
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#24Riedel: From riches to 'Ragtime'
Posted: 1/8/10 at 10:22am
I couldn't care less about Ragtime, Phyllis. I just think it"s an unnecessarily nasty column, not to mention wrong. Most of the actors are not from Bethesda.
"I feel like any and every producer should work money into their budget to pay off "a guy" to kick the sh*t outta this guy (a few times) when he writes poorly of their show"
NO NO NO. He'd LOVE that. He's a closet masochist. They'd do better to hire a guy to threaten to beat him up and then refuse to.
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