THE GREAT COMET Announces September Broadway Closing; Final Performers for Role of 'Pierre'- Page 8

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 12:35am

The good news that is that it's a wonderful show that many people got to see. None of us lost any of our investments or our jobs because of this. It closed off-Broadway in 2014, and it would have more or less died there if it weren't for the continued efforts to bring it to Broadway. It went from being a footnote in the book of Musical Theatre, to a full-fledged member of the musical theatre canon, which will hopefully live on to inspire many artists for years to come. 

Was this a crappy situation? Yes. Am I worried about the message this sends about what can and can't be viable in commercial theatre? Absolutely. I won't make the ludicrous request that people stop complaining or focusing on the negatives. But while we do that, let's not lose sight of the positives, and what really matters: the love of the art form. 

#TheCometLives #ArtIsn'tEasy 

 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 12:37am

so glad some of you think you have this all worked out. enjoy.

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 12:41am

HogansHero said: "so glad some of you think you have this all worked out. enjoy."

So you think the general discourse here can be summed up as...

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 12:42am

Hogan's probably Rafael Casal.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 12:48am

GeorgeandDot said: "Hogan's probably Rafael Casal."

Nope. You haven't been here long, or you wouldn't say that even as a joke. and I honestly don't recall your presence in other threads. In this one, much of what you say goes far in providing justification for the worst fears some hold about our better selves.

[hmph]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 12:53am

HogansHero said: "GeorgeandDot said: "Hogan's probably Rafael Casal."

Nope. You haven't been here long, or you wouldn't say that even as a joke. and I honestly don't recall your presence in other threads. In this one, much of what you say goes far in providing justification for the worst fears some hold about our better selves.

"

I honestly have no idea what you're trying to say with that last line, but honestly. Do you know anything about the situation? Because it seems like you really don't, but you'll continue to tell others how to react to the show closing. What's the deal?

[schubox]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 12:56am

hmph said: "HogansHero said: "GeorgeandDot said: "Hogan's probably Rafael Casal."

Nope. You haven't been here long, or you wouldn't say that even as a joke. and I honestly don't recall your presence in other threads. In this one, much of what you say goes far in providing justification for the worst fears some hold about our better selves.

"

I honestly have no idea what you're trying to say with that last line, but honestly. Do you know anything about the situation? Because it seems like you really don't, but you'll continue to tell others how to react to the show closing. What's the deal?

 

"

Every post I've seen him make is condescending. He seems to get off on telling other people that they're wrong and how ridiculous everyone is. He also seems to think it's his job to tell people what is and isn't okay to discuss on a discussion board. 

[Margo319]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:08am

I thought I would find the comments blaming Oak hilarious, because it's just so goddamned ridiculous that ANYONE would blame him for any of this.  But, it's not funny, it's actually really disgusting.

This show is NOT closing because of any actor or being politically correct. Musicals DO NOT close because of tweets.  The musical is closing because producers were unable to fund it.  Shows close because of money, not fu*king social media.  

This hurts me deeply.  This show broke down so many barriers.  It has been presented in so many different locations, it's been a very special thing in New York for many years.  It was a true gift and I will treasure the experience always.  

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:19am

I can only agree with the poster who questioned Oak's future.  I am sure that anyone who has the opportunity to hire him is going to think about 10 times before saying yes, unless it is for a pre-announced limited engagement or Cynthia Erivo demands that he be in the cast if she is signing on.  Yes, I am being sarcastic.

I have to assume a lot of powers-that-be are saying that he used the race card when it was not appropriate and that he is probably not worth taking the chance on hiring a high maintenance prima donna when there are a lot of other talented people trying out for the same role.  Admittedly only from my education reading these various chats, those who paint him as a trouble maker built more compelling arguments than those who argue for victim.  

The whole thing is sad, especially when TGC is still grossing $300 - 400K more than shows that have not announced closing notices.  Mandy might have provided a little more time to sustain good grosses while they looked for some alternative, however unlikely.  All the publicity certainly didn't help future sales.

[Seperite]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:20am

No, Margo319, the show is closing because a bunch of boys (and girls) cried wolf, invented, out of whole cloth, a racist motive for a sensible business decision, and thus engulfed the show with so much controversy that *no one* with a prominent name (and thus, the capability to automatically raise ticket sales) would dare step into the morass. That's what's closing the shows.

Words have consequences. People with megaphones (i.e. twitter accounts) claiming that other people's actions are driven by malevolent intentions puts a scarlet letter on their head, and on everything that they touch. The way Erivo, Casal, and Oak handled this was irresponsible, incendiary, defamatory, and -- ironically enough -- not only ended the employment of the dozens of people of color involved in this show, but will also make producers in future shows think twice about hiring African Americans for other roles. If a producer has to be concerned that any role in which he/she casts an African American becomes consecrated solely for African American actors, such that any effort to replace that actor, for any reason, will be met with accusations of racism, you'd better believe that the producer will think twice before allowing his/her multi-million dollar investment to be threatened by such insanity.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:21am

Hogan, you sound delusional.  Are we suggesting that we ignore multiple sources telling us that Oak isn't completely innocent in this situation just preserve your optimistic outlook?  That sounds delusional to me.

The show did not close because of anyone being "too PC."  The show is closing because it is an expensive show to run and a difficult one to sell without a star.  The show was already struggling and this backlash (caused by Oak and his friend Casal along with a few others such as Erivo) was the final nail in the coffin.  They chased away their last shot at keeping the show open till September where another star would have stepped in.  Now no one wants to touch the show and they have no leading man.  Technically, yes Twitter did sink the show.  After all, it was trending on Twitter.

Overall I'm reminded of some lyrics from the show:

After all, you must understand

That besides your pleasure

There is such a thing as other people, and their happiness and peace

And that you are ruining a whole life

For the sake of amusing yourself!

Updated On: 8/9/17 at 01:21 AM

[Margo319]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:21am

 "I can't really discuss some of the stuff that went down, but the show is definitely closing due to the horrible backlash not because of the low ticket sales."

Yeah, no one believes your bullsh*t.  No one. 

[schubox]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:25am

Margo319 said: "I thought I would find the comments blaming Oak hilarious, because it's just so goddamned ridiculous that ANYONE would blame him for any of this.  But, it's not funny, it's actually really disgusting.

This show is NOT closing because of any actor or being politically correct. Musicals DO NOT close because of tweets.  The musical is closing because producers were unable to fund it.  Shows close because of money, not fu*king social media.  

This hurts me deeply.  This show broke down so many barriers.  It has been presented in so many different locations, it's been a very special thing in New York for many years.  It was a true gift and I will treasure the experience always.  

 

"

Disgusting like tacitly endorsing an attack on the show for being racist when race had nothing to do with it? Disgusting like having months to learn a part and coming in unprepared. We'll never know how much the twitter campaign cost the show. It's safe to assume Patinkin would have bought them at least a few more weeks of shows. And if it's true that the controversy scared off any one else from joining, then those tweets did have an impact.

The show probably didn't have much left to it, but it most likely had more than a few weeks and this disastrous finish. The producers have plenty of blame to take as well. Why do you have an issue apportioning Oak any blame? You called other posters racists for insinuating he could be the problem in other threads. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:25am

@schubox first of all, I have only told people two things: (1) that they have certain demonstrable facts wrong (and if that is condescending, so be it) and (2) that people should be reluctant to believe gossip and one-sided opinion (and if that makes them ridiculous, that's not my fault). I don't honestly care what if anything you gain from what I write, but I get bored when people keep posting things about other posters instead of substance and oh by the way I defy you to find a post in which I suggested what others should and should not discuss. This thread has brought a lot of lurkers out of the woodwork, and not impressively. If you want to discuss the theatre, I'm game, but don't get all bent out of shape when someone disagrees with you. Oh and while I am at it, telling someone who is a known quantity you think they are someone else (or someone else's agent): not cool. When I have a dog in a race I don't post about it. ever. 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:27am

Ok Hogan, so are you Oak's agent or Casal's agent?

[schubox]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:28am

HogansHero said: "@schubox first of all, I have only told people two things: (1) that they have certain demonstrable facts wrong (and if that is condescending, so be it) and (2) that people should be reluctant to believe gossip and one-sided opinion (and if that makes them ridiculous, that's not my fault). I don't honestly care what if anything you gain from what I write, but I get bored when people keep posting things about other posters instead of substance and oh by the way I defy you to find a post in which I suggested what others should and should not discuss. This thread has brought a lot of lurkers out of the woodwork, and not impressively. If you want to discuss the theatre, I'm game, but don't get all bent out of shape when someone disagrees with you. Oh and while I am at it, telling someone who is a known quantity you think they are someone else (or someone else's agent): not cool. When I have a dog in a race I don't post about it. ever. 

 

"

I never accused you of being anyone or anything. And   If I had time and motivation I'd track down posts where you told people not to post certain things or that they were being irresponsible. 

If you want to talk Theater and avoid this drama, why do you keep posting in here? And you can disagree with anything I say, I won't get offended. But you do so in a very rude and condescending way, and I know I'm not the only person who has told you that 

[Margo319]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:37am

Updated On: 8/9/17 at 01:37 AM

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:38am

^Mmm anything for you Leo.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 1:42am

schubox, I did suggest to someone that they might want to consider taking down a post that contained an innuendo of sexual harassment that I considered irresponsible based on hearsay, but to me that is far afield from discussing the theatre, and I would hope most decent human beings would agree with me about that. 

I'm sorry if you don't like how I sometimes express myself, but as I said I get bored when people want to talk about each other and forget this is about the theatre. I suspect we've said about everything we need to on this subject. I hope to meet you in another thread some day where we might even agree about something. Like what a great loss the theatre had today with Barbara Cook's passing. That's more important to me that Comet's passing. 

[Hellob]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 2:45am

Hairspray0901 said: "BroadwayConcierge said: "adamgreer said: "Cynthia Erivo is an immense talent, and her performance in the recent Color Purple revival was absolutely spellbinding and she deserved every accolade she received.  I will never take that away from her. 

That being said, her behavior on twitter- not even so much her opinion, but her attitude about it- has made me like her a lot less now.  She's really let the success she attained with her singular Broadway credit go straight to her head. Miss Keyboard Warrior really should have stayed out of this. "

Perfectly put.

I still can't rationalize the fact that this gorgeous production's demise will forever be at least somewhat attributed to two people who weren't even associated with it in the first place. Truly crazy.

 

"

I 100% agree. Her last few tweets are making me dislike her.

I still don't even understand how this Rafael Casal person even got involved, though? Who IS he? How did his tweets pick up so much steam?

 

"

He's a hot, hipster rapper/poet. He's in the scene, has a workshop at The Public, friends with Daveed, Oak, etc. Kinda like a Vincent Gallo type imo.

[10086Sundays]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 2:55am

Friendly reminder that you can block people on this site. Believe me, it makes the experience much more enjoyable and you won't miss any important information or insight. You just have to be ready to scroll quickly in case someone quotes a poster you've blocked. 

Updated On: 8/9/17 at 02:55 AM

[Hellob]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 2:58am

GeorgeandDot said: "Ok Hogan, so are you Oak's agent or Casal's agent?

 

"

He's actually a long time poster who is equally knowledgeable and irritating on almost every thread he's involved with so you're really making yourself look ridiculous by implying that he's got a dog in the fight. 

[JustAnotherNewYorker]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 3:17am

So I've lost the plot...did we figure out which Mamet play we're talking about Yet?

[evic]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 3:38am

Ervio should be blacklisted for provoking unwarranted racist drama and I hope the producers grow a set of balls and blitz the media stating the truth and their side of the story. 

[evic]

Posted: 8/9/17 at 3:38am

Ervio should be blacklisted for provoking unwarranted racist drama and I hope the producers grow a set of balls and blitz the media stating the truth and their side of the story.