Today's Random Question: Sardi's Portraits

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 11:31am

Congratulations to Andy Karl for being the latest honoree. I'm curious how the new portrait subjects are selected. Is it like the Hollywood Walk of Fame where an actor's fan club or management buys the star? Does someone high up at Sardi's just decide who gets selected with no real criteria, just whoever tickles their fancy? Once on the wall are you there forever or at some point are old portraits of actors no longer on the boards removed? 

[bwaylyric]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 11:38am

They should remove the ones that don't resemble their subjects.  Norm Lewis!

[seaweedjstubbs]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 11:43am

Most of the newer portraits are pretty terrible.

[willep]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 12:20pm

Yeah, all of the more recent ones I have seen are awful. Norm Lewis' is particularly bad, unfortunately.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 12:32pm

They are so tragic I can barely believe they are not a prank.

[EM55]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 12:40pm

TotallyEffed said: "They are so tragic I can barely believe they are not a prank.

 

 

"

They really are bad! If you stopped at a street artist and they did that you wouldn't pay them!

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 12:47pm

I've often wondering that too. People making their debuts get them sometimes but Boyd Gains didn't get one until he had already won 3 or 4 Tonys!

[pupscotch]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 12:49pm

Maybe the leads of the new shows that season? I also wonder if the Sardi's artist just can't draw male faces, because both Ben Platt and Andy Karl's have been terrible, but Laura Osnes' looked beautiful.

[Skimbleshanks2]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 12:58pm

Was JUST WONDERING this!! Anyone know what the deal is?? 

MR. KARL's ceremony was uh ... low-key, if I'm being polite; based on how much she was mugging for the cameras, you'd think that ORFEH was getting the caricature, not her husband!! LET HIM HAVE A CAREER!

I was hoping someone like LAURA BELL BUNDY would come to support him... or KRISTIN CHENOWETH... Oh well!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 1:01pm

willep said: "Yeah, all of the more recent ones I have seen are awful. Norm Lewis' is particularly bad, unfortunately."

Yeah, poor Norm got straight-up reverse Rachel Dolezal'ed.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 3:03pm

LizzieCurry said: "Yeah, poor Norm got straight-up reverse Rachel Dolezal'ed.

"

Wow...I hadn't seen Norm's but just Googled. If I saw that portrait without him holding it I would have thought, who is that white guy, he looks sort of familiar. 

[ebontoyan]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 6:03pm

Skimbleshanks2 said: "MR. KARL's ceremony was uh ... low-key, if I'm being polite; based on how much she was mugging for the cameras, you'd think that ORFEH was getting the caricature, not her husband!! LET HIM HAVE A CAREER!"

<end quote>

If Andy Karl is fine with his wife's antics why should it bother his fans??!  And negatively commenting about it.  He has always said in interviews that they are a team! Orfeh is his #1 fan! 

 

"

 

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 6:19pm

Do actors get to see and/or approve the portraits before the public unveiling? Given the quality I wonder if some are more shocked than delighted but hide it well. 

[dshnookie]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 7:00pm

This photo says it's all. Truly horrendous.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 7:29pm

Maybe Andy can take art classes and keep waking up at 6:00 am until he is proficient enough to sketch a more accurate likeness of himself.

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 6/1/17 at 7:52pm

I once asked the bartender and he said they rotate most of them regularly except for a few famous ones that people expect to see in certain spots like "Liza" in the corner booth, and "Bernadette" at the top of the stairs, and "Elizabeth Taylor" at the downstairs bar. He said actors that have been forgotten get rotated up to the third floor Sardi's club and eventually put in storage.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 6/2/17 at 12:11pm

I wish I knew and did not see a post that answered your question. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/2/17 at 12:54pm

Skimbleshanks2 said: "Was JUST WONDERING this!! Anyone know what the deal is?? 

MR. KARL's ceremony was uh ... low-key, if I'm being polite; based on how much she was mugging for the cameras, you'd think that ORFEH was getting the caricature, not her husband!! LET HIM HAVE A CAREER!

I was hoping someone like LAURA BELL BUNDY would come to support him... or KRISTIN CHENOWETH... Oh well!"

girl you need to get a grip with your obsession of Andy Karl. his wife is allowed to support him and be there for him. also this thing where you put actors name in ALL CAPS is obnoxious.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 6/2/17 at 1:41pm

pupscotch said: "Maybe the leads of the new shows that season? I also wonder if the Sardi's artist just can't draw male faces, because both Ben Platt and Andy Karl's have been terrible, but Laura Osnes' looked beautiful.

No, Kelli O'Hara's is pretty bad too. Whoever is doing the caricatures just doesn't seem to be trying very hard. A lot of times they seem to be based on headshots now but there's a very low level of accuracy considering all you have to do is copy a static image. At least Squiggs makes generically attractive people even when they don't look anything like the actual person. 

 

[Tag]

Posted: 6/2/17 at 2:04pm

I wish I could remember, but there was an article or interview I saw last year that answered this question.  Can't remember where I saw it.  But it basically comes down to publicists negotiating them.