What the hell is Neil Patrick Harris doing to RENT?

[Spacedog78]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 12:14am

i don't understand it! There are PLENTY of BROADWAY actors who have done and would to do those roles, and instead he is picking mainstream pop stars and Disney kids!! I think it is a poor decision on his part and am very disappointed!

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 12:15am

Aren't "big names" the point of the Hollywood Bowl Broadway concerts?

[BwayBoundJoe]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 12:28am

Making bank? Also, there ARE Broadway actors in it.

Mark, Roger, Angel, and Joanne are being played by actors who have been on broadway. Plus...Gwen Stewart.

[Kad]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 12:34am

It's the HOLLYWOOD Bowl Concert. Not a Broadway benefit or production.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 12:35am

Aren't "big names" the point of the Hollywood Bowl Broadway concerts?

Big names like Wayne Brady, Vanessa Hudgens, & A Pussycat Doll. :/

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 12:50am

Something tells me the casting decisions are not Neil's and Neil's alone.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 12:53am

This casting reads more like the 2012 cast of Celebrity Rehab.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 1:29am

Actually, Nicole is very talented-she is a strong vocalist and dancer. She should be Mimi. Also, Nicole is very A-list now with her DWTS win-she will sell tickets and Vanessa is still very popular with the tweens who will ask mom and dad for tickets. I'm not saying I love the casting, but its pretty sound for selling seats. Wayne Brady is very popular and well known-people really do love him.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 1:40am

One just won a reality competion - like it or not, that gives her a kind of name at the very least. I wonder if Neil will give the direction and concept a new spin or if it will be mostly just a tweaked version of the original.

[musicnerd234]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 2:28am

If I'm not mistaken, Neil has done rent before, he was Mark, and I love Neil and he can sing! I don't see the problem.

[jennafan]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 2:34am

Neil was too quick to cast Vanessa. I wonder if it has to do to the fact they have a movie coming out days before the production.

I don't mind Nicole though, I think she should have been Mimi though. She would be amazing doing "Out Tonight".

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 2:40am

If you don't like his decisions, you don't have to go.

[Spacedog78]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 3:06am

musicnerd234

Neil being in the show previously has nothing to do wih it

Lizzie

I do not plan to waste my time nor money.

Everyone pointing out money being a leading factor in the decisions has pretty much summed up my thought. Sacrificing art for the dollar is sad. A slightly talented tween star and a Pussycat doll. We should just have Madonna play Maureen and Cher play Mimi, and why not Tina Turner as Joanne. Now that would be a show and would rake in the bucks

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 3:26am

He is directing a 2 day concert... in LA. What exactly are you expecting here? This is a concert that isn't truly even geared toward the typical Broadway audience in the first place. You are likely to have never made it to the concerts in the first place, so why do you even care?

[Spacedog78]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 3:40am

jimmycurry01

I have attended several events at the bowl and was looking forward to this one until the casting came out. I could understand the crowds they are trying to attract like for their Grease sing along event, but RENT in concert seems to me to draw broadway fans who know and love the show, not your everyday bowl subscribers. don't get me wrong, i am no "reant head" if that's what they are even called, but I am a broadway fan who loves to see works put out with amazing casts. I just think they are missing out on something great here by not using the talents BROADWAY has to offer, not HOLLYWOOD. Even with the bowl's Les MIs,I mean what a great cast (minus Rosie)

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 4:20am

Well, I know on thing; I would still rather go see that than Les Miserables at the o2 in London...

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 4:21am

Maybe Rent will attract people who wouldn't normally go to a musical. And this is not always a bad thing.

Also, Spacedog78, Rosie ended up not even doing the show...

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 5:04am

Just because YOU don't like the casting, doesn't mean it won't work. Maybe that's why he's a professional and you are an audience member. It just might be wonderful.

You certainly have your right to your opinion (and maybe it will suck) but you are missing the point of the Hollywood Bowl concert.

And based on the comments here, it doesn't look like too many other folks agree with your assessment.

[jennafan]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 6:56am

omg drama, stfu.

Have you never been to a board where people don't agree? MANY times on here people have questioned casting and such. A lot of times these people are right.

Don't talk down to people just for saying what they think. It has nothing to do with Neil being the professional. WTF are you even talking about.

Your comment made it look like you've never read a BWW thread before. Did you expect every response to agree with the original poster? Come on now...

Ugh

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 7:03am

I told the poster he was right to have an opinion. I even told him he might be right that the choices might be poor ones. I just pointed out that MOST folks here didn't agree with him.

OF COURSE, people don't agree...so explain YOUR post telling me I shouldn't say what I did?

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 7:59am

Why dont you give it a rest until you have actually SEEN the cast in the parts

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 8:50am

There's only one way to settle this....DANCE OFF!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 9:10am

Hollywood Bowl has been dead to me since they cast Jessica Biel as Brian Stokes Mitchell's love interest. They were teetering on the edge with Jan as Fantine. This is nothing.


I'm a huge Rent fan. Probably more so than many of the people expressing outrage in response to this. And in all honesty, I don't care. If these stuntcast Hollywood performers bring any life to these characters, it will be an improvement over many of the Broadway actors in Rent of late whom you're touting as superior.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 10:16am

I love how every time somebody remotely famous is cast in a Broadway musical, everybody has a fricking conniption.

No, no, you're all right, though. I mean, for God's sakes, look at all the stunt casting disasters that have happened:

Reba McEntire in Annie Get Your Gun
Antonio Banderas in Nine
Harvey Fierstein in Fiddler on the Roof
Toni Braxton in Beauty and the Beast and Aida
Fantasia in The Color Purple
Clay Aiken in Spamalot
Melanie Griffith in Chicago
Ana Gasteyer in Wicked
Deborah Gibson in Gypsy and Beauty and the Beast

Scherzinger was a theatre major in college where she played leads in Chicago and Show Boat. Chill.

Updated On: 6/5/10 at 10:16 AM

[Steve2]

Posted: 6/5/10 at 10:18am

Since we are discussing NPH, I saw him walking up 9th Ave last weekend. I did a triple take just to make sure.