Why is Joan Jett not on the Rocky Horror CD?

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 2:35am

Title says it all really. Why is it that Kristen Lee Kelly does the vocals instead of Joan Jett on the Broadway Revival CD?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 2:51am

I recall correctly, Jett's label wouldn't let her do it since it was being released by another company. You will notice in the liner notes that several people are listed as appearing courtesy of another label.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 4:17am

I love "The Perks of Being A Wallflower."

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 11:37am

Broadwayguy2 is correct.

At some point, Jett got angry with them about something and abruptly left the show.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 12:34pm

also of (lesser) note- Kevin Cahoon also do not appear on the recording

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 1:31pm

Yet Lea DeLaria did?
haha.
I love listening to her talk about her Rocky Horror experience.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 1:45pm

I seem to recall Joan demanding her longtime producer should do the cast recording. When the powers that were disagreed, Joan walked, not giving a damn about her newly acquired bad theatrical reputation.

[Jane2]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 2:01pm

I wish she had left the show before I saw it. Her performance looked to me like she wasn't happy to be there.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 2:11pm

Early on, she had fun with it. Towards the end, not so much. She did abruptly leave shortly after the recording issue, with pretty hard feelings all around. I don't think Broadwayguy2 is correct, though. IIRC, it wasn't a contractual issue but rather a financial one. She chose not to do it.

She was an interesting choice for the role, and wasn't awful. They went out of their way to tailor it for her, for example, substituting a guitar solo in place of Columbia's traditional tap dance.

What does Ms DeLaria have to say about her experience?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 10:21pm

Didn't she refuse to get her Equity card?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 10:24pm

Here it is:

https://www.broadway.com/Joan-Jett-Never-Joined-Union-Equity-Confirms/broadway_news/6036

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 10:28pm

Slight threadjack but:
"Despite Equity's well-publicized punishments, including the fine of Barry Williams earlier this year, the Executive Director said there will "not be any repercussions" in this matter."

What?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/28/08 at 10:32pm

He did a non-union tour of Sound of Music and they fined him.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,622099,00.html

[BrianIdol]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 1:49am

what role did she play?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 9:23am

Double post...edited the second one...somehow...

Updated On: 12/29/08 at 09:23 AM

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 9:24am

^ She was Columbia.

IIRC, The Columbia order was:
Joan Jett, Ana Gasteyer, Kristen Lee Kelly, Liz Larsen (With Kristen Lee Kelly, and Aiko Nakasone (sp?) understudying, and when Larsen took over they bumped Usherette 2 over to Sebastian Bach as Riff Raff).

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 10:37am

I'm really surprised Joan didn't make the recording, because I hear She really likes rock and roll.

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 6:04pm

There's a video of Time Warp with Jett as Columbia running around, it's gotta be in the last half of her run cuz she sings with so little emotion or commitment.
I think it was pretty intresting to go with a totally different sound with Columbia. Me being a shaddowcaster, Nell's squeak is so deeply etched in my brain that it's hard for me to warm up to Kelley and Jett.
I wish there was audio or video of Ana Gasteyer, I love her in absolutely anything.

Does anyone have a picture of Columbia in the revival? She's the only character not pictured in the CD booklet.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 6:16pm

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 6:19pm

thank you!

I just found this one too:

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 6:20pm

God, she looks like a MAN!


LOVE IT!!!

edit: Haha, you beat me to it!

Updated On: 12/29/08 at 06:20 PM

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 6:51pm

It certainly is something...
then again, the only thing known about Columbia is that she's a "groupie", so there's almost limitless ways the role could be interpreted.
...but i'm still iffy about the biker/goth-grunge godess look

Updated On: 12/30/08 at 06:51 PM

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 7:00pm

she handled the role well when I saw the show in previews. She seemed to really be enjoying herself, such a shame it didn't last.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 7:45pm

Why was she so reluctant to join Equity?

[MrSweetNAwful]

Posted: 12/29/08 at 8:18pm

I searched Broadway.com to see what articles they had left from the production. There's only news stories and interviews (a real funny one with Lea DeLaria) but I found this little interesting bit in a Q&A with Daphne Rubin-Vega (Magenta):

Who's your dressing roommate?
Joan Jett. She's my bud. I love Joan. It's funny because when I was in the girl group Pajama Party, I was the one who was more "been there, done that." It was even like that with me and Idina [Menzel, in Rent]--she was like a sister, too. Now I get to have a big sister who's done **** I've never done! Joan can really tell me a thing or two about life. That's so great. And she's a survivor like me.

But she is a Broadway virgin.
Yes, which is so fabulous. I can teach her some things about that. When we first started the show, she didn't know that we were supposed to tip the dressers and stuff. Finally, I just said something to her and now.You see, Joan is the most generous person in the world. If she has Starbucks, everybody gets it. If she gets Krispy Kremes, there's enough for everyone. She takes things to the nth degree. It's cute. And now we vocalize before the show together. We have this little routine, get it over with together. Joan's idea of vocalizing is to walk down the hall screaming [from Joan's hit "Bad Reputation"] "I don't give a damn about my reputation..." She'd say "It opens my throat." There's no dispute there!