re: Rue- Page 3

Posted: 8/19/05 at 2:26pm

Good for her! I Just read the interview and the comment about Broadway being like Las Vegas rang very true. Everything has to have a catch. Or a big star or a chandelier or a helicopter...on and on. I love musicals, but it's true.(Well I don't love Phantom or Miss Saigon or Wicked but I like them)

Broadway-Vegas Connection Updated On: 8/19/05 at 02:26 PM

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:32pm

I'm sure the producers of Wicked LOVED that interview. HA!

Maybe Broadway is all about spectacle but don't criticize it like you're the only one with artistic integrity and then take home the big fat paycheck every week.

Just because Broadway has a lot of spectacle in it that does not downplay the hard work many actors are doing to compete with that spectacle. Granted, some are not working that hard-but many are. Clearly Rue hasn't seen The Light in the Piazza. How ignorant-especially of someone who has been in the business this long- to say that musicals have no depth and are made up of "bits". Maybe if people appreciated the shows with actual depth then Broadway wouldn't have to be spectacular. Catch 22.

ANY role-that's right, ANY role-is challenging if you do the work behind it. When I'm older I think playing Madame Morrible would be a blast. If you don't like or respect musicals, don't do them.

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:38pm

Oh c'mon. You can perform in a show you think is silly and pointless. What's the big deal.

[Katecab99]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:39pm

i think she's confident and opinionated. and i love her for it.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:41pm

Kate - I couldn't agree more.

Finally someone sees it as I do

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:47pm

ANY role-that's right, ANY role-is challenging if you do the work behind it.

I think that's being extremely generous, and I'm not even speaking specifically about the role of Morrible here.

Plenty of roles are thankless, dull, etc. There's something to be said for making the best of it, or looking for layers others may not have seen, but I don't believe that absolutely ANY role is challenging.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:49pm

well i think it's fine for her to perform in something that's silly, that's fine. and who's to say wicked is or isn't... but the point is she doesn't discuss it as a single show. she demeans the whole genre by saying there are no real characters or plots in musicals. i mean, there are many plays that are silly nothings and don't let people stretch, and there are many brilliant roles written for musical theatre.

if she was talking about wicked, fine... but to me she was talking about musical theatre, not just one show.

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:51pm

Perhaps she was talking about Wicked specifically, but was trying to exercise restraint. Maybe she's totally miserable up there every night. Maybe she and Michelle get together before each show and do shots of Jager.

Edited to add a missing preposition.

Updated On: 8/19/05 at 05:51 PM

[apdarcey]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:54pm

haha. michelle has to by now... she must be boredddddddddddddddd man. and getting to sit down for most of the show too, she must fall asleep. oh, and is she still doing the other little parts she used to do? because if i were her i would demand to only do the nessa parts, and have ensemble do her other stuff...

oh but rue, i used to love you and now you just seem bitter.

Posted: 8/19/05 at 5:59pm

She does not seem bitter at all. You need to understand , we are reading her responses. It's very hard, as we all know, to make the tone of your words known when they are put on "paper." What sounds like harmless ribbing in a spoken interview might come off as bitchy or bitter.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 6:13pm

how is it harmless ribbing when she says that in the old days they did real plays, you know, dramatic plays. with real characters and real plots. not musicals which are just bits between songs because it's all about the music.

that's just not intelligent

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 8/19/05 at 10:52pm

She did seem like a bitch, but that's only because she was willing to say what many people won't while being interviewed. I'm sure a lot of people (particularly older Broadway vets) feel the same way she does.

Posted: 8/19/05 at 11:16pm

All you have to do is watch The Golden Age Of Broadway. The actors who performed during the 40's and 50's all mention to a certain degree how much things have changed. Kaye Ballard speaks about caling in sick during shows and how different it was when she started to when she returned to do Pirates. Chita , I think, spoke about new shows being nominated for best musical with no lyrics being sung or dialogue being spoken.

And it goes back to the old cliche , when men speak up they are "take charge' kind of a guys and when women speak up they are bitter bitches. And this is voiced by men and women.

Updated On: 8/19/05 at 11:16 PM

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 8/20/05 at 1:08am

"Plenty of roles are thankless, dull, etc. There's something to be said for making the best of it, or looking for layers others may not have seen, but I don't believe that absolutely ANY role is challenging."

Kringas-I don't think we are disagreeing here. Maybe "challenging" is not the ideal word. I know about dull and unfulfilling, believe me. But I think finding layers is still challenging when they aren't as obvious. In some ways, maybe more so. And anyway none of this applies to Morrible, like you said. It is a nice featured part that provides a lot of laughs and fun, and I'm sure there are at least a few qualified actresses in New York who would feel VERY fulfilled by it.

It's just in poor taste to criticize musical theatre as an entire genre, especially when you have colleagues who have made their life's work and passion from it.

[PerforMeg]

Posted: 8/20/05 at 1:11am

P.S. That being said I would defnitely a shot or seven of Jager if I'd been playing Nessarose for two years.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/20/05 at 1:14am

chita, it's one thing to be interviewed for a documentary about Broadway. It's quite another to say those things when you're doing press for a musical.

And why make a comment about Arthur "not acknowledging" her being in WICKED? Why would she be obligated to? I hope that was a tongue-in-cheek comment and not a barb.

Updated On: 8/20/05 at 01:14 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/20/05 at 1:29am

I will say it again.

I think these Broadway.com interviews make A LOT of stars look bitchy.

Playbill.com's interview with Rue is GREAT.

Posted: 8/20/05 at 1:41am

And we go back to "tone." How did she mean what she said about Bea? Was it mean spirited or just fun. These two women worked together for a span of two decades. It's very difficult to know how she meant what she said.

[JMVR]

Posted: 8/20/05 at 2:21pm

Her knowledge of musicals is sooo deep, I am glad she's speaking out. I'm sure every actress who ever played Mama Rose, Mame, Emma (Song and Dance), Eva Peron, Norma Desmond, Fantine, etc and every actor who played Jean Valjean, Javert, P.T. Barnum, The King of Siam, Tevye, King Arthur, etc. TOTALLy agrees with Rue about how unchallenging the acting in musicals can be.

This woman is working against the show she's in! If your cast is doing press like this, who needs to be ripped apart by Riedel???

Posted: 8/20/05 at 2:22pm

Did you have your brew of nasty this morning?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/20/05 at 3:02pm

Rue's laughing all the way to the bank.

[JayKid]

Posted: 8/20/05 at 3:45pm

I think she is definetly a little too full of herself IMO and no I'm not a crazy Wicked fan, haven't even seen the show.

She IS looking down on musical theatre, there is NO questioning it. She is not jsut looking down on Wicked or something, but saying plays are better than musicals. She is really saying she is better than musicals and that it doesn't take a lot of talent to do them. It's just disrespectful.... I know not everyhting I said above is what she said, but look through her damn words and see it.

She is disrespecting the genre of musical theatre and really believes it to be inferior to straight plays. Whether this is true or not or her opinion, I do think it is disrespectful, especially when this is also offending the many actors and actresses who love musical theatre and those who's passion is MT and make their living off it.

I just don't think you can really excuse this at all... I don't care how ****ty some of you think Wicked is, even if it is shallow. She shouldn't disrespect it like that.

It's similar to a college professor saying he/she is the real teacher and that teaching highschool is boring and easy. That is completely disrespectful to highschool teachers, whether or not it is true, it doesn't matter. Seriously, it's not right to just throw around comments like that... I just find it offensive.

She has her head way too far up her ass and needs to get off her pedestal, and realizes she is not the greatest thing ever.

I don't know, I just find people who are like this offensive. She is more than just confident and opinionated... she's taken it too far and is just disrespectful.

That's my 2 cents...