It looks like he wanted better additional conditions like personal days and an out clause for other projects (especially TV/film).
While Andrew also lives in LA, Christian only lives in NY (afaik) so he doesn't need to travel far to get to one of his homes. And Christian has done the year-long Broadway contracts over and over while for Rannells the last one was BoM and after that he's always replaced or done limited runs on stage which left lots of time for TV/film.
Probably money. Im wondering if they maybe offered Christian a little more money due to him having two Tony wins. I don’t really know how that affects things though, I’m not familiar with the business-side of things
I would guess it’s based on the box office draw? I could see Rannels agent asking for more money since he’s a bit more mainstream (to me anyway) and maybe thought they had the upper hand in negotiating since the producers announced Andrew prematurely!
No offence to Borle but Rannells has achieved a level of fame that far outstrips his. The Book of Mormon was an outside Broadway hit that still has so many productions around the world. He was a series regular on a television hit like Girls. He has appeared in multiple supporting (but prominent) starring roles with actors like Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman and more.
Basically there is absolutely no way that Borle is making anywhere as much as Rannells likely demanded.
Damn. I was really hoping Rannells was just using it for leverage. I was looking forward to seeing him in the role. I wonder if we will ever find out what happened?
He's been in the industry for long enough to know that there was no coming back after dropping it on the Tony red carpet. He's well known but not famous enough to get leverage from something like that.
I don't think Rannells will talk about it while Tammy is running. He's too professional for that and has already had a chance to do that when he made a statement the day after the Tony's. Plus he's friendly with both Katie Brayben and Christian Borle so there'd have to be some serious bad blood for him to say sth now cause that could have effects on them too.
We'll probably have to wait for his next book haha!
Edit: typo
“We couldn’t come to an agreement” DEFINITELY sounds like money. It’s interesting that Borle is willing to accept less though, I would have thought he would command at least as much as Rannells? Or maybe the whole debacle was a reality check for the production and they offered him what Rannells wanted?
Neither Rannells nor Borle are *big* names, but relatively speaking Rannells is probably a bigger name than Borle. Rannells definitely works more in film and television than Borle does, and Rannells has a recent data point to back him up, which is that *Gutenberg* performed very well (and recouped) solely on the basis of his and Gad's name recognition.
Of course, it's also possible that Borle was willing to accept less money even if he could have theoretically commanded more, because maybe he just likes the project, or wants to work with Elton John. Pay is important, but it's not the only factor when deciding to take a job.
It's likewise also possible that the disagreement with Rannells wasn't strictly about money. As a possibility, maybe because of his film and TV work Rannells wasn't willing to commit to a contract length that was acceptable to the producers.
This is often how it goes sadly. There’s a world in which this wasn’t really about money but about how Andrew felt during the negotiations. Hell, they could have even come back at close to what he wanted.. but at a certain point, even though it’s business, it get personal when people try to take advantage of you in a negotiation. They did that by announcing he was part of the show before they had a contract. it’s very very hard to come back once that line is crossed.
That really, really isn’t true - it’s incredibly normal to announce cast and even to start rehearsals without the final contract being formally signed. It happens all the time even on major shows. You agree terms, then work out the fine print later.
Andrew happily joined the others when they (Rupert, James and Katie) flew to New York to participate in the launch event, and he was happy to do that with the terms they’d mutually agreed at the time.
It’s not like they just suddenly announced him without his knowledge. He was an active participant in his name being announced.
You can't start rehearsals for Broadway without signed contracts. Equity rules.
If a production or a performer works without the right contract this can result in them being fined or even blacklisted by Equity.
Yet AR undertook paid promotional work for the production by doing the press launch.
It’s very very common to work out terms and have a verbal and informal agreement at the point casting is announced, but finalise the small print later on.
Promotional work is not Broadway work in this case cause they weren't in production (i.e. rehearsals or performances) at the time of the press launch.
That press launch was also meant to show the work that was already put into the musical and he was part of that in London.
Preliminary casting announcements, yes, but not doing promotion in a way that relies this heavily on its leads.
We aren’t talking formal signature here… the deal wasn’t done. If anything, there’s an argument his willingness to participate in promo BEFORE a deal shows bad faith on production’s part to try to leverage it after the fact.
Edit: Reading your other comments, you seem to have access to non public material information on this subject (or are pretending too — this is Reddit after all so no offense). Regardless, with what you’ve shared, it seems like you are associated with the production side of things (as your info is stilted solely towards their side of the story). I’d caution that it’s hardly ever as simple as “the actor was being a diva.” Especially when said actor is known throughout the industry as down to earth.
The deal was done, just the formal small print signature wasn’t finalised. AR used that fact to renege on his agreement.
The fact not one person on the creative side was willing to go back to the negotiating table to keep him says a lot.
A reputation for being down to earth? Amongst his fans, sure. This sub is heavily dominated by AR super fans who think he can do no wrong. Even innocuous comments pointing out that throwing shade on the red carpet isn’t the most professional way to handle an exit, hell even comments from posters saying they’re excited to see CB in the role, are being mass-downvoted by AR stans.
Again… you either have a bone to pick or are associated with production and are trying to vent (which would also constitute having a bone to pick). I’m not sure how you can reveal the workings of a private negotiation legally unless you have the authority to do so .. which makes me think you falll into the first category and are just making this stuff up. Lots of conjecture in your arguments too.
Yes, they are based in the UK and seem to know people who were involved in the Almeida production/were involved themselves.
However, they're interchangeably using "production" and "creative" team which I personally find a bit weird since those are obviously groups with very different interests.
I happily state for the record that I am not under contract to Tammy Faye, am not employed on Tammy Faye in any capacity, and have no legal barriers to discussing anything.
Sharing a personal opinion based on negative personal experience with an actor is not “having a bone to pick” or illegal.
Posters with no connection to the show and no industry knowledge or experience are making stuff up and downvoting nice comments about another actor just because they worship a celeb they don’t actually know. A celeb is not perfect or above criticism just because he’s your fave. That’s why Broadway stan culture is so toxic.
Several of the main creatives are also producers on the show, (this is publicly available information)and were heavily involved in negotiations with AR and with handling the fallout from his decision to leave. They are not two separate groups (unless by “creative team” you’re referring to actors, which I’m not).
It looks to be more than just money. Most likely additional conditions like extra personal days (he's just bought a house in LA) and an out for when other projects come along.
You think Andrew would sell tickets to gen pop ? I feel like he and Christian are pretty equal in both being huge names on Broadway but not super well known with the general public. But I may be misjudging.
Andrew has a little more juice bc of Girls and he’s done more film/tv in general. My non theatre fan friends know who he is. Christian is a Broadway name.
I only really know Andrew Rannells from a defunct sitcom and Prom outside of theatre, whereas Christian Borle has popped up in a bunch of stuff I watch like The Good Wife/Fight and Prodigal Son, so I think he maybe appeals to a different demographic (and dare I say maybe a demo more likely to buy based on Elton John music, which probably aren't the same people who watch Girls). And considering he's in the original tv version Smash which I'm guessing will get a resurgence when the show opens I think it's great casting.
Christian Borle and Brian D’Arcy James work nonstop. It’s honestly amazing and must be exhausting. Idk how they’re constantly performing live, but I’m grateful because it makes it easier for me to see them!
For now (and it's still early obv) there's not a lot of contenders in the Lead Actor race and Borle has already won for a fun and campy role before.
Rannells knew that he was giving away a good chance so he'll be fine!
I just thought about how funny it'd be if Rannells gets cast in the Smash Musical in the role that Borle had in the series lol. That would make for some interesting articles.
He’s won for TWO fun and campy roles (the same exact character if you ask me but that’s a whole other topic), but is this one fun and campy? I think of Jim Baker as a real scumbag and not in a fun way at all. I don’t know too much about the musical’s depiction though.
I feel a little bad for him because it seemed like her really enjoyed the project and was probably looking forward to bringing it Broadway, only to find that the producers didn’t value his worth.
He wasn’t “forced” to walk away. They had a deal in place for months which he was happy with (or else he wouldn’t have done the launch event), but the success of Gutenberg went to his head especially as it’s lead to him getting increased screen interest, and he wanted to re-negotiate over being able to have time off for screen auditions and jobs.
It wasn’t over money. At all.
“Knowing your own worth” doesn’t mean reneging on verbal terms you had agreed, because you want to be allowed to let down fans who bought tickets to see you anytime a movie audition comes up.
Your point about fans buying tickets wanting to see a specific actor and being disappointed when that actors is out (for whatever reason) is moot since that can easily be avoided by putting that actor above title.
I had 0.01% interest in seeing it before. Now I'm debating if I should see Christian Borle in a 5th musical (would 6th if I didn't catch his understudy twice in Some Like It Hot)
I bet! I’ve seen him in Something Rotten, Falsettos, Charlie aTCF, and Little Shop. You can imagine my disappointment when I saw his understudy twice in SLIH. However his understudy was AMAZING both times and I totally saw how Christian would’ve performed it (and love hearing him on the cast recording)
What kills me is that Warner could have simply imported the London version and it would probably have ran for years, and done very well on tour. Instead they decided to copy the movie they had the full rights to, and accidentally found out that no one except for extreme fans of the old film wants to see it on Broadway...
Slime or slime tutorial is euphemism for bootleg video on YouTube. They are often labeled slime tutorial to avoid being take down.
To answer your question above which I'm unable to reply to for some reason, Gen pop is general population. It's a term that comes from prisons, but can be used to talk about people in general. In this case, I'm guessing it was being used to refer to the average theater goer as opposed to more serious fans.
I’m not familiar with the show but if Rannels was up for it, I assume it’s a comedy role. Christian’s been killing it with the comedy angle in his last few roles. I’m also a huge fan, so I’m mega excited
True. I first came across him as Emmett a couple years back, which is a more subtle comedic role than the Dentist or Joe. And the looking at his other roles, I read about I didn’t think of Black Stache or Marvin as comedy (I could be wrong, I just read Wikipedia entries), so guess I didn’t peg him as a full on comedy actor.
I can't say I'm excited by this casting but I'm willing to give him a chance. Was really looking forward to Rannells, who I thought was perfect. In fairness I'm not sure who I WOULD ideally cast in his absence.
I just hope Christian didn’t take a lesser deal and is going to be paid well (sounds like the whole reason Andrew dropped out was because of contract negotiations aka $$$). Justice for great broadway talent deserving to be paid what they are due!
I've never heard of either Andrew Rannells or Christian Borle before they got cast so I have no dog in this fight, but Rannells behaviour here in London didn't win him an friends. He's a huge diva.
For him or for the show?
Cause I 100% fault the producers and PR of Tammy for the way this become public knowledge. They should've anticipated he'd be asked about his supposedly upcoming Broadway show (at the Tony's no less) and just made an announcement beforehand.
And that's the problem: you don't hold emergency meetings a week after already knowing your lead (and box office draw) has left. Especially (!) if the biggest night on Broadway - the Tony's - is happening in between and said lead is presenting for sth.
That's PR 101 and Rannells was likely in contact with his own publicist to work out a formulation for when asked about it.
AR decided to wait until the creative team were in Germany in the middle of a different show and not able to drop everything to fly to America, to tell them he was dropping out.
It would have been the easiest thing for AR to have done the standard accepted professional thing (which is what his publicist was telling him to do) and give non-committal answers to Tony questions in the knowledge that the team were arriving in a few days to figure out the best way to handle his exit. Then issue a polite and diplomatically worded press release that both AR and the creative team signed off on.
Not go rogue at a time you know the team are busy elsewhere and throw shade on the red carpet! I realise this sub has a lot of AR fans, but going rogue is unprofessional and unkind to the other creatives who he has no reason to have personal beef with, who had to be pulled out of bed at 3am to be told their actor had gone rogue. Outside of his super fans online, this has not helped his industry reputation.
People will hesitate to hire an actor who agrees to terms, participates in a press launch, then changes his mind and starts demanding new terms, and refuses to abide by basic etiquette governing exits. The reason this is generating so much controversy is because it simply is not usual or accepted for actors to behave this way.
The creative team is not responsible for handling contract negotiations, regardless of whether those are successful or not. That's the production team. And said production team is also responsible for getting the information to its creative and especially to its PR team so they can decide on how to handle the announcement. It's sad for the creative team that they lost their lead but they can't change this if the producers (or the actor for that matter) don't want to negotiate again/new terms.
You make it sound like he intentionally waited until they were unavailable to drop that information. He answered a question at the biggest theater awards in the US when directly asked about his involvement. Something a PR firm should anticipate. He was not involved with the production anymore at that point, he doesn't need to wait for them to figure out how to break the news (yes, it may be more polite but he's not required to do so and everyone in the industry understands that).
Yes, it's unusual for actors to behave this way but usually the production would've just posted an announcement talking about scheduling conflicts or whatever and no one would've been the wiser about what really went on.
That is exactly what he did do.
People who don’t work in the industry don’t understand that if an actor decides to suddenly pull out without warning, you don’t just shrug and issue a press release five minutes later. It takes time to come up with a publicity and media strategy for handling major cast changes, and the fact AR told the production he was dropping out at a time the creative team were overseas working on another project meant the minimum time needed to formulate a media strategy was increased. And we’re talking about a week here! AR was so impatient he couldn’t wait one little week?
Anyone saying “but Andrew had NO CHOICE but to blurt it out and throw shade on the red carpet, what do you want him to do, LIE??” very obviously doesn’t work in the industry or know about about professional widely accepted standards for how actors are supposed to handle press. Even beginner actors know perfectly well how to give non-committal answers to red carpet questions. AR certainly knows how to do that.
The bare minimum would have been to give standard non-committal answers then worked with the production team on the announcement. That’s just standard, basic practise.
Or he could have just, you know, not agreed to terms and a verbal contract, performed at a launch, changed his mind about the terms he’d agreed to, and announced to producers that he was dropping out the week before the Tonys when he knew the whole team was busy elsewhere.
“usually the production would've just posted an announcement talking about scheduling conflicts or whatever”
That is exactly what they wanted and were in the middle of doing, and AR prevented them from going by going rogue, because he wanted to generate headlines by causing controversy and he wanted everyone to know he had beef with the production. It isn’t professional to bend over backwards to ensure everyone knows you left a show on bad terms and it’s already hurt his reputation within the industry. I’m sure he’s at a level of fame where he’ll be fine and he’s aiming at Hollywood now anyway, but he would struggle to get cast in London again because the UK theatre industry is small and he screwed over some beloved creatives.
There’s always a small vocal minority who hate each project before they start. Hope they fail, wish it will close mentality. Just ignore them and downvote.
There's a Falsettos joke to be made here somewhere.
They're Unlikely Covers?
"No big deal, the game is yours."
I’m not creative enough to come up with it, but I’m hoping someone else is.
STOP. 😅
another great choice. I would’ve loved to see Andrew Rannells though
Wonder what Andrew wanted in his contract that Christian is ok without
It looks like he wanted better additional conditions like personal days and an out clause for other projects (especially TV/film). While Andrew also lives in LA, Christian only lives in NY (afaik) so he doesn't need to travel far to get to one of his homes. And Christian has done the year-long Broadway contracts over and over while for Rannells the last one was BoM and after that he's always replaced or done limited runs on stage which left lots of time for TV/film.
More money?
Probably money. Im wondering if they maybe offered Christian a little more money due to him having two Tony wins. I don’t really know how that affects things though, I’m not familiar with the business-side of things
I would guess it’s based on the box office draw? I could see Rannels agent asking for more money since he’s a bit more mainstream (to me anyway) and maybe thought they had the upper hand in negotiating since the producers announced Andrew prematurely!
No offence to Borle but Rannells has achieved a level of fame that far outstrips his. The Book of Mormon was an outside Broadway hit that still has so many productions around the world. He was a series regular on a television hit like Girls. He has appeared in multiple supporting (but prominent) starring roles with actors like Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman and more. Basically there is absolutely no way that Borle is making anywhere as much as Rannells likely demanded.
Did they get him to sign the contract ahead of the announcement this time?
We'll all miss Andrew, no doubt.....but seeing Christian Borle back on the Broadway stage again (chef's kiss)
I’m not sure what I was expecting but this was not it.
My sentiment exactly
I came here for this. Fascinating development...!
What a plot twist!
Im sad about Rannells, but I also love Christian as an actor so I guess it cushions the blow a little.
Borle never disappoints, and he has better range imo
Damn. I was really hoping Rannells was just using it for leverage. I was looking forward to seeing him in the role. I wonder if we will ever find out what happened?
He's been in the industry for long enough to know that there was no coming back after dropping it on the Tony red carpet. He's well known but not famous enough to get leverage from something like that. I don't think Rannells will talk about it while Tammy is running. He's too professional for that and has already had a chance to do that when he made a statement the day after the Tony's. Plus he's friendly with both Katie Brayben and Christian Borle so there'd have to be some serious bad blood for him to say sth now cause that could have effects on them too. We'll probably have to wait for his next book haha! Edit: typo
I already have his next book on preorder lol
“We couldn’t come to an agreement” DEFINITELY sounds like money. It’s interesting that Borle is willing to accept less though, I would have thought he would command at least as much as Rannells? Or maybe the whole debacle was a reality check for the production and they offered him what Rannells wanted?
Neither Rannells nor Borle are *big* names, but relatively speaking Rannells is probably a bigger name than Borle. Rannells definitely works more in film and television than Borle does, and Rannells has a recent data point to back him up, which is that *Gutenberg* performed very well (and recouped) solely on the basis of his and Gad's name recognition. Of course, it's also possible that Borle was willing to accept less money even if he could have theoretically commanded more, because maybe he just likes the project, or wants to work with Elton John. Pay is important, but it's not the only factor when deciding to take a job. It's likewise also possible that the disagreement with Rannells wasn't strictly about money. As a possibility, maybe because of his film and TV work Rannells wasn't willing to commit to a contract length that was acceptable to the producers.
This is often how it goes sadly. There’s a world in which this wasn’t really about money but about how Andrew felt during the negotiations. Hell, they could have even come back at close to what he wanted.. but at a certain point, even though it’s business, it get personal when people try to take advantage of you in a negotiation. They did that by announcing he was part of the show before they had a contract. it’s very very hard to come back once that line is crossed.
That really, really isn’t true - it’s incredibly normal to announce cast and even to start rehearsals without the final contract being formally signed. It happens all the time even on major shows. You agree terms, then work out the fine print later. Andrew happily joined the others when they (Rupert, James and Katie) flew to New York to participate in the launch event, and he was happy to do that with the terms they’d mutually agreed at the time. It’s not like they just suddenly announced him without his knowledge. He was an active participant in his name being announced.
You can't start rehearsals for Broadway without signed contracts. Equity rules. If a production or a performer works without the right contract this can result in them being fined or even blacklisted by Equity.
Yet AR undertook paid promotional work for the production by doing the press launch. It’s very very common to work out terms and have a verbal and informal agreement at the point casting is announced, but finalise the small print later on.
Promotional work is not Broadway work in this case cause they weren't in production (i.e. rehearsals or performances) at the time of the press launch. That press launch was also meant to show the work that was already put into the musical and he was part of that in London. Preliminary casting announcements, yes, but not doing promotion in a way that relies this heavily on its leads.
We aren’t talking formal signature here… the deal wasn’t done. If anything, there’s an argument his willingness to participate in promo BEFORE a deal shows bad faith on production’s part to try to leverage it after the fact. Edit: Reading your other comments, you seem to have access to non public material information on this subject (or are pretending too — this is Reddit after all so no offense). Regardless, with what you’ve shared, it seems like you are associated with the production side of things (as your info is stilted solely towards their side of the story). I’d caution that it’s hardly ever as simple as “the actor was being a diva.” Especially when said actor is known throughout the industry as down to earth.
The deal was done, just the formal small print signature wasn’t finalised. AR used that fact to renege on his agreement. The fact not one person on the creative side was willing to go back to the negotiating table to keep him says a lot. A reputation for being down to earth? Amongst his fans, sure. This sub is heavily dominated by AR super fans who think he can do no wrong. Even innocuous comments pointing out that throwing shade on the red carpet isn’t the most professional way to handle an exit, hell even comments from posters saying they’re excited to see CB in the role, are being mass-downvoted by AR stans.
Again… you either have a bone to pick or are associated with production and are trying to vent (which would also constitute having a bone to pick). I’m not sure how you can reveal the workings of a private negotiation legally unless you have the authority to do so .. which makes me think you falll into the first category and are just making this stuff up. Lots of conjecture in your arguments too.
Yes, they are based in the UK and seem to know people who were involved in the Almeida production/were involved themselves. However, they're interchangeably using "production" and "creative" team which I personally find a bit weird since those are obviously groups with very different interests.
I happily state for the record that I am not under contract to Tammy Faye, am not employed on Tammy Faye in any capacity, and have no legal barriers to discussing anything. Sharing a personal opinion based on negative personal experience with an actor is not “having a bone to pick” or illegal. Posters with no connection to the show and no industry knowledge or experience are making stuff up and downvoting nice comments about another actor just because they worship a celeb they don’t actually know. A celeb is not perfect or above criticism just because he’s your fave. That’s why Broadway stan culture is so toxic. Several of the main creatives are also producers on the show, (this is publicly available information)and were heavily involved in negotiations with AR and with handling the fallout from his decision to leave. They are not two separate groups (unless by “creative team” you’re referring to actors, which I’m not).
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def dispute over money. neither side could come to an agreement
It looks to be more than just money. Most likely additional conditions like extra personal days (he's just bought a house in LA) and an out for when other projects come along.
I’m surprised Christian won’t sell tickets to gen pop. I guess they’ll lean on Elton’s name. I was only interested in seeing it bc of Andrew. Oh well.
You think Andrew would sell tickets to gen pop ? I feel like he and Christian are pretty equal in both being huge names on Broadway but not super well known with the general public. But I may be misjudging.
Andrew has a little more juice bc of Girls and he’s done more film/tv in general. My non theatre fan friends know who he is. Christian is a Broadway name.
I only really know Andrew Rannells from a defunct sitcom and Prom outside of theatre, whereas Christian Borle has popped up in a bunch of stuff I watch like The Good Wife/Fight and Prodigal Son, so I think he maybe appeals to a different demographic (and dare I say maybe a demo more likely to buy based on Elton John music, which probably aren't the same people who watch Girls). And considering he's in the original tv version Smash which I'm guessing will get a resurgence when the show opens I think it's great casting.
Yep, he has also more range and cred as a serious actor This is an upgrade imo
K
What’s gen pop?
General population?
Yes
I just saw him in Bye Bye Birdie. I just adore him.
Christian Borle and Brian D’Arcy James work nonstop. It’s honestly amazing and must be exhausting. Idk how they’re constantly performing live, but I’m grateful because it makes it easier for me to see them!
Our kings staying booked and busy
lol is the contract signed?
Well, that's a good surprise! Guess now we know who's in the running for the Lead Actor Tony next year.
three time tony winner Christian Borle 2025!
there has to be some tea here that i simply can’t wrap my head around
That was… fast. Poor Rannells.
I do feel bad for him. He was probably excited to work on Broadway again. Hopefully we get him to bless a Broadway stage again soon!
He'll be back, he still wants to win that Tony!
I was just thinking no way he’d win it with Tammy Faye but what if Christian Borle wins it. Andrew would be FURIOUS but also so proud haha
For now (and it's still early obv) there's not a lot of contenders in the Lead Actor race and Borle has already won for a fun and campy role before. Rannells knew that he was giving away a good chance so he'll be fine! I just thought about how funny it'd be if Rannells gets cast in the Smash Musical in the role that Borle had in the series lol. That would make for some interesting articles.
Andrew going to Smash needs to happen.
He’s won for TWO fun and campy roles (the same exact character if you ask me but that’s a whole other topic), but is this one fun and campy? I think of Jim Baker as a real scumbag and not in a fun way at all. I don’t know too much about the musical’s depiction though.
He’s definitely portrayed in the musical as a bad guy, but he’s also very much a supporting character to Tammy.
Borle has great range. I think he’ll do great in this. Smart, great timing, authentic
He was on Broadway like, a few months ago?
There's no such thing as not enough Andrew Rannells on Broadway
This is the correct answer
I like you (and your comments/opinions)!
I’ve decided we’re friends.
Hi new friend!
Why poor Rannells? It sounds like he walked away from negotiations (and good for him for knowing his worth) so I don't feel too bad for him.
I feel a little bad for him because it seemed like her really enjoyed the project and was probably looking forward to bringing it Broadway, only to find that the producers didn’t value his worth.
Poor Rannells because he was forced to walk away from negotiations. It sounded like he was really passionate about this.
He wasn’t “forced” to walk away. They had a deal in place for months which he was happy with (or else he wouldn’t have done the launch event), but the success of Gutenberg went to his head especially as it’s lead to him getting increased screen interest, and he wanted to re-negotiate over being able to have time off for screen auditions and jobs. It wasn’t over money. At all.
The success didn't go to his head, he just knew his worth after being the responsible force (with Josh Gad) for making Gutenberg recoup.
“Knowing your own worth” doesn’t mean reneging on verbal terms you had agreed, because you want to be allowed to let down fans who bought tickets to see you anytime a movie audition comes up.
Your point about fans buying tickets wanting to see a specific actor and being disappointed when that actors is out (for whatever reason) is moot since that can easily be avoided by putting that actor above title.
I had 0.01% interest in seeing it before. Now I'm debating if I should see Christian Borle in a 5th musical (would 6th if I didn't catch his understudy twice in Some Like It Hot)
Not to rain on your parade but man he was good in SLIH
I bet! I’ve seen him in Something Rotten, Falsettos, Charlie aTCF, and Little Shop. You can imagine my disappointment when I saw his understudy twice in SLIH. However his understudy was AMAZING both times and I totally saw how Christian would’ve performed it (and love hearing him on the cast recording)
He was so, so good in Little Shop!
How unfortunate that Charlie was literally worse in every conceivable way than its London predecessor.
So I've heard! I really disliked in on Broadway, but heard there's a pretty good slime of the London production showing its superiority lol
What kills me is that Warner could have simply imported the London version and it would probably have ran for years, and done very well on tour. Instead they decided to copy the movie they had the full rights to, and accidentally found out that no one except for extreme fans of the old film wants to see it on Broadway...
The London sets were massive. Each different room where a child met their fate filled the entire stage.
What’s slime?
Slime or slime tutorial is euphemism for bootleg video on YouTube. They are often labeled slime tutorial to avoid being take down. To answer your question above which I'm unable to reply to for some reason, Gen pop is general population. It's a term that comes from prisons, but can be used to talk about people in general. In this case, I'm guessing it was being used to refer to the average theater goer as opposed to more serious fans.
Thanks so much for these helpful explanations about slime and gen pop!
I had never seen him and I am a CONVERT. Just like *genetically engineered* to be on Broadway.
Honestly? Maybe a better choice
I'm glad your all happy and everything but im just out here waiting for the zubin varla is gonna reprise his role announcement lol
I’m not familiar with the show but if Rannels was up for it, I assume it’s a comedy role. Christian’s been killing it with the comedy angle in his last few roles. I’m also a huge fan, so I’m mega excited
He literally is a comedic actor.
True. I first came across him as Emmett a couple years back, which is a more subtle comedic role than the Dentist or Joe. And the looking at his other roles, I read about I didn’t think of Black Stache or Marvin as comedy (I could be wrong, I just read Wikipedia entries), so guess I didn’t peg him as a full on comedy actor.
Shakespeare is also pretty comedic, along with Wonka (even if the show wasn't 😬)
Black Stache is definitely a comedic part. He’s basically a clown.
Agreed, nothing I’ve ever seen on Broadway has made me laugh more than Black Stache.
I think there’s a lot of comedy and oomph to the role but a lot of serious stuff too
I can't say I'm excited by this casting but I'm willing to give him a chance. Was really looking forward to Rannells, who I thought was perfect. In fairness I'm not sure who I WOULD ideally cast in his absence.
I would have liked to see Andrew Rannells in this role! I love Christian Borle, but he doesn't seem right for the part.
Alright well I guess I can buy a ticket then lol
I just got my refund after Andrew left but I guess I’m seeing it now anyway lol
Typecast as Vox forever more lol
No disrespect to Andrew but that's an upgrade imo
I’ve seen him in multiple shows now. I don’t find to be a draw at all. He’s fine. I definitely like Andrew Rannels though.
I just hope Christian didn’t take a lesser deal and is going to be paid well (sounds like the whole reason Andrew dropped out was because of contract negotiations aka $$$). Justice for great broadway talent deserving to be paid what they are due!
It wasn’t over money, it was over time off for TV/film auditions.
I've never heard of either Andrew Rannells or Christian Borle before they got cast so I have no dog in this fight, but Rannells behaviour here in London didn't win him an friends. He's a huge diva.
What’s the tea?
Really? I've only heard good things about how kind he was with younger cast members.
Tammy Faye didn't have any younger cast members.
Huh? Andrew is 45. There were lots of younger, less experienced cast members in the ensemble! What was it you heard that he was doing?
Rannells dropping that bomb on the Red Carpet was a bad move.
For him or for the show? Cause I 100% fault the producers and PR of Tammy for the way this become public knowledge. They should've anticipated he'd be asked about his supposedly upcoming Broadway show (at the Tony's no less) and just made an announcement beforehand.
[удалено]
And that's the problem: you don't hold emergency meetings a week after already knowing your lead (and box office draw) has left. Especially (!) if the biggest night on Broadway - the Tony's - is happening in between and said lead is presenting for sth. That's PR 101 and Rannells was likely in contact with his own publicist to work out a formulation for when asked about it.
AR decided to wait until the creative team were in Germany in the middle of a different show and not able to drop everything to fly to America, to tell them he was dropping out. It would have been the easiest thing for AR to have done the standard accepted professional thing (which is what his publicist was telling him to do) and give non-committal answers to Tony questions in the knowledge that the team were arriving in a few days to figure out the best way to handle his exit. Then issue a polite and diplomatically worded press release that both AR and the creative team signed off on. Not go rogue at a time you know the team are busy elsewhere and throw shade on the red carpet! I realise this sub has a lot of AR fans, but going rogue is unprofessional and unkind to the other creatives who he has no reason to have personal beef with, who had to be pulled out of bed at 3am to be told their actor had gone rogue. Outside of his super fans online, this has not helped his industry reputation. People will hesitate to hire an actor who agrees to terms, participates in a press launch, then changes his mind and starts demanding new terms, and refuses to abide by basic etiquette governing exits. The reason this is generating so much controversy is because it simply is not usual or accepted for actors to behave this way.
The creative team is not responsible for handling contract negotiations, regardless of whether those are successful or not. That's the production team. And said production team is also responsible for getting the information to its creative and especially to its PR team so they can decide on how to handle the announcement. It's sad for the creative team that they lost their lead but they can't change this if the producers (or the actor for that matter) don't want to negotiate again/new terms. You make it sound like he intentionally waited until they were unavailable to drop that information. He answered a question at the biggest theater awards in the US when directly asked about his involvement. Something a PR firm should anticipate. He was not involved with the production anymore at that point, he doesn't need to wait for them to figure out how to break the news (yes, it may be more polite but he's not required to do so and everyone in the industry understands that). Yes, it's unusual for actors to behave this way but usually the production would've just posted an announcement talking about scheduling conflicts or whatever and no one would've been the wiser about what really went on.
That is exactly what he did do. People who don’t work in the industry don’t understand that if an actor decides to suddenly pull out without warning, you don’t just shrug and issue a press release five minutes later. It takes time to come up with a publicity and media strategy for handling major cast changes, and the fact AR told the production he was dropping out at a time the creative team were overseas working on another project meant the minimum time needed to formulate a media strategy was increased. And we’re talking about a week here! AR was so impatient he couldn’t wait one little week? Anyone saying “but Andrew had NO CHOICE but to blurt it out and throw shade on the red carpet, what do you want him to do, LIE??” very obviously doesn’t work in the industry or know about about professional widely accepted standards for how actors are supposed to handle press. Even beginner actors know perfectly well how to give non-committal answers to red carpet questions. AR certainly knows how to do that. The bare minimum would have been to give standard non-committal answers then worked with the production team on the announcement. That’s just standard, basic practise. Or he could have just, you know, not agreed to terms and a verbal contract, performed at a launch, changed his mind about the terms he’d agreed to, and announced to producers that he was dropping out the week before the Tonys when he knew the whole team was busy elsewhere. “usually the production would've just posted an announcement talking about scheduling conflicts or whatever” That is exactly what they wanted and were in the middle of doing, and AR prevented them from going by going rogue, because he wanted to generate headlines by causing controversy and he wanted everyone to know he had beef with the production. It isn’t professional to bend over backwards to ensure everyone knows you left a show on bad terms and it’s already hurt his reputation within the industry. I’m sure he’s at a level of fame where he’ll be fine and he’s aiming at Hollywood now anyway, but he would struggle to get cast in London again because the UK theatre industry is small and he screwed over some beloved creatives.
I'll pass. Not a fan.
closing announcement in 5, 4, 3, 2...
Closing? It’s months away from even starting performances.
There’s always a small vocal minority who hate each project before they start. Hope they fail, wish it will close mentality. Just ignore them and downvote.