As well, Donald Trump can tell you, New York theater is one tough business. Even the most critically acclaimed shows can struggle to make a buck. Just this year, Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat lasted barely 100 performances on the Great White Way. (Though in that case, the market was wiser than the Pulitzer committee: Sweat, which I saw during its Washington run, was simplistic political propaganda, each character less fleshed out than a stick figure.)
Also currently struggling is the musical Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, a new play based on a section of War and Peace. The show enjoyed initial commercial success, based on the wattage of its lead Josh Groban. But when Groban left, replaced by the lesser-known Oak Onaodowan, ticket sales diminished. The show was in real danger of closing.
Then the show’s producers came upon a solution. Into the breach stepped just about the most lovable man on Broadway, Mandy Patinkin. Patinkin agreed to pinch-hit to save the show. It was announced that he would step into Onaodowan’s role for three weeks. Onaodowan would have continued to be paid and had the right to return after the conclusion of Patinkin’s run. Patinkin was not the only emergency substitute to be brought in; similarly, the singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson was also hired to temporarily replace a lesser-known performer.
And if you think that’s the end of the story then … you don’t know much about the year 2017.
Predictably, a Twitter mob formed, outraged that Patinkin, who is of Eastern European Jewish descent, would be temporarily replacing an African-American actor. Never mind that the role had been originated by the whiter-than-Vermont Josh Groban; and never mind that the show proudly proclaimed that it employed colorblind casting. And never mind, by the way, that two of Patinkin’s most beloved roles had him playing decidedly non-Hasidic characters. (Sure it’s one thing for him to play the narrator Che in Evita, but if you think somebody named Mandy Patinkin could play a character called Inigo Montoya in 2017 … then, again, you don’t know much about the year 2017.)
Equally predictable was the cave-in. The show’s producers initially issued a mealy mouthed statement, intimating they regretted their decision. Like Donald Trump’s tweets about Jeff Sessions, the show’s producers, evidently too cowardly to fire him, seemed to be trying to bully Patinkin into quitting:
This essentially left the beleaguered Patinkin with no choice: He announced his withdrawal from the shows on Friday. What else could he do, after his own bosses called his hiring a “mistake?”
And as for those people who made the “mistake” of purchasing tickets to the Great Comet in order to see Mandy Patinkin? I asked the show’s press representative whether they’ll be entitled to a refund; as of Monday morning, I had yet to hear back. Update: The representative responded Monday afternoon and said that refunds will be issued to disappointed Patinkin fans.
