'GREASE' & DESIST, TV WINNERS NOT BOX-OFFICE GOLD Options

[Mrs._N]

Looks as if predictions of harsh words from the Broadway community are coming true. Still Michael Riedel's comment about "the least attractive of the lot" is really out of line, I think.

From today's New York Post (http://www.nypost.com/seven/04042007/entertainment/theater/grease__desist_theater_michael_riedel.htm)

April 4, 2007 -- THE folks involved in "Grease" have been bragging for a week now about ticket sales - $9 million and counting for a revival that doesn't open until July.

What they haven't been talking about is a little misfire that happened last Monday, the day after the final installment of "You're the One That I Want," the NBC reality show from which the stars of the revival were cast.

The phones at Ticketmaster were, I'm told, ringing off the hook because a lot of viewers who bought tickets to "Grease" weren't happy with the actors chosen to play Danny and Sandy: Max Crumm (change the name, kid) and Laura Osnes.

"There was a bit of a frenzy because a lot of people wanted Austin and Ashley to win," says a source. "They wanted their money back."

Austin Miller and Ashley Spencer were the runners-up.

The source says extra people had to be added to the phone banks to handle the calls.

A spokesman for the show denies there was a "substantial number of calls" for refunds, and that the advance continues to grow.

All this crowing about the box office strikes me as face-saving, since "You're the One That I Want" was a ratings loser. Eight million people watched last week's final installment, which is about, oh, 30 million viewers shy of the audience for "American Idol" and 20 million shy of the audience for "Dancing With the Stars."

The show did marginally better than the Tony Awards, but that's like saying Alan Keyes did marginally better in New Hampshire than Dennis Kucinich.

The "Grease" team is also acutely aware that the Broadway community despised "You're the One That I Want." The only insider I know who was able to stomach every episode was writer and performer Seth Rudetsky. And that, I hope, is only because Playbill.com paid him to write a column about it every week.

The rest of Broadway was put off by the cheesy production values, poorly staged musical numbers and cookie-cutter nobodies who auditioned to play Danny and Sandy.

Crumm (that name again!) and Osnes are notable only because they were the least attractive of the lot.

Two members of the "Grease" team who are really taking a licking are producer David Ian and writer Jim Jacobs, who, along with director Kathleen Marshall, were the TV show's judges.

Ian, a former actor (sorry I missed his Hamlet), came off as a desperate Simon Cowell wannabe whose skin was the color of Tang and whose teeth looked as if they were whitened during the commercial breaks. Theater people who know him well say he still hungers for the spotlight. At yearly producer conferences (held in sunny places where he can deepen that Tang tan), Ian "loves to give speeches," a source says. "He can't get to the stage fast enough."

Jacobs, insiders say, came off as a pompous oaf.

"He wrote one show ['Grease'] and carried on like he was Jule Styne," says one producer.

As for Marshall, she's still popular around Broadway. But, boy, her revival of "Grease" better be good.

"You're the One That I Want" has left everybody - producers, chorus kids, critics, Tony voters, ushers and columnists - so disgusted, we're going to be gunning for the production.

This summer, even Marshall may get it in the neck.

I'm among those hoping that Max, Laura and Kathleen Marshall will prove the naysayers wrong!

[Mrs._N]

I don't think Michael Riedel ever gave "Grease" much of a chance. Look at his January 17 column....

The TV reality show "You're the One That I Want" isn't having the wanted effect at the box office for the upcoming Broadway revival.

THE only thing sliding faster in the ratings than Katie Couric is "You're the One That I Want."

The NBC reality show about the casting of the upcoming revival of "Grease" attracted just 8 million viewers last Sunday, a drop of more than 3 million from the previous week.

More ominously, the program, which has been trashed by TV critics, finished fourth among 18- to 49-year-olds, the demographic that makes advertisers drool.

The Post's Adam Buckman says the lackluster ratings will probably put a damper on future Broadway reality shows.

"I don't think you're going to see 'If I Were the New Rich Man,' " he jokes.

"Grease," which opens on Broadway this summer, took in more than $1 million at the box office last week following the debut of "You're the One That I Want."

But there's been no spike at the box office this week, and people involved in the revival are starting to realize they can't rely on the TV show to generate ticket sales.

"It's not turning out to be the magic bullet we'd hoped," one insider says.

The TV show is certainly not winning any fans around Broadway.

Working actors think it demeans their profession, while the industry's movers and shakers say it makes the theater business look tacky and cheap.

A group of theater people who winced through the latest installment called it "appalling," "sloppy" and "unwatchable," among other things.

One Broadway performer, asked why she didn't audition for the show (the nationwide casting calls were open to members of Actors Equity), put it this way: "You don't work your whole life to get an agent and then have to go stand on some hideous line to audition in front of television cameras."

Like all reality shows, "You're the One That I Want" tries to get mileage out of sniggering at grotesque people who would never, under any circumstances, have a shot at playing the sexy leads in a Broadway show.

And so you have fat middle-aged women trying out for the role of 16-year-old Sandy.

Two of the judges, the reptilian producer David Ian and "Grease" co-writer Jim Jacobs, happily stick it to the pathetic cases. To her credit, the third judge, Kathleen Marshall, the director of the revival, does not.

An actor who knows her well says Marshall is "a lovely person who does not get off on making fun of other people.

"I hope she's getting paid a lot of money for this."

There's been some talk that Andrew Lloyd Webber - who created the format with his very successful "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" in England, about the casting of "The Sound of Music" - will appear as a guest judge in future episodes.

But I'm told Lloyd Webber may steer clear, since he's hoping to launch his own reality show in America - this one casting "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" - and is reluctant to be associated with a show that continues to slip in the ratings.

In the meantime, people involved in the revival of "Grease" cling to the belief that, even if the TV show flops, there's still a huge audience for the musical itself.

"It's one of the most successful titles of all time," says one. "It won't be tainted by a bad reality TV show."

Then again, with eight episodes to go, there's still plenty of damage to be done

From http://www.nypost.com/seven/01172007/enter...hael_riedel.htm

[Calenheniel]

I have no respect for the New York Post after they reported on an FBI investigation into suspicious materials found in Keith Olbermann's home in a sarcastic and totally irresponsible manner that the FBI had requested they not do in the first place. That and they're owned by Rupert Murdoch-- that says it all to me.

[Mrs._N]

I have no respect for the New York Post after they reported on an FBI investigation into suspicious materials found in Keith Olbermann's home in a sarcastic and totally irresponsible manner that the FBI had requested they not do in the first place. That and they're owned by Rupert Murdoch-- that says it all to me.

There is definitely a sneering tone in Mr. Riedel's writing.

[Calenheniel]

There is definitely a sneering tone in Mr. Riedel's writing.

I wouldn't expect anything else from a paper that's owned by such a conniving, ruthless businessman. I would say that there's little journalistic quality of ANY kind to be found in that rag.

[Edwardian]

Mr. Reidel, can you say, "snide, effete New Yorker?"

(I'm from NY and love the city, so I get to say stuff like that."

[Edwardian]

I wouldn't expect anything else from a paper that's owned by such a conniving, ruthless businessman. I would say that there's little journalistic quality of ANY kind to be found in that rag.

The Post does a very good job of reporting on the Yankees. I read this section online every morning.

[Kathy Hagan]

After reading the article earlier and working up a lather, I googled Mr. Riedel. Apparently he's well hated in Broadway circles. Here's some of what I read:


It’s the opening-night party for Sly Fox, at Tavern on the Green. Photographers prepare to catch the actors and celebrities arriving, when the preppy, innocuous-looking New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel strides in. “Michael, let me take your picture in case you get into trouble tonight,” calls out a paparazzo. Riedel obliges, beaming.



Inside, Riedel is greeted by a producer inquiring, “How’s the Broadway grappler? You’re notorious!” Riedel quips, “I was already sailing on the Notorious, now I’ve got a first-class compartment.” A recent late-night fracas at the opening of Fiddler on the Roof has turned the columnist into a story: Riedel, who had belittled the production as “de-Jewed,” was knocked to the ground by the show’s director, David Leveaux.



The event was memorialized by “Page Six” with the cheeky headline ‘ROOF’ DIRECTOR FLOORS POST, and Riedel, unhurt, is reveling in the attention, showing off his repaired watchband, which had broken during the contretemps. The five-foot-nine, 138-pound Riedel is no Mike Tyson wannabe, but he likes to provoke, saying, “I’m a wimp when it comes to physical violence, but give me a keyboard and I’ll kill ya.” Charming his way across the room, he schmoozes about a possible actors’ strike with Phil Smith, president of the Shubert Organization, and pays homage to Floria Lasky, the venerable showbiz lawyer. Lasky, however, has not forgiven Riedel for his attention-getting stunt last year, when he hectored Bernadette Peters for missing performances of Gypsy and plastered the actress’s face on a milk carton. The diminutive Lasky grabs Riedel’s tie and jerks it, nooselike, scolding, “It was unfair, what you did to Bernadette.”



Michael Riedel has become the columnist Broadway loves to hate. An attack dog in a world of lapdogs, this magna *** laude Columbia graduate, who reads Dante and Suetonius for fun, is an unlikely tabloid bad boy. But his twice-a-week, mean, often funny, always dishy, ruthlessly vitriolic behind-the-scenes gossip column has made him the scourge and the talk of the theater world. Unapologetic about his desire to create offstage drama, Riedel has mocked and ridiculed the biggest names on Broadway. “I’m mischievous. You have to expect they’ll be thin-skinned, and you have to expect they’ll get mad at you,” says Riedel, who also co-hosts a Friday-night theater show on Channel 13. “I like it when they fight back. I love the debate.”


Perhaps Laura and Max should consider themselves even more victorious after being written about by such a toad. One thing I noted: he has a major grammar error in his article.

A spokesman for the show denies there was a "substantial number of calls" for refunds, and that the advance continues to grow.

Does the spokesman deny that there were calls, and also that the advance continues to grow? Seems this writer for a major news rag left out a verb. And a fair amount of research.

[Anna101]

I'm sure there were a few calls to return tickets from Austin/Ashley fans. I'm also sure the same thing would have happened if Austin and Ashley won, from the Max/Laura fans. And, I prefer to think they had to put on extra people to handle the calls to buy tickets to see Max and Laura!

I don't put any stock in this article. Pure garbage - just gave him something to write about.

I think the show will run for a long time and Max and Laura will be wonderful.

Oh...and this:

Crumm (that name again!) and Osnes are notable only because they were the least attractive of the lot.

below the belt... And now Laura is being lumped into the label that was given wrongly to Max?

He looks lonely doesn't he?

[Edwardian]

Counterpoint:

Picture In Picture: Grease You're The One That I Want - Finale
Posted By Thomas Daniels on 03.27.2007


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Related Topics: | Shows | Grease: You're The One That I Want

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So the ten week journey has led us here. America has chosen the opening day leads for the next run of Grease on Broadway. The only question at the end of last week was whether the voting process would choose the correct pair. There were two very obvious pairs after watching the duets last week. My original picks, Austin and Ashley, was one pair, and Laura and Max was the other. Laura and Max essentially won the competition last week. Either of these two combinations would be acceptable. A mix/match of the two won't work as well. Last week, Laura and Max won me over as the pair that would work best together, knocking off weeks and weeks of me dubbing Ashley and Austin the heir-apparents.

And the results? Max and Laura, which was the correct choice all told. They displayed a chemistry last week that the other two didn't show together and the mixed-up groups didn't show at all. For a Broadway show, they did the best they could with what they had. That sounds horribly like a backhanded compliment, but it isn't. They started the show with a mess of amateurs and not-ready-for-broadway players and wound up with the best of the group. Whether that was really controlled by people's votes or truly controlled by the judges, chalk it up to the magic of television.

At the end of it all, some final thoughts: I'm not sure this would work with any other show or whether any other producer/director would be insane enough to try it. I mean, the audience that watches these shows aren't exactly the same crowd that frequents Broadway shows. The other problem is that I foresee Broadway critics smashing the show right out of the gate. Reality TV is the anti-thesis of Broadway and they will likely be quick to point that out. After all, most of them are self-important and won't be thrilled with the idea of the "anyone can do it" status of Reality Television.

If they do manage a second season of this show, I'd really like to see them fix their production issues. Primarily making the singers sound better and getting the hosts to hit their cues more consistently. A production truck that manages to put up the Ticketmaster number when the hosts are talking about dialing the Ticketmaster number might not be too much to ask either.

In the end, the show kept me watching for the full run, minus one week I missed due to a delayed bus, so it did it's job. I enjoyed it, even watching it with a person who couldn't bust on it enough didn't faze me.

All said, I'm looking forward to the chance to review the show when preview week starts. Let's hope that Murtz can hook it up.

[Mrs._N]

Mr. Reidel, can you say, "snide, effete New Yorker?"

(I'm from NY and love the city, so I get to say stuff like that."

We encounter "effete" only occasionally in NE Ohio.

[sidrabelleformax]

the post stinks. it's a myopic rag. BUT they did do a lovely, full-color insert of 'our couple' the other day with a full page spread and everything. so, the rag was forgiven, if for that one day only.

had austin and ashley won (or perhaps even any other combination of the four), there would've been similar cancellations. that's how it goes.

ignore the meany-pants of the world:) paying attention feeds the beast (she says, contributing to the thread, LOL:))

[Anna101]

Michael Riedel has become the columnist Broadway loves to hate. An attack dog in a world of lapdogs, this magna *** laude Columbia graduate, who reads Dante and Suetonius for fun, is an unlikely tabloid bad boy. But his twice-a-week, mean, often funny, always dishy, ruthlessly vitriolic behind-the-scenes gossip column has made him the scourge and the talk of the theater world. Unapologetic about his desire to create offstage drama, Riedel has mocked and ridiculed the biggest names on Broadway. “I’m mischievous. You have to expect they’ll be thin-skinned, and you have to expect they’ll get mad at you,” says Riedel, who also co-hosts a Friday-night theater show on Channel 13. “I like it when they fight back. I love the debate.”

Now Max and Laura have been insulted with the biggest names on Broadway. I do believe they have arrived.

[siren1617]

Mr. Reidel, can you say, "snide, effete New Yorker?"

(I'm from NY and love the city, so I get to say stuff like that."

Nice!! I'm so with you on that. I'm a New Yorker through and through, and I dont know a single person who takes the NY Post seriously. I wouldnt touch that paper with a ten foot pole.
Still, this should be expected. The NY Post LOVES stepping on toes and saying outlandish things to get ppl's attention. Its a sad little newspaper with bad writing, bad journalism, and a well known practice of bias.
Some of the things that article says make absolutly no sense. Laura is stunning. And Max is adorable. Weber, Olivia, Marshall (the brother), Secada, and every single one of the other guest stars were wowed by them. Way to go NY Post, for ******* off the people who actually read your paper.

[sidrabelleformax]

michael reidel points out that 'grease you're the one that i want' only pulled about 8 million viewers per week, much lower, ratings-wise, than 'ai'. in terms of theater seats, however, that's pretty good. if you crunch the numbers, if half of the viewing audience for the tv show sees the show on broadway, it'd have to run more than 9 years to accommodate everyone seeing it ONCE (the brooks atkinson theater has a capacity of around 1040.)

[familyofslackerb...]

Looks as if predictions of harsh words from the Broadway community are coming true. Still Michael Riedel's comment about "the least attractive of the lot" is really out of line, I think.

From today's New York Post (http://www.nypost.com/seven/04042007/entertainment/theater/grease__desist_theater_michael_riedel.htm)

April 4, 2007 -- ...

The rest of Broadway was put off by the cheesy production values, poorly staged musical numbers and cookie-cutter nobodies who auditioned to play Danny and Sandy.

Crumm (that name again!) and Osnes are notable only because they were the least attractive of the lot. ...

Jacobs, insiders say, came off as a pompous oaf.

"He wrote one show ['Grease'] and carried on like he was Jule Styne," says one producer.

Those accomplished on broadway, or those associated with a broadway production, had a dream and pursued it. What is a "cookie-cutter nobody?" You can't down these kids for standing in hours long lines to fulfill an ambition. In this day and age, there is no "cookie-cutter" way to reach your dreams.

And least attractive? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And I have to say in regard to the comment about Jim Jacobs; I never saw him as a "pompous oaf." Imo, he actually came across as a fairly humble guy. (Just some creepy comments toward the ladies , but not pompous.) In the end, he seemed almost excited that his original idea of Danny and Sandy didn't have to be the last two standing. Remember, he chose the two "unconventional" contestants week after week.

Maybe Michael Riedel is the pompous oaf.

[celemon]

Maybe Michael Riedel is the pompous oaf.

Hey, you could be on to something!

[theatremania]

Hey, you could be on to something!

Hey, there may have been some tickets cancelled, but I for one only purchased tickets after finding out that Max and Laura are Danny and Sandy. I would have done so if it had been Max and Ashley. But, not if anyone other than Max. There is something about that kid that the "reporter" obviously doesn't have brains enough to see. This is the first time that I have even considered or wanted to travel from CO to NY to see a show. But, I wouldn't miss seeing my favorite musical with my now favorite Danny!!!

[Kathy Hagan]

I got the clue from his article that Mr. Riedel had no clue about who Max and Laura were at all. I think this is going to be a brilliant production. Can't wait to hear the raves.

[celemon]

Hey, there may have been some tickets cancelled, but I for one only purchased tickets after finding out that Max and Laura are Danny and Sandy. I would have done so if it had been Max and Ashley. But, not if anyone other than Max. There is something about that kid that the "reporter" obviously doesn't have brains enough to see. This is the first time that I have even considered or wanted to travel from CO to NY to see a show. But, I wouldn't miss seeing my favorite musical with my now favorite Danny!!!

The article implies cancelled tickets--and there may well have been a rash of calls about it--but that's not usually Ticketmaster's policy. I'd be very surprised if anybody is able to get a refund based on Ashley or Austin not winning. I haven't seen any credible claims of it happening yet.

There are some people putting tickets up for grabs on e-bay, but those don't seem so much like disgruntled fans as profiteers, judging by their profiles.