This Week, This Industry Took A LOT of Steps Back & It's Really Sad!

Kevin Ray Johnson, Staff Writer

The​ past week in our industry has been filled with... Drama. From Lillias White's unfortunate misunderstanding to this interview with Sara Porkalob for Vulture, yes, this has been quite a week. But I think there is something we need to discuss that is happening and to be quite frank really makes me uneasy. And it is this underlining tone that Lillias and Sara need to "Know their Place". It is happening, and it needs to be addressed because similar situations have happened in the past and it has been nowhere near given the time and energy these two situations have.

So, I have a couple of questions.

How come when Patti LuPone stops a show and yells and goes off (and it was recorded), it's praised, but Lillias White says two words after a misunderstanding, she's condemned for it? Lillias White has received death threats. (Really?)

(Here is the recording of Patti stopping the entire show. Is this no worse than Lillias White’s saying “No Recording”?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WruzPfJ9Rys

How come when Evan Peters plays a character that killed and ate Black men and minors in Jeffrey Dahmer, it is celebrated, and Halle Lynn Bailey is torn down for playing a cartoon Mermaid after people saw ONE PREVIEW?

How come when the likes of Barrett Wilbert Weed are commended and praised for being honest for saying she doesn't want to talk to people after shows (her reasoning was justified) and has always been quite a blunt person, which people appreciate, but Sara Porkalob giving honest answers in an interview is being read and comprehended as someone who is ungrateful and rude? I feel it is very honest and yes I do believe that sometimes you have to pick your battles and what hills to die on but I just don’t see how they are coming off as ungrateful in this interview (take it from someone who has written close to 250 interviews for OnStage Blog).

You're mad about their 75 % comment? Didn't Idina Menzel say something similar a couple of years back? She didn't call anyone nameless (which is a slur). Now there are sometimes that the best thing I have learned is to keep it to yourself but explain to me how this would affect 1776. If you don't agree with them, then go, see it still and continue to support the limited run.

Sara Porkalob’s 75% comment & Idina Menzel’s 75% comment.

So are we gonna drag Idina Menzel too for her 75% comment or are we going to Let it Go?

Why are BIPOC Artists not given the same benefit of the doubt? Seriously you still can't be blind at this point to the double standards that happen far too much in this Industry.

Why drag a wonderful and very underappreciated position in Front of House Staff because of a situation that you didn't see? As someone who comes from working Front of House just know that yes, you're right ushers don't catch everything but I can attest that Jujamcyn is one of the best (if not the best) organizations on Broadway when it comes to their front-of-house staff which is completely stellar. They did their job in that situation to a tee. If you have never worked in that position, you don’t have any room to give your opinion on how to handle any situation that Front of House staff have to deal with on a nightly basis.

To every Front of House worker, just know that you are all truly the backbone, and I appreciate all the hard work and dedication you put into your job. People don’t understand how much you all have to take during a shift and have to find a way to keep going. In my honest opinion, Front of House staff are some of the strongest people working at the theatre. Patrons aren’t saints to you, and now when you have people who weren’t even present questioning how you do your job. I can only imagine how frustrating that is. So please know that I see you, have your back and you are all truly appreciated!

I think the theatre community, in general, needs to stop having constant circular firing squads trying to prove who's the most horrible human being. In the Hadestown situation, we should be doing a lot more listening and a lot less talking and realizing that there are a lot of gray areas when you hear about things secondhand, especially in a situation like this, a lot of the time, it is blown out of proportion.

With Lillias White, she said two words "No recording". That was it. It was just a misunderstanding. She wasn't out to get this young lady. And the people at the theatre did their job. Don’t bring your opinions to a fact fight. We are all still recovering from the shutdown so please explain to me why some artists and theatre workers would try to do something to mess up something that was taken away from them for over a year. Let's stop with that. Let's stop creating the worst narrative imaginable. Let's stop with the witch hunts. Let's start practicing all the things we talked about during our discussions during the shutdown.

This industry truly needs some type of reckoning, but until then. Let's seriously please try to do better.