Top 10 Broadway Scandals of the Century So Far

[@MsMojo]

Which Broadway scandal shocked YOU the most? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Controversial Broadway Casting Decisions - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4bNYYp7jJuBmck

[@Dead-or-Alive1985]

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is objectively one of the single most interesting stories of a broadway show I've ever seen (so much so that I did a 30-minute presentation on it for a class one time)

[@louyou5667]

Do you know the video Wait in the Wings did about it?

[@RexyAndIKnowIt]

"Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is SUBJECTIVELY one of the single most interesting stories of a Broadway show I've ever seen (so much so that I did a 30-minute presentation on it for a class one time)" There you go! i fixed it for you.

[@courtsgirlf]

an off broadway one is the mccarter theatre firing an actor for being ‘too disabled’ while playing a disabled character in ride the cyclone ! absolutely horrible:/

[@sandiscool123]

THIS! and now they’ve taken the character’s disability out of the show completely :(

[@courtsgirlf]

@@sandiscool123 yes!!! so much for diversity

[@allisonbergh4429]

@@sandiscool123 Have they?? Wha? How?

[@the1andonlySM]

@@sandiscool123 Wait seriously?? I need justice for my man Ricky

[@That-is-so-fetch.]

and them changing the script to remove Ricky's disability

[@princesslilyfromtheisleoft2649]

I love broadway so much and this was a very interesting video. Hamilton is probably my favorite musical of all time, but I do know the real history of the founding fathers and the ones who owned slaves. However, even though it’s good to know the history behind our founders, I hope the people who watch and love Hamilton will be able to enjoy the brilliant art of Hamilton while still being able to separate the art from the history. It’s a musical, not a documentary.

[@BombshElle_7]

Thank you! The play is called "HAMILTON," not "The Revolution" or "Black in The Colonies."

[@allisonbergh4429]

Also, even keeping the material as written, the actors were able to freight it with a lot of complex meaning, simply by their performances, not just their casting. It’s almost satire.

[@ombrenightcores]

I know it’s not perfect, but aren’t the släve owners portrayed as godawful people in the show and definitely as the antagonists? I feel like they’d have to multiply the show’s runtime by at least five if they got into the very long, extensive, and excruciatingly gruesome history of slävery in the United States, and considering Hamilton himself was not a slave owner it wasn’t as relevant to his own life as much as the others. I do wish they included the third Cabinet Battle though - the entire song is about slävery and how a lot of America was built on keeping its atrocity alive and well

[@AliAngelpie]

I do like that some theaters hire interpreters to sign for deaf/hard of hearing patrons during the whole show, standing next to the stage with a small spotlight and being noted by the cast for applause at the end. As a hearing-impaired theater goer, I've never had to use an interpreter because I wear hearing aids and I can't use ASL due to having misshaped fingers, but I'm still touched that my fellow hearing-impaired individuals are being accommodated.

[@Spawnwick_Boseman82820]

Deadpool intro: "I'm gonna rough you up like a Broadway musical" Deadpool's victory over Spider-Man: aww, that was too easy. Maybe it would've helped if you "Turn off the dark" "

[@mikea77]

A good list, but I think the disappointment of Paradise Square closing before it should have, due to allegations of financial mismanagement that include not paying the performers should have been mentioned in the list. This show has a very interesting plot, excellent music, and we would have loved to see is when we visited NYC in September, 2022.

[@emmagal5659]

"Odds are you've never seen a production of Rebecca" *laughs in Hungarian*

[@Phelie315]

*Joins the laughter in German* :D

[@IngenuousSoprano]

*cuts to a gif of der Tod laughing maniacally, while ringing Sisi's wedding bells*

[@zackreed6010]

I have met with Alice twice, been to two of her concerts,. attended her masterclass, and had dinner with her once. I truly considered her one of the most special and kind people I have ever had the pleasure of calling a friend. I held her to the highest acclaim and was beyond devastated to hear of the things she has allegedly done to her adoring and impressionable fans.I hope they can get the help they need and I hope Ms. Ripley takes this time to self-reflect and to work on her behavior and relationships to others.

[@ClassifiedRanTom]

I saw both versions of Spider-Man: Into the Dark... The second version was definitely better, but couldn't save the show. You could tell they were forced to use the left over props from the first version of the story, and it made it weaker. I did feel sorry for the one actress who played Arachne, because her character basically got cut from a feature role to a bit part.

[@trinaq]

I wish that they'd kept Jo as non binary, since it's important for non binary individuals to be able to see themselves represented in a character.

[@christinekirby1]

I think her character is non binary again for the musical tour

[@HighonBoots]

Amen!!!!

[@moxiepops8457]

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

[@HighonBoots]

@@moxiepops8457 aww did you catch your reflection again

[@chazofalsa]

@@christinekirby1 yeah, I'm glad they changed it back. Representation is very important.

[@bennymora3086]

Can you imagine Spider-Man 2099 visiting a Spider-Man Broadway?🤣🤣🤣🕷

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

Yep…knew what number 1 was even before watching. If it weren’t, we’d have a fight on our hands 😂

[@Kpopk1ng]

Beetlejuice will always be My absolute favorite Broadway show. I will always miss it, but I can’t wait to see the touring shows

[@prosen8966]

How is it that all the other “scandals” included (I assume) all the info whereas the Funny Girl scandal ignored the entire “Lea Michelle treated all other actors not considered to be at her level like utter crap”. This was not just something one person said, like a cast member who wished she had gotten more show time. Many ppl from Glee spoke up to verify that Lea did indeed treat Glee like her own little fiefdom and most of the rest of the cast, Gen’ly unknowns except for very few, were too scared to speak up. Of course, Jonathan Groff was treated well bc they starred together on Broadway & the so-called scandal doesn’t take away from Lea’s amazing vocal talent, but there was no mention whatsoever of this in your video and it’s glaringly missing. 😳😳😳

[@MaxEllSibSwe]

I mean, the Rebecca segment and Patti Lupone mention are both misleading/leaving out a huge amount of information, since the Patti thing is largely due to it being realized that her heroic screeching at someone recording her performance was actually her shouting at a reporter SHE HIRED and this was brought to light because people viewed the bitch in Hadestown as trying to be like her. As for Rebecca, the segment seems like the people trying to bring Rebecca over knew about the fake investors when, in fact, they were victims in the whole thing, but I don't know why anyone, myself included, expected this video to be well made.

[@jonscreen7698]

Beanie bombing Funny Girl was the best thing to happen to Lea Michele's career

[@maryfischer875]

While that is true, Lea did not do anything wrong in this cases not the reason Beanie was replaced.

[@prosen8966]

@@maryfischer875 I never implied that Lea Michelle wasn’t up to taking over Funny Girl; to the contrary, my comment specifically noted her unbelievably amazing vocal talent. All I said was that by *not commenting on the entire Glee controversy* at the time in which this was happening, the video wasn’t telling the entire story. The title of the video was *Top 10 B’way Scandals…* and yet, when supposedly discussing the scandal, the biggest part was left out. The scandal wasn’t truly that LM took over from BF. The *real* scandal was the extremely bad buzz coming from numerous former Glee performers who felt that this was just another example of LM’s Golden life wherein she treated others like dirt beneath her feet. And worse than that was the edge to the story that the ppl treated the worst were *ppl of color* . When things like that are merely swept under the rug, you know that there will ultimately be a reckoning down the road.

[@RLucas3000]

Pamela everything you said is true but it wasn’t the subject of the video. Lea didn’t treat anyone badly on Broadway (that we’ve heard of). Had the video been Top Ten Glee Scandals then surely Lea’s treatment of others would have been number one. Maybe your comment will inspire them to make that (g)list?

[@tetehenkes]

I really don't understand why Lea Michelle is getting so hyped! I mean, yes, she's really talented, but this doesn't change the fact that she's still a horribly rude and racist person 🤔

[@chazofalsa]

It's most to the fact that alot of people were underwhelmed by beanie feldstein performance as fanny considering the role is super hard to play vocally (and the fact there was a bit of nepotism in there since her parents helped produce the remake and all that jazz. Though the same could be said about lea since she could sing fanny well in glee.) But yeah, as much as I like lea singing I feel like the producers should've gotten Julie Benko to play the role permanently.

[@ombrenightcores]

Honestly she’s not even talented enough for people to look past the bad stuff. She’s talented, just not talented _enough_

[@olvialee7221]

I don’t care what you’re going to say. I love Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Saw it on my birthday at New York

[@AJKoehler]

The West Side Story controversy should’ve been included with Scott Rudin. It was because of him that Amar Ramassar had the job.

[@MrGleeiscool]

Glee predicted the future multiple times : supergirl anyone

[@dlmbs]

Sorry, may I have more context with Supergirl?

[@MrGleeiscool]

@@dlmbs Melissa beniost played Marley on glee said I could never be seen in superhero costumes sings a superhero song in 2015 she was supergirl

[@dlmbs]

@@MrGleeiscool oh okay! it's coming back to me now. thanks!

[@augustrushes5702]

They did with Rachel winning a tony too! Her awards season was the year the show was cancelled

[@Erica_DeJongh]

You forgot about Paradise Square and the fact that they weren't paying their performers.

[@1rockcrawford]

@Watchmojo. For Great Comet, you conveniently left out the part where producers gave Okieriete an abundance of time to learn how to play accordion for the role, which he did not learn in time to start. They rushed Mandy Patinkin in temporarily to keep the show running, while ensuring Okieriete would still be allowed to lead the show once he learned it. This had nothing to do with stunt casting for ticket sales. Okieriete misperceived and took insult to the situation, cried “racism” online, friends of his exacerbated the problem into a cancelling of the show, causing Mandy to withdraw, and thus the show had to close. All because Okieriete couldn’t stop his pride from getting in the way from learning the part in time. Don’t gloss over the facts, Watchmojo.

[@MrMoogey]

Exactly. The dude didn’t learn his role. They did everything they could to make it work. It was a huge role with many moving parts for the character (Piano, Accordion, etc). Will forever not forgive the people claiming racism for his firing/departure including Erivro right across the street in the color purple, leading to the wrongful protesting of the show claiming racism. It was far from it. Saw it with Groban & Benton in the lead and it was absolutely magical. One of the biggest shame I ever witnessed.

[@e.dalesmith-gallo6897]

Your picks are correct, but "Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark" should have been at least 2nd. "Rebecca" made for a crazy story, but "Spider Man" mad for a crazy year and a half!

[@snakeofeden6667]

So excited that Rebecca is going to be coming to London this year! I want to go *just* to see it lol. I love the og German and South Korean versions, so I'm excited to see how this one plays out!

[@Justlov4]

I definitely think it is important that they kept Jo as non binary because representation matters. That being said, I don't agree that Lauren Patten should have to give back her awards. I think she earned them. And people saying that she is not being supportive because she won't do that is faulting the wrong person IMO. It should not be the fault of the actress but of the creative team. Especially because of the creative teams treatment of the real performers like Nora Schell who got told many times that their surgery was necessary and important by doctors but received no support from the creatives. #4 St. Martin's digs at swings and understudies was so heartbreaking. In my experience, so many times I have seen shows with understudies or swings in a role and they kill it. Would I have liked to see the lead? Sure but I've never been disappointed by an understudy's performance so I don't know where she was getting her statistics. I haven't heard of some of these. I love Rebecca the musical and saw clips of the Vienna production. Had no idea about the fraud investors but that makes so much more sense to me now. YIKES

[@ombrenightcores]

My seventh grade choir class went on a Broadway trip where we could choose one of four shows we could see (you got to see the show you picked, not a voting thing) and the majority of the class picked Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Apparently everyone came out really friggin confused. Im glad I spent my money on Cinderella instead

[@littlesongbird1]

I have seen plenty of shows where a swing or understudy filled in last minute and honestly, it didn't cause me to feel like the show wasn't as good. These are professionals.

[@Shardai_smith]

My new fun fact is that I saw Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark on Broadway

[@christopherd.1200]

Hello- when was Amar Ramsar who played Bernardo in the 2020 revival if West Side Story fired??? i saw the show 8 days before the March 12, 2020 mandated theater shutdown and he was in it.

[@oliviadaly4795]

The protest was opening night. He was fired and reinstated to the NYC ballet for the exact same thing (leaking nude pictures) 18 months before. Whether he was fired I don't know. Maybe because the show was only open 26 days before shuttering due to the covid mandated theater closures

[@christopherd.1200]

@@oliviadaly4795 the video gives the impression he was fired from the revival of West Sode Story to the best of my knowledge he wasn't. he stayed in the revival till all Bway shows shut down Thurs. March 12, 2020. the show never re-opened.

[@thomasbradley4505]

The video was t clear. He was fired from New York City Ballet for being a pervert, and people protested his hiring for West Side Story. And apparently some of the actresses weren’t thrilled with it either. Between his casting and the fact that the revival was a total mess, it’s one show I’m glad it never re-opened

[@arkoudanthrope]

This video needed way more explanation for those of us who are not as familiar with the world of Broadway. It took too many things for granted. And what’s with the two ridiculous and redundant uses of “literal” in the first two reports?

[@Trekmaster47]

Could we please stop saying "of the century" in reference to only the 21st Century? 23 years is hardly worthy of being referred to like this. Every time I see this headline, I keep thinking the article is talking about "since 1923" and it never does. It's just flowery, clickbaity language that tries to oversell.

[@oliviadaly4795]

Exactly.

[@naturalPaths]

Somehow, I doubt OG Hamilton would have ‘pranced’ about on a stage.

[@freddiemolinajr.8397]

good video

[@elisarosario975]

I'm confused. What's the difference between Hamilton's stage version and the pre-filmed version on Disney Plus?

[@allisonthomas995]

The pre filmed version on Disney plus took some songs out and etc etc.

[@annkaschu7264]

What songs were taken out? It is the broadway version. The only time songs were cut was when coming to broadway.

[@elisarosario975]

@@allisonthomas995 Oh, that makes sense. No wonder the show caused more controversy on Disney Plus because they edited some stuff.

[@zinniaelegans3335]

The difference isn't the show itself, it's the audience. The filmed version was accessible to a much broader range of people, so it opened up a greater variety of reactions.

[@elisarosario975]

@@zinniaelegans3335 So they're the same, it's just the audience members who had a problem with it?

[@AJKoehler]

In addition to the discussion of accessibility with Hadestown- can we also talk about the constant vilification of people of color in this industry? The person in question posted how events unfolded, letting their emotions get in the way of telling the sequence of events accurately, which led to the actor getting hate messages and death threats. If it was a white actor, would the same reaction towards them be had? I can not honestly say that it would be.

[@takerhapsody]

I really want to see Hadestown . It’s not in the uk as far as I know

[@bethanyauble7934]

10: Beetlejuice VS. The Music Man 9: Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark 8: Hamilton & Slavery 7: Okieriete Onaodowan & Mandy Patinkin Casting 6: Jagged Little Pill 5: Alice Ripley Accusations 4: Justice For Swings 3: Funny Girl Drama 2: Scott Rudin 1: Fraudulent Investors

[@mc-rn8ro]

The Jagged Little Pill controversy still pisses me off. The character was made to look androgynous, was given a neutral name, used they/them pronouns....but "they're not SUPPOSED to be nonbinary!!" Yes, they are. YOU, executives, YOU just though a nonbinary character wouldn't be "marketable" enough, so you took that representation away!! "Yes, this female character only dates women, but she's not a LESBIAN!! I KNOW he has dark skin and was born in Kenya, but he's not AFRICAN!! Sure, this character was born male and transitioned, but she's not TRANS!!" Do those statements sound stupid, dismissive, and hateful? It's because they are, and that's exactly the level of BS those clowns tried to pull.

[@lauranoelani3148]

I just saw Rebecca in Vienna and it was amazing 👏

[@jackdonohue7893]

So glad Rebecca is at number one! It’s an incredible musical!

[@joeanimations7005]

We're the cursed child

[@emmataylor7479]

What about the Andrew Lloyd webber (cinderella) West end scandal?

[@thomasbradley4505]

This video was specifically addressing broadway scandals. That’s why a west end show wasn’t included

[@amelia6557]

What about Beetlejuice versus Covid, because apparently it closed down because of ticket sales, which is absolute bullshit!

[@takerhapsody]

Send Beatleguise over to the uk . We would love to have you xx

[@coryzlife]

Beetlejuice or music man? Damn…. Last night I waited 7 hours for the last evening show of Music man. It closes today at 4 pm and oop…it just closed like right now. The show was AMAZING and everyone was crying. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It is amazing, but Beetlejuice is really good. I actually know the person who played Lydia (Elizabeth) so it’s complicated. But *yes I understand I will get controversial comments* I love Music man more then any other musical. Even Les mis which I consider one of the best musicals of all time. But what’s your opinion? Also I love love love love what Hugh Jackman said about the swings. They don’t get chances in the studio to practice, they watch and are just expected to be perfect when they only get to know if they would play the part 2 hours before the show. They are incredibly important.

[@57Strudel]

Not only that (re: the swings) but sometimes they are great. I was with a conference group in 2008 that had an evening event at the revival of South Pacific. At first it seemed like it might be a disappointment because the male lead was ill. OMG the swing performer was utterly mesmerizing. He was so good, as in spine-tingly good. I can't fathom how the regular guy could have been any better. I felt as though we lucked out, actually.

[@flowersnyc]

Super talented Sutton Foster is the classic story of last-minute understudy getting a lead role when the lead became injured.

[@coryzlife]

@@57Strudel My mom has a friend who is currently swinging for all the female parts on the Hamilton national tour, and she once told me a story. One character fell and twisted her ankle and she had to go on with less than. minuet to get changed. They are too important Also, Music man or Beetlejuice?

[@katherinepollock]

I saw the Music Man on the first of the year and loved it! Everyobody looked like they were having so much fun. I wish I could've been there on closing night too

[@flowersnyc]

@@katherinepollock Saw Music Man on Christmas! That late in the run, the show was perfectly paced, with GREAT chemistry between Hugh and Sutton. Fun improv moments. Audience was really into it.

[@skylarlevi9119]

Has anyone forgot h1n1 didn’t cancel the wiggles concert lol😂

[@ARReith]

It sounds like half of the controversy happened in the past few years! Hmmm.... surely there was more before 2019!?!

[@tiger31623]

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

[@Reaperguy67]

Again fishing for Likes with a pointless comment

[@Jeremiah_Rivers76]

Enough with the Bible verses! Some people accept them, but others, including me, never will.

[@Laura-tp2jl]

I predicted that Rebecca would be 1# on the list, I guess I was right!

[@chrishallings8616]

How would Thomas know anything? He knows nothing as he is totally cut off from her. Stuff and nonsense

[@eddiejoewalt7746]

what about Dear Evan Hanson!

[@tommydevito4105]

The movie or the broadway musical

[@cbh3]

@@tommydevito4105 considering this is a video about broadway shows im gonna go with the broadway musical

[@oliviadaly4795]

What scandal happened with DEH musical? I know with the movie, A Ben Platt's dad was a producer, and he was 27/28 in the movie (but looked much older. And does look much older anyway. I thought he was like 36... not 29) compared to a young 22 in DEH musical. Yes in Grease everyone was much older. Olivia Newton John in particular was the same age as Ben was in the DEH movie (she was 30) and Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 34. BUT Grease is a rom com and can laugh at itself. DEH is a drama which is too serious to do that.

[@asha_vere]

I wish I could watch Jagged Little Pill. And it's sad that the lady from Next to Normal has gotten so much shit over biased assumptions and implications.

[@IngenuousSoprano]

So... no one's going to mention the fact that we could have had Death Note calling out corruption everywhere the same year as Hamilton, but didn't and that Broadway "reporters" blamed it on how they thought weebs would hate a black Misa instead of things like Wallstreet being big backers for shows? No one? Okay.

[@Loverof_music2015]

Man how did I know Rebecca was gonna be on the list

[@kayleec7543]

You forgot to add the time when the the casting directors at Phantom casted an actual predator in the role of the Phantom. It’s one of my favorite shows but that doesn’t excuse the guy that they casted. 😣

[@IngenuousSoprano]

Wonder if they (the channel) didn't know, or aren't counting it because it happened in Toronto in the late 80s/early 90s.

[@kayleec7543]

@@IngenuousSoprano I was referring to one of the Broadway Phantoms from a few years ago who had charges for assaulting a minor.

[@IngenuousSoprano]

@@kayleec7543 I hadn't heard of that one! Who was it?

[@kayleec7543]

@@IngenuousSoprano James Baurbor.

[@IngenuousSoprano]

@@kayleec7543 they were crazy enough to put Barbour in Phantom?! I know he served a very short sentence, but putting him in a show that you know teenage girls are flocking to and puts him opposite women whom all look very young just seems like asking for trouble.

[@aliciab.b.1837]

Everyone knew what that first one was gonna be

[@waittillfamewtf2385]

😾 "CATS"astrophe!

[@josephball2623]

Over 70 percent of these are just from this decade...

[@bobjob66]

So we aren't going to talk about Hamilton basically having a "white need not apply for main cast" in it's casting

[@jm6872]

Wish beetlejuice could have stayed longer

[@naturalPaths]

Funny how MsMojo shows Patti Lupone as being so concerned about ticket prices but completely bypasses how incredibly woke she is. It’s thought to be too woke for Broadway.

[@warblerab2955]

Okay, I would like to know why it was so terribly wrong to replace Okieriete Onaodowan with Mandy Patinkin, yet it was perfectly fine to replace Josh Groban with Okieriete Onadowan? Double standards anyone?

[@naturalPaths]

The Great Comet. Seriously?

[@redheaddetective8424]

Half of these “scandals” are because they show, the cast, or the casting isn’t woke enough, and the woke brigade went after it.

[@thomasbradley4505]

🥴

[@janellerod4865]

🤯

[@amelia6557]

Beetlejuice is SO MUCH BETTER

[@amar2859]

Early

[@warblerab2955]

Just what so with Hamilton in regards to the slavery issue? How did it “erase” the era’s horrors? The clips make it clear the show acknowledged the existence of slavery. What was so bad? Especially considering that they cast black actors to play white founders.

[@naturalPaths]

Seems the Cix crap show revealed a whole different crap show.

[@mathematicalmagic8417]

The waffle house has found its new host

[@yadielenielbellecolon982]

💝👌

[@lonellfletcher]

Sigh. Remember when entertainment was fun?

[@ShutUpCatProductions]

People are such crybabies!

[@glsweeney721]

I guess Paradise Square is forgotten now.

[@1rockcrawford]

Garth Trabinksky’s scandals go WAY further back than simply Paradise Square. You could make a list with only his nonsense.

[@glsweeney721]

@@1rockcrawford Paradise Square could have been the next Hamilton if he didn’t ruin it

[@JimmyRaeGarlandJimniRàeJ]

I'd like to see a show on the actors on Broadway who think they're too good to come out to meet their audiences and even sign an autograph I want to hear about the people who are rude to their fans and won't even sign an autograph or anything else for that matter. Happy holidays and thank you this is very important to me this subject, And I don't recall that you have done it before now , So it may be very new and very interesting , groundbreaking actually I implore you Please give this one some consideration Thank you and health and happiness and joy throughout the holidays and into the new year as well You're great Blessings to you from me, Jimmy 💝✨🎄⭐❤️🤍💚🎁

[@rockybee1452]

its so lame that beetle juice is closing i love it its so good