Two points:
1) If it was a negative experience, it wasn't manifest inside the August Wilson. She received the rapturous reception at every performance, per reports. Certainly at the Wednesday June 1 matinee I attended. In the middle of "Parade" she was given the Jennifer Holiday treatment. Screams erupted from the mezz. Every post I've read suggests a version of this house response.
2) She didn't sell tickets. The advance ended, the show fell $325+ one week and never returned to the above-a-million per of early performances. All over FB yesterday people who did not see the show were shouting, "but she was a sellout and they fired her!" Had she been a sell out, she would not have been released from her contract. This is Broadway. Yet the mythology continues.
We can haggle over her performance, but these two pieces of the narrative, one via anecdotal evidence, one from hard numbers, should be included. The audiences liked her a lot. She was cheered. No word of mouth resulted in an increase of sales, and her final week - which some predicted would "sell through the roof!' - ended up on TDF for the final 5 performances. |
