BACKPEDALLING and BLAME GAMES--one final reflection-none shall come after (I promise). Tonight I brought back my eldest girls to take in the show once more. All my girls love it, Sarah in particular, who gets incredibly inspired on the ride in to see the show and is completely despondent going North on the west side highway afterwards. Many in the cast embraced me, loving my post and high five-ing me for an apparent boldness of perspective. My intention was to speak from my heart and not to, in any way, throw anybody under a bus. A show is a team of people, all doing their damnedest to make the thing fly. As I read it back tonight I edited it a bit because it can be read as if I am playing a blame game and perhaps pointing the finger at the PR or the Press or ________. Patrick Healy from The Times was correct in saying something to this effect: no one thing can be blamed for not making a show a hit when the culture at large doesnt really want to see it. We had some absolute rave reviews but overall they were mixed. Was that it?? Nope. Side Show got across the board raves and left the critics full of praise! They opened after us and closed before us. Our audiences were rabid. They loved us, coming in 2 and 3 times. There just werent enough of them in the end. Jeffrey Seller is the producer behind three modern classics: Rent, Avenue Q and In The Heights. He knows what he is doing and he believed what Sting and I believed, that the story of heroic men who built the greatest vessels ever made would be one whose time had come. The sacred beauty of work. He put his entire muscle behind filming a beautifully made commercial featuring Jimmy Nail and the men singing Weve Got Nowt Else. When it didnt have the impact we wanted, Jeffrey admitted it and did everything he could to get the joy and love story out there. We sold a boat load of tickets after Michael Esper, Aaron Lazar and Rachel Tucker, our romantic leads, sang When We Dance on the Today Show. In addition to that how many shows, new shows on Broadway, get to go on The Tonight Show and perform??? It is unheard of. If that isnt good PR what is?? Sting must be given credit for a lot of it because he is tireless and an iconic presence always welcome in press circles. That said, the show definitely was pushed out there. In the end I remember an old quote Sting said to me early on in our work together, Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan. I dont think there is anything wrong with trying to reflect on an artistic venture and making judgements on the various turns in the road. That said, the entire team: the cast, the producers, the promotion team, our unbelievable director, writer and choreographer and Sting himself all gave everything they had to the beautiful piece of work that is The Last Ship. We would all do it again in a second I am sure. One of the producers who lost the most money commented that whenever the next leg of this journey begins, he is there. He loved the show so much. Tony Winning sound designer Brian Ronan commented that this was an odd one, a beautiful and abiding work that enthralls audiences every night closing. He said you can always smell the mediocre. This seemed like gold to us. Which..... Means gratitude and pride are in order and of course a healthy sense of self reflection on what may have been changed. NO blame games though. I love the show. I am proud and incredibly grateful for the greatest adventure of my life!! I love the whole Last Ship family. All of them. Onward HO!!!! Rob
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:21:27 +0000
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