I had no idea he had Lou Gehrig's Disease. He must have just very recently stopped working.

He had tremendous screen presence; always brought authority and command to the scene. He really is tremendous in Black Hawk Down, which made perfect use of his skills.

I saw something a while back calculating that the odds of that hand playing out was less than one in a million. So Bond's not a great card player, he's either exceptionally lucky or an excellent cheater.

They could have just used a football.

I think the bigger issue is most everyone (not just theater fans) knows who Josh Groban and Mandy Patinkin are. Pulling someone from down the Hamilton bill does not make for an apples to apples comparison. It sounds to me like the producers tried to grab some of the Hamilton zeitgeist with a supporting actor and it…

My read: Patinikin didn't want to be bothered to rehearse up for a three-week gig.

Yep. And still an hour and a half to lunch.

Agreed. I think Patinkin is sincere in his reasons for leaving (i.e. not signaling) but maybe read a bit too much into the situation.

James Harden has no chin. It's true.

I hear Tony! Toni! Tone! may be available.

Wouldn't that be a perfectly acceptable excuse?

The fact that all this was over a three-week window is the only thing that really bothers me here. I see a poorly-handled and seemingly unnecessary business decision that backfired. Hire Patinkin and announce he's coming on (future sales up) and let the existing actor play out his contract.

Yeah, both of them.

Honest question - is this not common practice in theater? I'd think most any business would try to maximize talent, with Broadway being no exception, but if that's "just not done" within that community I can see the gripe.

If 25% of your market is full-on white supremacist then you're talking about a tiny overall market. I get your point but it's not an especially instructive example. Especially in this case; the number of theater goers who will not see a play with a black lead has to be approaching zero.

I was thinking the same thing. Big Name White Actor -> Lesser-Known Black Actor -> Big Name White Actor isn't a pattern that screams racism to me. If the producers were such racists they wouldn't have cast Onaedowan in the first place.

Bringing back Connery for Never Say Never Again was a weird interlude as well. I don't remember it being bad per se, just unnecessary.

"For fuck's sake, people, there are a dozen other films out there if you want to see her naked. It makes no damn sense in this case."

I was a year older, 10, For Your Eyes Only. I mostly remember some really pretty underwater shots, and Sheena Easton's theme song.

No argument here, but it's still a $60k car.