2ND UPDATE: Megan Mullally’s Exit Closes Curtain On ‘Lips Together, Teeth Apart’

COMMENTS (48)

• If the director is such an asshole to women, why did Megan Mullally sign on in the first place? Does she have her head so far up her ass that she didn’t know of his supposed reputation (I’ve never heard of the guy, then again, I’m not in going to meet him). And what about Lili Taylor? She doesn’t put up with shit and she seemed okay with things. Sounds like Megan is the troublemaker here throwing yet another temper tantrum. Hope the investors sue her ass. That’ll teach actors dropping out of plays and movies and TV shows at the last minute for bullshit reasons.

  Comment by Crystal — Friday March 26, 2010 @ 5:50pm EDT  Reply to this post

• Hey Rambo:

  You’re an acting coach? Then let me apologize, I didn’t mean to disparage someone as important as you. After all, acting coaches are the backbone of the entertainment industry. I’m sure every executive in this town calls you daily for advice.

  you’re right though, stage actress in NY are a dime a dozen, and 99% of them have no box office draw, which is what they need if they’re going to replace MM, whom I’ve already mentioned has a huge following in theater. Only through luck or timing could they find someone with her appeal and draw to slide right in and digest an entire script in a mere 2 weeks.

  This sort of thing happens in films all the time and it pushes back production months. But for a theater company with limited financial resources and a hard deadline coming up? It’s a much riskier proposition to go forward.

  sure they could roll the dice and plug in one of your no-name acting students, if the goal is to have the play close in one night, but I have a feeling the producers actually want to make a profit off this.

  by the way, I have a BA in Sandscript, which is about as useful as your MFA in acting.

  See you at Samuel French,

  Chip.

  Comment by rambo is an acting coach and admits it — Friday March 26, 2010 @ 7:32pm EDT  Reply to this post

• Joe… I mean Chip calm down. Your need for anger management is showing. Get a grip. You have made a lot of money directing Wicked and torturing that entire group of actors. Get counseling.

  Comment by Chippy — Saturday March 27, 2010 @ 2:42am EDT  Reply to this post

• Just saw this thread, and I’m already confused– who’s arrogant, who’s the douche, again? So much mud-slinging I lost track.

  Anyway, sad to say, but while it’s absolutely true that there was more than enough time remaining to prep a replacement(“rambo” is right), this is a very tricky role to cast (with a star), and Megan would have been an enormous draw, so the notion of throwing it to the understudy is out of the question- Chip’s right about this. It’s harder than one thinks to celebrity cast– after the director & producer draw up a quick list of names that are both right for the part and will satisfy the investors, they then have to check interest and availability for the actresses, and then offers can really only be made to one actress at a time (of course, availability checks will probably eliminate about 75% of the selects). My hunch is that there was an attempt to recast (too much at stake here), but that they simply ran out of time or exhausted the list.

  Oh, and Chip –
  I believe the language you attempt to reference is Sanskrit. Though “sandscript” is cute.

  Comment by ouch! — Saturday March 27, 2010 @ 5:16am EDT  Reply to this post

• The bottom line is that she betrayed her profession and the rules of her union by quitting, and that is unconscionable. I can understand her frustration, working with an amateur, but unfortunately the same people who hired her hired Oswalt and Mantello, and as an actor she hasn’t any choice in such matters.

  Every actor has had to put up with less than ideal plays and co-workers, as does everyone who works with other people. She has now cost people their jobs because she couldn’t be unhappy for six months.

  Comment by Leslie M — Saturday March 27, 2010 @ 9:07am EDT  Reply to this post

• Sanskrit? Oh, man, I honestly have only heard this word spoken, never seen it in print and I always thought it was “sandscript” Damn, that’s embarrassing.

  Comment by chip — Saturday March 27, 2010 @ 12:12pm EDT  Reply to this post

• I have known Joe Mantello for over twenty-five years. We went to drama school together, and early in our careers, we worked frequently together. I know him to be brilliant, kind, and an artist always striving for excellence. I recently attended his exquisite production of THE PRIDE at MCC and spoke with two of the actors afterwards. They had lovely experiences working with Joe, as have the vast majority of people who have worked with him over the years. For those of you who post your harsh, dismissive comments, often without using your real names, may I say that it’s easy to gossip and trash. What’s harder — and much more needed — is for people to go out and make something — make a play, a film, make something. Joe Mantello, Terrence McNally, Megan Mullally are artists who are doing their best. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, it just doesn’t work out. I don’t know what happened with LIPS TOGETHER, nor do you. All this conjecture is a waste of time. It’s too bad we’ve been deprived of a revival of Terrence McNally’s beautiful play. Hopefully, it will be recast and staged in the near future.

  Comment by Peter Hedges — Sunday March 28, 2010 @ 1:54pm EDT  Reply to this post

  • Peter Hedges isn’t this a tad self serving of you to write this? Hasn’t Joe directed your plays? Or don’t you want him too?

    Joe has developed a bad reputation for himself not just with actors but with writers and producers. This is not conjecture this is a fact. Talk to anyone in the theatre. Joe needs to take a hard look at himself and see if his behavior contributed to this leading lady quitting and be honest. The nature of the story and the way it has been delivered feels like something is not pure back at the Roundabout Ranch. To attack her rather than understand MM seems par for the Joe Mantello course. To take a moral high ground in lieu of saying “we had a break down of communication” points back to the deficits in Mantello’s style in dealing which he has gotten away with at the expense of his own reputation. I think if he was to step forward and say “I didn’t handle her well” would score him huge points. He gets into crazy power struggles and he’s mean. Maybe he doesn’t mean to be but that is the effect he has on others. And that is how he is described in the theatre world.

    Comment by valaine — Tuesday March 30, 2010 @ 3:06am EDT  Reply to this post

• Joe Mantello has a TERRIBLE reputation amongst good actors. He tends to find a scapegoat in each production, sometimes because he hasn’t finished blocking, let alone rehearsing, because he’s too busy on the phone with his next show. Two very well known actors who worked with him finally banned him from rehearsals. No one claims talent brings good behavior, but it’s nice if a director is actually interested in the material and rehearsing.

  Comment by billie — Wednesday March 31, 2010 @ 3:28pm EDT  Reply to this post

• What a lot of bitter people. She actually did quite well before Will and Grace, starring in How to Succeed with Matthew Broderick. The butter commercials are tacky, so that makes you HATE her? Maybe it’s not Megan Mullally you really hate. This is about an actress quitting a broadway show two weeks into rehearsal and, unfortunately, there have been only rumors as to why. Anybody who thinks a professional actor can’t be worked into a production in two weeks has never worked in professional theater. That sort of thing happens all the time, it isn’t ideal, but it happens. If an imaginary actor at an imaginary dinner theater in Witchita can do it, surely a professional actor, with Broadway credits, should be able to do the same thing. Does anybody really know for sure what happened? Please post the link to a credible source.

  Comment by k. clark — Monday May 31, 2010 @ 4:02pm EDT  Reply to this post