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They didn’t air it because Brennin didn’t do all of the numbers. He was trying to save his energy for the finale so they could actually do that live, since they didn’t get good prerecorded footage at the dress rehearsal, and he was avoiding taking his painkillers. He wanted to make sure he could hit the notes for the final “Mimi” in Your Eyes, especially considering how painful it was for him to lift Tinashe and that he had only gotten a few hours of sleep. Specifically, he chose to sit out Rent, One Song Glory, and Goodbye Love. Source (Also, just read the article because it’s a really sweet interview about how supportive the cast and crew were)
oh my fucking god. ohhhhhhhhhhh my god.
I cannot believe that I have officially seen people, WITH MY EYES, who are now actually saying it’s ABLEIST that they didn’t just go on with the full-on show, with all the original Plan A blocking, WITH Brennin IN his wheelchair.
NORMALLY that would actually be a pretty good point. NORMALLY I’d have to give them that one. “yeah, FOX,” I would have to say. “why WOULD you rather show us the full dress than a character in a wheelchair?”
FUCKING EXCEPT ONE THING THOUGH
IT’S RENT, YOU SOILED DISHRAGS. THINK ABOUT WHAT THE SET OF RENT LOOKS LIKE FOR A SECOND.
MORE THAN HALF OF THE GODDAMN THING IS VERTICAL. 90% OF THE MAJOR BACKDROPS ARE SEPARATED BY SCAFFOLDING AND STAIRS, YOU BLOODY STUPID LOPSIDED COAT RACKS.
they weren’t really thinking about making a two-night set wheelchair accessible, mostly because it’s not a permanent or public fixture, and the entire cast was walking on two legs when they went in there
there was ONE elevator, and it only went to ONE place. the neon “moon.” that’s it. nowhere else. and you cannot just BUILD multiple safe elevators overnight. or a bunch of really long, really steep, obtrusive fucking ramps that’d come down right into the middle of other sets.
what were they supposed to do? keep him on the main level and just never have Roger in his own apartment, even though it’s kind of a major point that he never leaves it? or just stick him up there, then tip the chair and dump him over the side when necessary? “TIME TO GO TO THE LIFE CAFE! INCOMING! HEY COLLINS, CATCH!” *PLOP*
I can MAYBE understand people’s position that they should’ve aired the stripped-down concert performance (although IMHO we all DESERVED to see the blocking and choreo they worked so hard on, and I’D have been disappointed not to see it)—but jesus salted caramel CHRIST, some people are dipshits
NO, it was not ABLEIST to nix the complete Plan A staging in this case. it would not have been progressive or “letting a wheelchaired actor play a major role for once.” it would have been making a wheelchaired actor get ditched and/or fall down the stairs a lot. LADDERS AND STAIRS, PEOPLE. LADDERS AND STAIRS.
a wheelchaired Roger is a very possible thing—a wheelchaired ANY character is a very possible thing—but NOT with less than one day’s notice. ablebending (?) the cast is the kind of thing that needs to be done in advance. that’s the kind of shit they could’ve pulled off if it’d happened WEEKS ago. NOT when it did.
they made the exact right call. and the greedy, ungrateful fandumb™ is real strong with some people.
I have to stop reading the internet now and drink something.
Also - there’s a difference between being someone who uses a wheelchair, and HAVING BROKEN YOUR FOOT THE NIGHT BEFORE. Uhm. Sure cast actors who use wheelchairs on Broadway I guess? (Not a theater expert, but I see no reason not to?)
But let me tell you. I broke my foot in five places on a Thursday. Finally got x-rays on Sunday after being too tough to acknowledge the pain. Was almost crying by the time someone told me the foot was broken. (people kept looking at my ankle in those three days, which was fine. The foot wasn’t swollen, it just had exact purple lines to mark each of the breaks.) Had a midterm that Monday WHICH I TOOK in exhausted pain at nine in the morning. Knew the material cold, got a C anyway because I was exhausted, in pain, and couldn’t really concentrate on more then one word in a sentence at the time. My teacher was appalled I showed up and said that he would have (resident hardass of the faculty though he was) allowed me to take it the next week after I recovered a bit.
Because I needed to recover. BECAUSE I HAD BROKEN MY FOOT. There is a difference between not casting disabled actors, or finding ways to work out the logistics of casting disabled actors, and not allowing someone to perform with a broken foot. He’s not disabled, he’s injured. Someone gushing from a head wound should not go perform fine surgery. Someone who broke their wrist should not play the piano at Carnegie Hall twelve hours later. Injuries are (hopefully!) temporary situations you need to recover from to prevent further injury.
Casting a disabled actor and then taking the role from them because of their disability is ableist. Taking a concussed football player out of the game is preventing further injury and doing the right thing. These are literally two different situations we’re talking about, and it’s not ableist in the slightest to have a man who broke his foot not perform Rent live.
