Michael Riedel’s first 24 hours on Twitter
Michael Riedel's Twitter avatar, designed by Jason Levesque
The New York Post‘s Michael Riedel made every member of the Broadway community collectively wet themselves Thursday with the surprising revelation that he had joined Twitter. A forum that has been used for lighting-fast news, discussion, and fairly-anonymous bitchiness among theater fans has now been changed by the existence of @MichaelRiedelNY.
@BroadwayGirlNYC was the first on my Twitter feed to announce the Broadway gossip columnist’s arrival. @BroadwaySpotted was quick to announce that it had “competition” upon learning the print man of 20 years had joined the social networking site. Riedel quickly replied to @BroadwaySpotted’s tweet with humble resignation. Which led to the second revelation of this Twitter arrival—he replies! Read more 
Knee-jerk reaction: ‘Hair’ cast 2.0 announcement
The second Broadway revival cast of Hair was announced today, and the news has fans rolling in the mud—some in joy and others in frustration. The new lead actors announced include Kyle Riabko, Ace Young, and Diana DeGarmo; the latter two have appeared as finalists on American Idol. @jeffreychrist says if Diana DeGarmo & Ace Young join the cast of his beloved HAIR, it will not only have JUMPED the shark, but EATEN by the shark…@PataphysicalSci I’m disappointment with much of the new Hair cast, but on the bright side, it’s a pretty good way to cure my Hair addiction.
@CrysDenn So unbelievably excited about the new cast of Hair..I’m gonna have to see it again and i have to sit front row to get played with again! :)@BroadwayJack The new @HAIRTribe is awesome! Especially excited about @joshlamon as Margaret Mead and Annaleigh Ashford as Jeanie… :)
Do I think the branding of American Idol with Young and DeGarmo will cause Hair’s ticket sales to surge? No. But stunt casting? DeGarmo has appeared in Hairspray on Broadway and The Toxic Avenger off. She has a substantial amount of professional musical theater experience now, and let’s not forget; she did come in second place during Idol’s third season. I hope that counts for something. 
Young has appeared in the recent Broadway revival of Grease, and although I haven’t seen him perform, I’ve heard he’s pretty charismatic. 
The casting of Riabko, however, gives me pause. The Canadian singer replaced Jonathan Groff as Melchior in Spring Awakening upon his departure, and then continued on in the role during the show’s national tour. Coming off of any original cast which you’ve loved is going to be a tainted experience. But I found Riabko to be quite wooden in the role of Melchior. A second viewing months later during the national tour didn’t reveal any progress. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles the free-loving role of Claude (which was also played by Groff when the show was in its Central Park run. Do we see a trend?). “Fuerza Bruta”: The Twittercast
Last night was an official Twitter Night at Fuerza Bruta, and unlike Hugh Jackman and Patti LuPone, the producers encouraged the audience to tweet and take pictures (minus flash) throughout the entire performance. Stage Rush was there, tweeting away like a maniac and stepping on many people’s feet. It was a really unique experience to report during a show, but it was a ton of fun and, for me, brought out a completely different and new angle of theatergoing.
In case you missed it, here is my Twittercast from last night. I have not corrected any of the grammar or spelling errors, as they reflect the chaos and rapidity of the scene. (Although let’s all take special note of the most awesome typo in tweet #14: “catboat” box. Could that possibly have meant to be “cardboard?)
1. This place is like a club. And $2 coat check? No bueno. Do we have to rush the coat check??
2. Show wasn’t started yet, but it’s CREEPY in here! I feel like something’s gonna fall from the ceiling!
3. My companion, @LizzLovejoy, thinks a bomb is going to go off and that this “show” is just a distraction.
4. “I think we made a wrong turn and walke into a gay club.” – @LizzLovejoy
5. Jess: No, Fuerzabruta means “brute strength” in Spanish. Liz: Exactly.
