Monday, January 19, 2015
Why You Should Boycott “Phantom of the Opera”
OnStage: A young girl and her family from New Jersey go to see the Broadway musical, Jane Eyre. They young girl is an aspiring actress hoping to make it to Broadway. Her drama teacher knows one of the stars of the show since he comes from the same town. After the show, the young aspiring actress is invited backstage to meet one of the actors, James Barbour. Barbour is a star on the rise. He had been the Beast in Beauty & The Beast, was also in the revival of Carousel.
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3 comments:
This is sickening. The fact that he's still allowed to perform is ridiculous. This man literally used his stardom to take advantage of girls, and now he's back on Broadway. He went to court and confessed the assaults. There's three different women and multiple accounts from all of them. Not only is he allowed to be back on stage, in arguably one of Broadway's biggest roles, he's allowed to live the rest of his life without telling people that he's a sex offender. I've said this before and I'll say it again; was there literally no one else to play this role? I'd like to think that Tara Rubin Casting didn't know about this, maybe because they have "so many clients", but that's very hard to believe. One point that gets me is that families that come see this show are paying the salary of a child molester. That makes me want to vomit. There are thousands of Broadway actors. Pick one that's not such a menace to young women.
This is one of the most disgusting things that I have ever read about. How could a three time sexual offender get away with only 3 years of probation? He assaulted three minors and he wasn't convicted? If he wasn't famous, he would have most definitely gone to jail and permanently have to register as a sex offender. And Broadway doesn't give a shit? Why would any reasonable producer let someone who admitted to touching three minors be a lead in a production which minors attend?
It disappoints me that producers care more about money than the safety of people. Although people criticize the show for being poorly done, I actually quite like Phantom. I am so upset that the producers didn’t think about the reputation or the impact of this show. I would love to see Phantom more than once, but now I would happily boycott it. This entire article makes me extremely upset.
We as a society are quick to accuse and blame people for their wrong doings-- unless of course it is too inconvenient to do so. I am disgusted by this as yet another case of a sexual offender escaping the brunt of public ire because his services are useful. Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, and now this man. It is disgusting. If we as artists truly believe that our art comes from any place within ourselves, than how on earth can we continue to refuse to make an artist and his art synonymous? Continuing to support the careers of these men sends the message that their crimes are less important than the money they bring in. This is wrong. What kind of a world do we live in if we consider the career of a disgusting man more important than the finding the justice of three, and possibly more young girls who were were abused by this man. I agree with the article- Broadway is not a right. If the Broadway community wants to keep billing itself as a place of acceptance, it needs to make concerted efforts to ensure that those who manipulate and abuse children are expelled from the ranks. Right now he is essentially being rewarded for his behavior. He is being told that it doesn't matter what he did.
Clean up your act, Broadway. Don't let this creep ruin it for the rest of us.
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