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Monday, July 09, 2018
‘Chicago’ cast member’s suicide probed after backstage bullying allegations
Page Six: Broadway musical “Chicago” has launched an investigation after friends of a cast member claimed he killed himself because he was “bullied” by the show’s directors.
3 comments:
Nathaniel Crain
said...
I feel like this article highlighted an important issue in modern society, where those who have a sense of superiority over another person try to reinforce it in some way in order to emphasize their own opinions of themselves. This concept that people bullied this man to suicide simply because they wanted him off their run of Chicago is honestly sadly unsurprising because in many aspects of modern society especially in "Broadway" theatre there is often a sense of superiority over ones fellow man and that sense of superiority breeds disdain which breeds hatred and begins cycles of abuse and no man can withstand abuse for too long. The reason this article is so troubling is because the people bullying Jeff did not question the fact that they were forcing him to doubt his livelihood and the career path he chose to pursue. And by making him feel incompetent they took away one of the most important things in his life and pushed him to the edge of a precipice. Overall, the importance of this document is not what the people did to Jeff but the fact that it reflects our society as a whole. Our society refuses to acknowledge the gifts of individuals and when someone doesn't fit in society tries to break them apart. If our society is going to progress in any way, we need to acknowledge the needs and feelings of others.
After reading this article I can't help but think that Jeff Loeffelholz had underlying issues before backstage bullying occurred during the Broadway production of Chicago. What is described in the article as the cast of Chicago telling Jeff to repeatedly sing the same song over and over while simultaneously judging him for the way he sings is no doubt bullying. Although I am not sure I am convinced that Jeff decided to end his life solely because of the events that transpired on June 22nd during rehearsal. I think that day very well could have been the last straw from a line of things that added to his depression. All this being said I can collect that people are willing to go to an extreme in order to reach a personal goal. In this article that would be the opportunity to perform on Broadway, a typically very hard position to achieve. These actors that bullied Jeff Loeffelholz were at the time only thinking of what they were gaining out of bullying Jeff and not what kind of harm the actions were doing to Jeff’s mind.
I think this article addresses the Broadway that many people don't know about; regular everyday people who don't perform multiple times a week in front of thosands and don't have the pressures of meeting Broadway's standerds would not understand the hardships people go through when working on Broadway. In the perspective of Jeff Loeffelholz, in his situation after being in the buisnnes for so long, as well as being in this particular show, having the negative mentality that you're not capable of meeting up to Broadway standerds is very destressing to a person mentally. Along with the people in his cast who essentially bullied him by saying he'll "always do it wrong" further indicating that he doesn't belong in this commumity of people shows the darker side of Broadway and how competitive the industry can be. Although I don't believe the events on June 22nd was the initial reason of Jeff taking his own life but rather I believe that this was one of many events that might've occured in his lifetime.
3 comments:
I feel like this article highlighted an important issue in modern society, where those who have a sense of superiority over another person try to reinforce it in some way in order to emphasize their own opinions of themselves. This concept that people bullied this man to suicide simply because they wanted him off their run of Chicago is honestly sadly unsurprising because in many aspects of modern society especially in "Broadway" theatre there is often a sense of superiority over ones fellow man and that sense of superiority breeds disdain which breeds hatred and begins cycles of abuse and no man can withstand abuse for too long. The reason this article is so troubling is because the people bullying Jeff did not question the fact that they were forcing him to doubt his livelihood and the career path he chose to pursue. And by making him feel incompetent they took away one of the most important things in his life and pushed him to the edge of a precipice. Overall, the importance of this document is not what the people did to Jeff but the fact that it reflects our society as a whole. Our society refuses to acknowledge the gifts of individuals and when someone doesn't fit in society tries to break them apart. If our society is going to progress in any way, we need to acknowledge the needs and feelings of others.
After reading this article I can't help but think that Jeff Loeffelholz had underlying issues before backstage bullying occurred during the Broadway production of Chicago. What is described in the article as the cast of Chicago telling Jeff to repeatedly sing the same song over and over while simultaneously judging him for the way he sings is no doubt bullying. Although I am not sure I am convinced that Jeff decided to end his life solely because of the events that transpired on June 22nd during rehearsal. I think that day very well could have been the last straw from a line of things that added to his depression. All this being said I can collect that people are willing to go to an extreme in order to reach a personal goal. In this article that would be the opportunity to perform on Broadway, a typically very hard position to achieve. These actors that bullied Jeff Loeffelholz were at the time only thinking of what they were gaining out of bullying Jeff and not what kind of harm the actions were doing to Jeff’s mind.
I think this article addresses the Broadway that many people don't know about; regular everyday people who don't perform multiple times a week in front of thosands and don't have the pressures of meeting Broadway's standerds would not understand the hardships people go through when working on Broadway. In the perspective of Jeff Loeffelholz, in his situation after being in the buisnnes for so long, as well as being in this particular show, having the negative mentality that you're not capable of meeting up to Broadway standerds is very destressing to a person mentally. Along with the people in his cast who essentially bullied him by saying he'll "always do it wrong" further indicating that he doesn't belong in this commumity of people shows the darker side of Broadway and how competitive the industry can be. Although I don't believe the events on June 22nd was the initial reason of Jeff taking his own life but rather I believe that this was one of many events that might've occured in his lifetime.
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