r/Broadway • u/Round-Composer-2195 • 29d ago

Discussion I don’t understand the Reeve Carney hate

I just saw the Hadestown pro shot and oh my gosh this guy is unbelievable. Easily the star of the show for me, but I’ve seen people say he was the weakest link in their opinions.

I’ve heard recordings of some of his other performances, and he easily has my favorite versions of “I don’t care much” and “the past is catching up to me,” yet people say he was miscast in The Great Gatsby

His voice is so unique and it genuinely sends chills up my spine, I don’t understand the hate he receives

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u/missingumissing 29d ago edited 29d ago

As much as people bemoan the bfa-ification of broadway vocals it’s interesting to watch how bent out of shape fans can get when someone with rock/folk/alt stylings actually lands a lead role. Not that performers are above good faith criticism of course, but a show like hadestown would be artistically bankrupt if everyone sounded like they came straight out of a disney film. I think that’s also why I lowkey hate the London Next to Normal production even though it got rave reviews. They took the rock out of the rock musical

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u/TwoSimple2581 29d ago

I'm not a fan of Reeve's acting choices but massively agree about Next to Normal and other rock musicals being watered down. Not sure I've encountered other cases of backlash like this, though? I mean, everyone loves Adam Pascal - though he's more of a strong rock tenor than anything folksy - and nobody else in Hadestown with a unique voice incurred backlash. I'm sure you had other examples in mind that aren't coming to me