John Benjamin Hickey recounts how Madonna pissed off Natasha Richardson by braiding her hair throughout the Cabaret show

start at 2:30 in the video

For what it’s worth, multiple posters on here say that John Benjamin Hickey is a flat out asshole and treats people less important than him like crap.

Natasha should have swatted Madonna's hand the second she felt it on her head. I wouldn't want Madonna's hand touching my hair either. Why would she even think Natasha wanted her hair braided? What a ginormous ego.

This reminds me of a story a flight attendant friend told me about Christie Brinkley on a flight. She popped out of her seat and started a protracted hair brushing session in the aisle with hair floating around the cabin. The FAs weren't sure what to do - there wasn't a no grooming rule - until an older couple motioned them over to complain. She complied.

No matter what or where a narcissist needs to demonstrate that they're the most important person in the room. It must be as gratifying and reinforcing as the first few drinks are to an alcoholic.

R3 ok Ms Litella.

R3 Madonna braided her own hair while sitting in the audience throughout the entire show

I thought she was braiding Natasha's hair too. Madonna knows how to make it all about her, always and forever.

How is it possible for an audience member - even Madonna - to braid a performer’s hair during the performance?

I dont think R4's story should be overlooked. I can't stop laughing thinking about Christie Brinkley standing in an airplane aisle, slinging that hair around while brushing it. That's too funny.

Waylon Flowers called. He wants Madame back.

I actually think actors on stage demanding total fealty to the audience watching is the height of bourgeois entitlement. If someone wants to take a nap or examine their cuticles then so be it providing they’re not making loud noise.

She was also seen texting during another play. She is so immature. She thinks she's being an edgy provocateur rebel but she's really just an obnoxious stuck up bitch.

[quote] For what it’s worth, multiple posters on here say that John Benjamin Hickey is a flat out asshole and treats people less important than him like crap.

As opposed to Madonna, you mean?

Ah, so that's a Detroit accent! R13

[quote] She popped out of her seat and started a protracted hair brushing session in the aisle with hair floating around the cabin.

R4, I can't stop laughing..."hair floating around the cabin."

R11 but how do you think Madonna would react if someone in the audience of her shows looked disinterested, was sleeping, texting or doing anything other giving 100% of their attention to her?

R3 There is no such word as "ginormous." Are you in elementary school?

R17 No, high school. I'm too old for you.

[quote] R3 There is no such word as "ginormous."

R17 You should have kept your mouth shut, Bookmaven.

I kind of love how everybody is turning on Madonna -- even the dead!!!

Hopefully Whitney sends a message from the grave. Drag her, Whitney!

If only Patti had been playing Sally Bowles, the shit would have got real and Madge would have left the theater with a bleeding scalp.

R4/9 - She really was slinging her hair around from the way my friend described it and she's not one given to exaggeration. She had 20+ years seniority so got to work 1st class and hadn't seen something so out there. Demanding, rude passengers, sure. The FAs felt bad for passengers in the vicinity but couldn't do anything until someone complained. This was mid-90s before in flight behavior became really outrageous.

I can totally picture that Christie Brinkley moment.

Natasha Richardson never could concentrate on the job at hand.

I met JBH and don’t agree that he is disagreeable! He was friendly and welcoming.

R2 At least John Benjamin Hickey got naked, even full-frontal at times on stage and screen, and was wonderfully moving in his Tony-winning performance in "The Normal Heart".

Patti actually would have made a very good Sally Bowles!

She wasn’t braiding her eyelashes and still watched the performance. Someone should have told Natasha that life’s too short to get upset over every little thing.

Well, the part does call for a singer who isn't very good.

Maybe Madonna self-soothes by braiding her own hair. That would be my first thought.

Bitchy move. Madonna must have been deeply jealous of Natasha’s beauty, talent, and access to Liam Neeson cock.

If Madonna was non binary and used they/them pronouns and the headline read "John Benjamin Hickey recounts how Madonna pissed off Natasha Richardson by braiding their hair throughout the Cabaret show" I'd think that Madonna was braiding Natasha's. John's/John Benjamin's and her own hair.

Natasha Richardson gave one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life in Cabaret. She was absolutely mesmerizing and won every acting award that year.

Leave it to Madonna to be bored.

Madonna is a white trash sociopath.

[quote] Leave it to Madonna to be bored.

Leave it to Madonna to feign boredom as a cover for her seething jealousy of Natasha is more like it.

[quote]Patti actually would have made a very good Sally Bowles!

No she wouldn’t. Sally needs an element of vulnerability, which Patti has none and was one of the reasons for the failure of “The Baker’s Wife” and “Oliver” two roles that rely on vulnerability.

This is a fairly common tactic of celebrities. Attend a performance and be distracting. It is a version of "there is no such thing as bad press:" Even now, many years after the event, you are all talking about Madonna. It may be a manipulative move, but it worked.

When Natasha Richardson left the Broadway Production of "CLOSER" , the producers scrambled to get a name actress to join the production, which was desperately in need of a marquee name to stay alive. Several name actresses were approached, but an appropriate match was proving very difficult to find and they were turned down by those that could have made it work.

Enter Madonna, entitled and with minimal to no acting ability but plenty of box office potential and at the very least, the ability to generate plenty of press for a show that was already limping along. Madonna had seen the play and wanted to do it.

The producers were sure she couldn't act it, but thought she could save the production from closing. Rupert Graves caught wind of this and reminded the producers he had casting approval in his contract. A meeting was arranged to appease Graves and get Madonna on board. Madonna was late for the meeting, unprepared and rude. She was shocked that Rupert Graves had any kind of say over what she could or couldn't do, and she acted like an ass to throw her weight around. When it became clear to her that Graves was unimpressed and not the least bit intimidated, she turned on the "charm" basically begging him to let her do the play.

Graves hated her and everything she was about and refused to sign off on Madonna. The play limped along and closed sooner that the producers wanted, but this was one time Madonna had no choice but to take no for an answer.

Braiding hair. Pffffffft. Call me when she gets arrested. Lightweight!

Hickey is on a slippery slope.

Just like Natasha.

R37 Yes, Madonna has clearly won.

Natasha clearly hasn’t, R41

Fucking theatre people--on stage and in the audienece--are THE worst.

Self grooming in public is trashy. I once sat next to a Brit on a flight from London to NYC who plucked her eyebrows and nose hairs while talking non stop. I asked her to kindly keep her elbow out of my space and the bitch got offended. She was a hairy Paki, too.

[quote] Graves hated her and everything she was about and refused to sign off on Madonna. The play limped along and closed sooner that the producers wanted, but this was one time Madonna had no choice but to take no for an answer.

Natasha Rchardson was replaced by Polly Draper - who fulfilled the last 3 months of the production before it closed.

I remember seeing this photo when Natasha and Liam first got together and thinking to myself, WHEW!

[quote] Natasha Rchardson was replaced by Polly Draper - who fulfilled the last 3 months of the production

I am sure Draper was light years better than Madonna could ever hope to be. Draper, btw, had a few near misses with very important film roles early in her career ( before 30 something) I always liked her.

Madonna also wanted to play Mrs. Kendall in the Billy Crudup ELEPHANT MAN in the early 2000's. Rupert Graves was in that production LOL, wonder if he vetoed her casting in that case as well.

Another thing to like Rupert Graves for, besides all his wonderful full-frontal nude film appearances!

Wasn't Madonna approached to play Sally in this same production at some point? I swear I heard a rumor about that at some point. I know Toni Collette was supposed to replace Natasha but there was some problem with Equity. A shame, too, because she'd have been spectacular in the role. Jennifer Jason Leigh came in instead and was very good.

Why does Equity give Toni Collette grief? She has an Academy award nomination for "The Sixth Sense" and played Muriel in "Muriel's Wedding". She's of international renown, even if her name isn't a household word. She was fantastic when she was allowed to be on Broadway in "The Wild Party", even stealing the show from Mandy Patinkin being a lunatic to her.

And we’re off … the thread starts with John Benjamin Hickey and Madonna and we’ve now transitioned to Mandy Patinkin. Leave it to DL.

How soon before we get to Follies and ultimately Joan Fontaine?

Nice to know Livvy's still with us!

there was talk Madonna was approached about replacing Richardson.

Toni Collette was supposed to replace Jennifer Jason Leigh but Equity said no. This was before The Sixth Sense and the Oscar nomination.

Hickey is a chronic liar so take the story for what it is worth.

He was still bearding with women well into his thirties despite playing all these gay roles and everyone assuming he was gay.

Very nasty piece of work. True as said above. He's nice to the names, terrible to the little people. (I always thought he was bipolar. Rapid mood swings.)

And she complained that Madonna stole all the attention from her? This is fucking Madonna

Dame Frances Barber played the Natasha role in Closer in London. I'm not sure if she's ever done Broadway.

[quote]Dame Frances Barber played the Natasha role in Closer in London. I'm not sure if she's ever done Broadway.

She’s done off-Broadway. I saw her a few years ago at the Lortel playing Lady Sneerwell in The School For Scandal. She was delicious.

She braided her hair for 3 hours? Story sounds exaggerated.

R56 wins the Mary! of the week award.

[quote] She braided her hair for 3 hours? Story sounds exaggerated.

Agreed. Natasha's hair wasn't that long.

No Madonna supposedly was braiding her own hair. But how long could it have taken?

OP's grammar error caused all this confusion. Hysterical to imagine Madonna braiding Natasha's hair against her will.

[quote] Hysterical to imagine Madonna braiding Natasha's hair against her will.

Especially while singing “Maybe This Time”. Madge tried to harmonize and kept singing flat.

there's only "confusion" if you posted without reading the article or watching the video clip

[quote] there's only "confusion" if you posted without reading the article or watching the video clip

R63 But doesn't the thread title come before both of those? Does the thread title not have an element of responsibility to guide the reader in the right direction?

The grammar error in the title is LITERAL violence.

I feel violated and used as a pawn by OP.

R44 Paki is basically the N-word. You should remember that the next time you're around a British person. It's pretty fucking trashy if you're talking to Americans too. Get it together.

Girls, girls you're both racists. Ethnicity didn't need to be said in the first place, R44.

R67, you are more concerned with slang instead of an ethnic background wasn't even needed when describing the experience.

I don't think hair braiding is something to get angry about. But Madonna would be the first to call someone out for similar behavior. So, fuck her.

R68 the irrelevant ethnic background was bad but I wanted to keep my complaint focused on the word since it was the ugliest part of the story. It would be more accurate to call Paki a slur than slang. Faggot and chink are both slang but we think of them as slurs first and foremost since their point is to make people feel bad, like paki. Saying I'm more concerned with slang makes me sound like a shallow word cop which I am not.

r57 She was braiding cornrows. And it's a very time consuming hair do.

[quote]Madonna also wanted to play Mrs. Kendall in the Billy Crudup ELEPHANT MAN in the early 2000's.

Kate Burton played Mrs. Kendall and was duller than watching paint dry. She and Crudup had no chemistry and neither has any charisma at all. It was a dull, earnest production. I'm sure Madonna would have been awful.

How was Patrica Clarkson/Bradley Cooper's version?

I'm so upset that apparently I attended a party that Andy Cohen was at. I thought I had more class than that. I hope I dropped him like a hot potato once Natasha died.

(and did I even like Liam? That movie I made with him is one of my worst. I seem bored in it and I only got second billing.)

Does Cohen describe his relationship with Hickey in his books? The first time he had Hickey on he kind of joked that they had dated and Hickey flaked on him. He seemed hurt. I wonder how they eventually became friends.

This would have been about the same time I knew Hickey. He was very duplicitous. Hooking up with guys (like Andy apparently thru 976 numbers) while still pursuing women. Cohen had Allison Janney and Hickey on and asked if Hickey had dumped her. She begrudgingly said well yes but that was "towards the end of that" meaning his dating women.

Strange how they all remained friends.

I went on 2 dates with Hickey. (no sex) He was ice cold and had trouble making eye contact at the start of the first one. Then he seemed to warm up to me and was so happy and relaxed at the end that we decided to meet again.

On the second one he was ice cold again. Mean, and annoyed and kept asking about how much money I had. Plus on one of the phone calls in between he talked with so fast and with a no affect. I described it to a therapist and he said it sounded like pressures speech to him. (Something bipoar and I guess other people get.) Anyway the therapist said he sounded like a sociopath looking to see how I could be of use to him. That scared me off a bit so the second date kind of was the end of it.

(Plus he got annoyed at the waiter for not cutting the crusts off his bread.)

I braided my hair while watching Madonna trying to act in "Speed-the-Plow".

Madonna is ugly.

a dl classic thread

Madonna may have been trying to cover her ears. Richardson was thought be some theater snobs to be great in Cabaret but YIKES! She was not a singer. (and the whole thing they tried to sell about she's not supposed to be a good singer since she's working in a seedy club didn't make sense. Then how come Alan Cumming, Denis O'Hare, and the whole rest of the cast could sing?)

My dream would be for Madonna to go to a show starring Patti LuPone and start her usual disruptive shit in the audience and to have Patti go off on her like the Italian Fishwife she is.

Patti would snatch every hair off Madonna's head.

^^by some theater snobs

Why do people hate my mom so much?

Also, why was my mom ever famous? The bitch can’t sing. It’s weird she’s a famous “singer.”

There was a bitchy ass guy reminded me of JBH at the Nordstrom rack this Saturday. I was like ‘smell you old man..’

I always see a ton of obviously gay men shopping alone at Nordstrom Rack. It would be a good place to pick up dick.

R84 You know, you’re right... I was just looking like shit that day and off my game. I’m gonna doll up next time I go in.

R75 Pressured speech is when they can’t stop, and it has plenty of affect. I don’t believe you dated JBH anyway.

[quote] Someone should have told Natasha that life’s too short to get upset over every little thing.

It’s a very British luvvie thing to be appalled by the ungrateful audience. Meanwhile I was at the National Theatre sitting behind Alan Rickman and Fiona Shaw talking and giggling together like they were in their living rooms. Once he realised at the interval he was pissing us off, he shot us an apologetic look and piped down, but she didn’t.

R86 Going on two dates with a C list actor is totally within the realm of possibility. I don't have a dog in this fight but accusing someone of lying just because they tell an interesting story is tiresome. It's not like he claimed to have fisted George Clooney.

Entertainment people can be the worst audience members. I sat behind David Marshall Grant at an off-Broadway show. He talked through Act 1. He left at intermission, then crept back 10 minutes into Act 2 because he left his scarf on his seat.

R70 Racial slurs are perfectly acceptable on DL, it seems, just so long as they aren’t American racial slurs.

I called a couple of people for using the indigenous Australian equivalent of the N word in another thread recently as well as asking Muriel about the acceptability of hate speech and got no response. The posts still stand.

Madonna probably thought she was perfect to play a gorgeous, wild, young British girl.

Well r86 I was just relating his rapid talking second hand so the therapist could have misdiagnosed it. I think I just told the doctor that he spoke incredibly fast like he couldn't get the words out fast enough. I may have added the no affect part myself or misremembered it. It was just very rapid talking without seeming a need for it.

Fine don't believe I dated him. It wasn't particularly memorable. He wasn't even a C-List actor then. He was a temp worker who'd been in a few off-Broadway shows.

I'm not alone. Someone else posted in another thread that the met him on a 976 line and had a jack off session with him. That person said he was nice. I didn't see that side of him. (pun intended.)

R4, is this similar to Christie Brinkley's hair performance in the airplane aisle? Please tell me this happened in Coach and not First Class.