at Crawford's weight-sensitive costumes behind his back, calling him a "fat rooster." Crawford himself was no angel either; co-author Michael Kunze attested after the fact that Crawford "reject[ed] any well-meant suggestions for change by saying 'I don't wanna talk about it anymore.'" Indeed, Kunze, the original author of the German work, had much to complain about when it came to changes, but most of all that there was no "final moment" where one concept for the production was crystallized, partly because the director didn't seem "able to decide what was good or bad about both Jim Steinman's and Michael Crawford's ideas." Adding to the lack of a definitive creative head was the director's unplanned absence, due to his mother's death, which sidelined Rando from the production during several weeks of previews. Steinman proved to have a bad attitude about the process; although publicly he put on a brave face for the press preview and for most interviews, he later claimed he could see what was wrong with the show, which he dubbed "a runaway train": "We ended up with two shows at war with each other. One was sensual and Gothic, the other was camp Rocky Horror. I knew the critics would kill us for that. We were the perfect target, a fat lady with a sign on her back that said, 'Kick me!'" However, unable to express his opinions without fighting with Crawford or the rest of the team (to the point that sharp- and quick-witted Steinman was viewed as verbally abusive by certain cast members), he opted instead to stop coming to the theater regularly, according to his account. It later emerged that in truth, presumably for his inactivity if Steinman's account is believable, Steinman was fired from the show by his own manager, acting as producer. Similarly, citing Sonenberg's inability to come up with his share of the investment, Steinman managed to get Sonenberg thrown overboard as a producer; the two did not speak for some time after the mutual firing. At about the same time, some cast members left the show, sensing that all was not well. The show finally started previews after technological and creative delays at the Minskoff Theatre on October 18, 2002. Initially, the seemingly final result was an altered version with a lot of campy humor that differed considerably from the original show. Although the show initially went well in sales based