GODSPELL Tickets are ALL $125 And There Are No Discounts? I Mean...Really? — Page 3

Oh, please. This ship is gonna sink faster than the Titanic.

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I have been asked by other people at my firm to post a clarification of one of my initial statements, which were made in part out of emotion (namely, frustration).

I was laboring under the mistaken impression that our urban production of Godspell was headed for Broadway. In fact, we never wanted Ken to take us to Broadway, nor did we wish to go there, as it's not deemed the right place for Godspell currently. To correct, we are looking towards the Apollo; ours is a Harlem production.

Furthermore, we have our own producing unit and our own funders and, despite whatever is said glibly in the heat of online debates and exchanges, it has never been our intention to have our productions produced by anyone else other than us. Our initial feelings about Ken's potential involvement were only positive when it seemed there might be some efficacy to his business plan. Rest assured, the way things are developing, we have no wish to be involved in anything like what is about to happen.

We do not have any bad feelings towards Ken whatsoever. We wish him success, but it seems very doubtful this will be the case, as the production seems to be questionably structured and artistically derivative, in my subjective opinion, which will tie up the rights and kill any major action on the project for 3-5 years minimum. It is frustrating to see such a production opportunity completely wasted; that is what we are frustrated about. No animosity towards Ken.

We do question the assignment of rights as part of a greater trend in entertainment not to make thoughtful, informed, researched decisions. There is no question we have one of the finest unique productions of Godspell, as the 50,000 people who saw it in 1996/97 will attest; it is very frustrating to watch Broadway again trot out the same tired old clown show interpretation, which was D.O.A. by '78 and hearkens back to a hippie aesthetic, the last utility of which was gotten by the recent revival of Hair. We are frustrated over the assignment of rights to a production that is, in our judgment, old hat and will be a non-event when we have a unique and riveting production.

In the end, time is on our side. We shall wait. If not now, a year, two years, five years down the line, we shall do our production. We know we have the best, most unique, most timely production, which taps into the Christian audience which would now be the mainstay of a major production of Godspell.

Given the current state of affairs, Ken's set-up is nothing we envy or want to be a part of, either on a business or artistic level. In the next couple of years, our production will emerge, and you will see the definitive 21st century production of Godspell. We confidently invite audiences to compare and judge for themselves.

Thank you.

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Updated On: 7/13/11 at 06:37 PM

tldr

ok! :)

phantomofoffbdwy clearly is the same person from the firm who asked me to make my statement. As I made clear in my statement, not only do we think the show is going to be artistically derivative and a dud, but we do think with rights we could put on a better production. We don't wish him ill; indeed, we wish him the best, but it's highly unlikely things will work out in his favor, and if his production fails, it will **** up the commercial rights for the next five years, as phantom put it.

As I said before, in the end, time is on our side. We shall wait. If not now, a year, two years, five years down the line, we shall do our production. We know we have the best, most unique, most timely production, which taps into the Christian audience which would now be the mainstay of a major production of Godspell. We confidently invite audiences to judge and compare for themselves at that time.

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Updated On: 7/14/11 at 08:08 AM

If you'd seen the production like the other 50,000 people who found it unique and riveting, you'd know why. We also have an X factor that Ken doesn't (unless the Jonas rumors are true) that would help ticket sales -- star names.

It's not like we care if he succeeds anyway, although obviously we'd rather have our production. Ooh, he showed us, guess we'll move on to our own original movie and stage deals with major stars. Boo hoo. In the spirit of love which is Godspell, we wish Ken and the cast of Broadway Godspell nothing but success. Kiss the Jonas Brothers for us. *eyeroll*

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Updated On: 7/14/11 at 09:52 AM

So is your pal Mr. Bialystock... I mean Mr. Hasija... I mean Mr. Davenport. But who's counting?

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No, luvvie, the firm's great; I just get irritated easily by other people. I'm not the best representative it could have.

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I'm an asset to the company for other reasons; I'm blowing up at people on a message board, not corporate heads around a table actually making a deal. This is miniscule by comparison.

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Exactly wether its in a board room or on a message board you are still making you and your company look terrible.

Are there any names floating around for the cast (besides the apparently false Jonas rumor), or a rough timeline for a cast announcement? I'm curious to see if any of the principals from the cancelled 2008 revival are part of this.

@amanda
To answer your question about the 08 revival members being involved I happened to run into Gavin recently and he said he would not be participating