Rebecca back on?- Page 2

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 1:20pm

Well, maybe if it was adjusted somewhat, it could work artistically. For example, I highly doubt a Broadway audience is going to take a period story with a pop score seriously. Those days are well and truly gone; if nothing else, the short-lived run of A Tale of Two Cities proved that. Re-orchestrate the score from, say, a Forties standpoint, and that might -- might -- help its chances.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 2:02pm

Are you saying audiences can't accept a period piece with an anachronistic score because that little show playing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre proves otherwise. The audiences don't seem to mind that.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 2:06pm

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "Well, maybe if it was adjusted somewhat, it could work artistically. For example, I highly doubt a Broadway audience is going to take a period story with a pop score seriously. "

???

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 2:36pm

While I fully expect Rebecca would fail if produced (and I fully expect it will never be produced), citing one show's failure as a reason another show will fail is false logic. What if one show is just bad and the other show is good? 

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 2:51pm

God it must be nice to have inside knowledge in to this show becoming a flop. Sometimes I wonder if more people on this board just love the drama of failure rather than success.

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 3:02pm

Those videos that were just posted on this site look awful. The music is so 80's. Although I know that woman repeatedly singing "REBECCA!" will be stuck in my head all weekend.

 

This feels like it's going to be another Zhivago. They should re-write the book and make it a musical about the legal dramas surrounding this Broadway production. THAT I would want to see. The title song can be sung by a lawyer who keeps popping Alkaseltzers every time he signs, "REBECCA!"

[HogansHero]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 3:05pm

songanddanceman2 said: "God it must be nice to have inside knowledge in to this show becoming a flop. Sometimes I wonder if more people on this board just love the drama of failure rather than success."

1. Who has said they have inside knowledge?

2. Can you give an example of someone on this board who prefers failure to success? There is, of course, a lot more failure in the theatre than there is success. That's true in all art forms, but failure is in high relief on Broadway because there are so few outlets. Most films, by contrast, fail quietly, because no one ever hears about them in the first place, very few (or no) theaters pick them up and they just become what used to be STV. 

3. If you were going to pick one show story for its drama in this century, it would be Rebecca.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 3:25pm

broadwayboy223 said: "I mean you aren't wrong sort of^ but fortunately only the theatre community will really remember the lawsuit. Tourists will not."

I agree. Putting aside the quality of the show and whether it has any appeal for audiences, the scam/legal drama wouldn't be what sinks it were it to manage to get on Broadway. 

CATSNYrevival said: "Are you saying audiences can't accept a period piece with an anachronistic score because that little show playing at the Richard Rodgers Theatre proves otherwise. The audiences don't seem to mind that."

That's an interesting question that's been on my mind particularly after NYMF. Hamilton is an interesting case because it's anachronism with purpose. 

[Kad]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 3:36pm

Its anachronistic score isn't the issue. Lots of things have anachronistic scores.

The issue is that this is a work in a style that is wildly out of vogue and has had no contemporary successes.  

You may as well open a women's clothing store that only sells garments with shoulder pads. Updated On: 8/19/16 at 03:36 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 3:54pm

Shoulder pads are on their way back.

[IlanaKeller]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 4:22pm

theatregoer3 said: "They should re-write the book and make it a musical about the legal dramas surrounding this Broadway production. THAT I would want to see."

 

"Rebecca, Or The Making of the Musical Fiasco of 2012 and All That Followed"

 

[theatregoer3]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 5:09pm

IlanaKeller said: "Rebecca, Or The Making of the Musical Fiasco of 2012 and All That Followed"

 

Exactly.

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 8:39pm

Didn't this show have a million dollar advance? How would that make it a failure?

[10086sunset]

Posted: 8/19/16 at 10:29pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Didn't this show have a million dollar advance? How would that make it a failure?

"

That was the claim...

 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 8/20/16 at 12:04am

a million dollar advance is like one week of performances.

[Lot666]

Posted: 5/31/19 at 2:24pm

A settlement has been reached in the case between Rebecca Broadway producer Ben Sprecher and his former publicist, Marc Thibodeau, ending a six-year, multi-case courtroom battle over the collapse of the multi-million dollar musical thriller.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 8/13/19 at 3:37pm

Guess we're not seeing REBECCA anytime soon!

https://nypost.com/2019/08/13/broadway-producer-ben-sprecher-arrested-on-child-porn-charges/

If his career wasn't dead before, it sure is now.

 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/13/19 at 3:43pm

^ Even were that not the case, his rights to Rebecca lapsed ages ago.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 8/13/19 at 3:46pm

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "^ Even were that not the case, his rights to Rebecca lapsed ages ago."

 

Jeez, talk about completely missing the point!

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/13/19 at 3:51pm

I got your point, I'm just saying if it was to come, it wouldn't have come from him anyway. Part of the point of the thread was whether or not the show would move forward.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 8/13/19 at 4:34pm

Isn't there a difference between anachronistic and out-dated?

[LoriBelle2]

Posted: 8/14/19 at 10:40am

Originally it was going to be Tam with Sierra but I’m guessing she won’t want to work with him how he’s officially off the market and married. It would be too awkward.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/15/19 at 1:56am

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "I got your point, I'm just saying if it was to come, it wouldn't have come from him anyway. Part of the point of the thread was whether or not the show would move forward."

Indeed. Isn't this another way of saying the current arrest and the horrendous charges deserve their own thread? Child pornography is a long way past inadequate capitalization of a show in my hierarchy of crimes.

For the record, Ben and I worked together and were good friends in the late 1970s. I sublet his apartment for the first six months I lived in NYC, even paying his bills (with his money) and balancing his checkbook while he was on the road with THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM. We drifted apart as our careers went in different directions, but I remain fond of him even though we haven't spoken for 40 years.

I defended him as a stand-up guy during the REBECCA scandal, and of course he is legally innocent of the current charges until proven guilty.

But I think I have to stop defending him now, even while hoping (probably in vain) that yesterday's arrest was some sort of misunderstanding.

Yesterday was a $hitty day!