#1
Posted: 8/13/08 at 10:07am
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08132008/entertainment/theater/bway_feels_money_slump_124224.htm
Posted: 3:26 am
August 13, 2008
DARK clouds of recession are gathering over Broadway.
Producers, after a drink or two, admit raising money is becoming very difficult. One complains that backers who regularly used to cut checks for $200,000 have all but vanished.
Recently, a couple of shows announced for the fall - "Brigadoon" and "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" - scrapped their production schedules.
"Brigadoon" had trouble finding the right theater in New York, but sources say raising money for the bagpipe revival wasn't easy.
A big chunk of the change for "Colored Girls" "just evaporated," says a source; the production, to which Whoopi Goldberg leant her name as executive producer, may soon be entangled in a lawsuit brought by an investor.
"This is rapidly descending into nastiness," says a source.
Meanwhile, the producers of "Godspell," that perennial favorite from "Wicked" creator Stephen Schwartz, are still holding backers' auditions, even though the show is about to go into rehearsal for a September opening on Broadway.
"They have to hold a backers' audition for 'Godspell'?" marvels a producer not involved in the show. "Wasn't everybody in it in college?"
Also hunting for money while rehearsals are under way is "Turn of the Century," the new musical by "Jersey Boys" creators Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.
Directed by Tommy Tune, the show opens next month at the nonprofit Goodman Theatre in Chicago. But $2 million in enhancement money from a group of New York producers has not materialized.
Elizabeth I. McCann, one of the New York producers, says: "We're looking for partners. It's a great show, but it's getting more and more difficult to raise money."
McCann, a veteran producer who remembers the economic woes Broadway faced in the 1970s, adds: "Everybody's tightening their belts and wondering just how bad the fall is going to be. I think it's going to be bad. We've been living on the tourist dollar for a long time, and it looks like it's drying up."
Another ominous sign: Advance sales for most of the new shows in the fall are weak, theater owners report. Only "Billy Elliot" is selling - more than $10 million and counting - followed by "Equus," starring Daniel Radcliffe, with $3 million.
A real laggard is "Shrek," a $20 million production that, sources say, has yet to break $5 million in advance ticket sales.
Posted: 3:26 am
August 13, 2008
DARK clouds of recession are gathering over Broadway.
Producers, after a drink or two, admit raising money is becoming very difficult. One complains that backers who regularly used to cut checks for $200,000 have all but vanished.
Recently, a couple of shows announced for the fall - "Brigadoon" and "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" - scrapped their production schedules.
"Brigadoon" had trouble finding the right theater in New York, but sources say raising money for the bagpipe revival wasn't easy.
A big chunk of the change for "Colored Girls" "just evaporated," says a source; the production, to which Whoopi Goldberg leant her name as executive producer, may soon be entangled in a lawsuit brought by an investor.
"This is rapidly descending into nastiness," says a source.
Meanwhile, the producers of "Godspell," that perennial favorite from "Wicked" creator Stephen Schwartz, are still holding backers' auditions, even though the show is about to go into rehearsal for a September opening on Broadway.
"They have to hold a backers' audition for 'Godspell'?" marvels a producer not involved in the show. "Wasn't everybody in it in college?"
Also hunting for money while rehearsals are under way is "Turn of the Century," the new musical by "Jersey Boys" creators Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.
Directed by Tommy Tune, the show opens next month at the nonprofit Goodman Theatre in Chicago. But $2 million in enhancement money from a group of New York producers has not materialized.
Elizabeth I. McCann, one of the New York producers, says: "We're looking for partners. It's a great show, but it's getting more and more difficult to raise money."
McCann, a veteran producer who remembers the economic woes Broadway faced in the 1970s, adds: "Everybody's tightening their belts and wondering just how bad the fall is going to be. I think it's going to be bad. We've been living on the tourist dollar for a long time, and it looks like it's drying up."
Another ominous sign: Advance sales for most of the new shows in the fall are weak, theater owners report. Only "Billy Elliot" is selling - more than $10 million and counting - followed by "Equus," starring Daniel Radcliffe, with $3 million.
A real laggard is "Shrek," a $20 million production that, sources say, has yet to break $5 million in advance ticket sales.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
Updated On: 8/13/08 at 10:07 AM
