NYTimes.com: A lawyer for the lead producer of the recently canceled Broadway musical “Rebecca” said on Monday that criminal investigators had interviewed his client, Ben Sprecher, about the murky circumstances surrounding the last-minute loss of $4.5 million in investor financing, which doomed the show’s chances to open this fall.
10 comments:
"No evidence of Mr. Abrams’s existence or death has surfaced and been independently corroborated"
Ummmm..... What??????? How do you not actually have proof that a MAJOR funder of a Broadway show EXISTS? No wonder there is a criminal investigation about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the demise of this show! Something clearly went VERY wrong with this production. This article is mostly speculation, offering little in details and a lot in heresy. I imagine we'll hear more about this in the coming weeks, however, and I look foward to reading it.
This is an interesting event. This was a show I had no idea even existed until I started reading/hearing about the debacle it has became. I almost think that if there were investors interested, this would be the time to try and take over the production to capitalize on its publicity and actually produce it to completion. It reminds me of Spiderman which didn't really pick up interest until it started having all of it's problems. I'm interested in seeing what happens with this production.
This is a REALLY weird article, almost something out of a movie. I feel like if there was no proof of someone's existence or death, then there is a really great chance that this investor did not exist. Also, if it was a hit in London, why does it matter that its main investor "died".
I think what may be even weirder is someone trying to ruin a Broadway show by scaring off investors who are giving millions of dollars.
I want to analyze this article from a different view. The line that caught my eye was “The musical, a gothic mystery based on the Daphne du Maurier novel, was a hit in Europe but untested in the United States.” This reminds me of an article that ran a few weeks ago about the new office that the National Theatre of England has in New York. It seemed in that article that there was a smooth transition from the West End to Broadway. Now we see how difficult this can be. I am interested in the difference between European and American theatrical taste. That to me is as intriguing as the missing financier. (I think that is an Agatha Christi novel.)
I wrote a comment on an article about Rebecca a few weeks ago, in which the mysterious death of the...producer?... caused the investors of the show to be worried about the money they put into Rebecca. Although the exact cause of the $4.5 million show is not exactly sure, the cancellation caused a frenzy as people tried to retract their investments. Broadway investment is always hairy...you've seen The Producers! I would be suspicious too, after all the questionable dealings surrounding this show from the getgo!
Brian, that same sentence made my left eyebrow go to the ceiling while reading this article. "No evidence of Mr. Abrams’s existence or death has surfaced and been independently corroborated". I would like to hear some other details of this story, but I'm sure everyone has been told to "say nothing". However, from what was mentioned in this article this situation will not end easily, due to the fact that millions of dollars are involved and many personnel were hired or contracted who now need to be paid. Hopefully this isn't a large Broadway scandal....
On the other hand, what is "great" about this is that it could be the plot for an amazing play/musical. The events of this entire fiasco belong on the stage. I just had to find some light in the darkness of this mess!
So, I don't really know how investing in theatre usually works, but if I were someone trying to raise money and had a potential investor promise 4.5 million dollars but had never met him or even spoken to him on the phone, that would be a bit of a red flag for me. I know that in today's world email has replaced a lot of other communication, but I don't think this is the kind of thing that you allow to be solely technological communication, and I'm not sure why anyone would. Now if Mr. Sprecher did indeed make up this investor in order to lure other investors in, who the hell is the guy that is going around scaring them off? This just seems so incredible shady in all aspects.
Scratch Rebecca, write a musical about the backstory of this show! Mysterious investors dying and his or her unconfirmed existence? Lawsuits and troubled transfers? Maybe SMASH should go in a different direction.
It all sounds pretty suspicious. Are people going to start Nigerian Prince scamming broadway productions? European Investor scam?
Investing in a broadway production is risky enough, essentially donating your money more than half the time. I wonder if this will make future investors more wary, and how much proof of success and legitimacy will be expected from producers.
This is all so sketchy and would make for a good show, although I still think spiderman was a bigger mess, but then again it actually opened. I would never invest in a show with such a shady backer i had never met. Also if someone said they would donate that much money to my show, i would go out of my way to meet them, regardless of what country they lived in.
The producer and lawyer are denying way too much to be innocent...
This is really a curious situation. It seems weird that a broadway show would have this much intrigue in it. Also, alot of people seem very tihgt lipped. The whole ordeal might be much less mysterous if the directors and producers came forward with all thier knowledge instead of decling comment. Also, It sees like a weird concept that they would take the show form eupore straight to the broadwa stage. I would think that they would want to test it a little first, to make sure it runs smoothly and that all the investors are commited. Furthermore, since when is it a good idea to not meet an investo who is donating 4.5 million dollars to a show. That seems like a major oversight in the producion.
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