Saturday, October 06, 2012
'Rebecca' throws in the towel
Variety: The on-again, off-again Broadway musical "Rebecca" is officially off again, despite an earlier indication that rehearsals were intended to kick off Oct. 1.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I am questioning now whether "Rebecca" is honestly doing this as a stunt or not. I believed for a while that this was a brilliant publicity stunt in order to get the audience to want to come to see the show that had the "bumpy road to broadway". I was extremely excited about this piece and I hope that it will be able to actually come to Broadway.
However, if it is having this much trouble before rehearsals have even started...I question if it would have this much bad luck after opening... Or if it would even make it to opening....
This does make me want to see it really badly though...
Even if the angry email is actually a publicity stunt, its a terribly expensive one. First, you have the theatre and management, who you'll have to pay for the delay (the time it could have had another show in the theatre), and the same with the rehearsal studio. You also may not be able to use the rehearsal studio at a later date when rehearsals can actually start, because another show may have it booked up. Appropriate rehearsal spaces for Broadway are incredibly limited. You also will have to pay all the designers, actors, stage managers, general managers, etc. perhaps several weeks' pay (to cover the job search and sudden unemployment), or, if you actually plan on returning, you have to pay them for the weeks they would be rehearsing right now (to keep them from taking other jobs in the interim).
Another factor is that doing this takes a serious toll on the welfare of the cast and crew. As with the above, actors and stage managers have to plan out their lives around a rehearsal schedule as intense as one for Broadway is. That may mean turning down jobs or not going out for auditions to accommodate. Now that they're without a rehearsal, and the week of? That's tough. Some may not return to the production.
If the angry email is legitimate, then it's still disappointing that the company wasn't able to raise the capital to support itself. But for the conspiracy theorists, it's a very expensive publicity undertaking.
I am not surprised at all that a simple email scared away an investor for the show with how unstable the current market is, what would happen if someone has a said they won’t get their money back, they would back out. Then on the other hand I am sad that they will not be able to do this show unless they find 4 million dollars. I feel really bad for all of the people that left there schedule open so that they could do this show and now they have no job and have to find work very soon. I wonder if the people where waiting to hear and getting ready to start, if they were getting paid or if the show did not happen they would get some money, but I quess no.
Post a Comment