I go away for a couple of weeks, and what happens?
“Rebecca” is out of money!
Plus ca change . . .
The “Rebecca” marquee at the Broadhurst is looking pretty forlorn these days, especially since it’s next to the one for “Matilda” at the Shubert — a London hit with money to spare.
“Rebecca,” you’ll recall, ran out of money last fall, and had to be shelved for a year. The show, one of those trashy European pop operas that seemed to wow audiences in places like Stuttgart, was a victim of the shaky economy, the producers said.
This time the official line, from lead producer Ben Sprecher, is that an investor who had pledged $4.5 million died in London last month after contracting malaria on a trip to Africa.
But Patrick Healy, my friend and spirited competitor at the Times, put on his Sherlock Holmes cap and in a story yesterday strongly implied that the investor — one Paul Abrams — never, in fact, existed.
Searches for death notices and obituaries in both the US and England turned up nothing.
Pat should have tried searching the database for Fantasy Island — because it does appear that Abrams is a figment of someone’s imagination.
Sprecher himself admitted that he never met the man — a man who supposedly pledged $4.5 million for a Broadway show. It’s not even clear where Abrams lived. Some reports had him as a London-based investor, others that he was from South Africa.
Where do things stand now?
Well, the set’s been built, and Sprecher has told the press and the Shuberts, who own the theater, that he’s got “commitments” from other investors — The Tooth Fairy? The Easter Bunny? — for the $4.5 million.
But the cast and crew are nervous — and suspicious. I’m told Michael Blake-more, the highly respected, Tony Award-winning director (“Copenhagen,” “Kiss Me Kate”), is bewildered and annoyed. He’s been in limbo ever since the show was postponed last year.
He’s not prepared to bolt yet, but he has too much integrity and talent to squander on a show that looks as if it will exist solely as a marquee.
Meanwhile, vultures are starting to circle round the Broadhurst, one of Broadway’s most desirable theaters.
The producers of “Hands on a Hard Body,” a new musical about hard-luck Texans, have let it be known that their money’s in hand and that the Broadhurst would be a swell place to land.
But Sprecher appears to be fighting for his show. He declined to be interviewed, but a spokesman for the show said, “We expect to make an announcement shortly about when rehearsals will begin.”
“He seems calm and confident,” says a person who’s met with him. “He’s on the line for a lot of money, to say nothing of his reputation, if this falls apart.”
Cast members say they’ve been told that rehearsals will begin any moment now.
But there’s the nagging suspicion, both inside the production and around Broadway, that the other shoe is about to drop.
On someone’s head.