In his heyday, David Merrick was the most powerful producer on Broadway. He had taste. He was prolific. He knocked out hits — “Look Back in Anger,” “Hello, Dolly!” “42nd Street.”
And he could put the fear of God in actors, writers, directors and agents. When crossed, he retaliated — swiftly and brutally.
Scott Rudin is the David Merrick of today. He’s certainly got taste (“Fences”). God knows he’s prolific (movies, Broadway, television — he does them all). As for hits, well, his latest — “The Book of Mormon” — will make more money than all of Merrick’s winners put together.
And like Merrick, he does not suffer fools, especially ones who go back on their word.
The latest to run afoul of the powerful producer is actor/playwright Bruce Norris, whose play “Clybourne Park” won the Pulitzer Prize last year.
Rudin loved it and was bringing it the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway this spring. Rudin was also an admirer of Norris’ acting talent. He recently cast him as the older brother in “The Corrections,” the eagerly anticipated pilot he’s producing for HBO — based on Jonathan Franzen’s celebrated novel.
But on Monday, after three months of contract negotiations, Norris abruptly withdrew from “The Corrections,” blithely telling Rudin, “I don’t like to do pilots.”
Rudin’s response (and I’m paraphrasing): Well, I don’t like to do Pulitzer Prize-winning plays. Especially yours.
And then, Merrick-like, he pulled the plug on the production.
Rudin declined to comment for this article, but sources say he thought Norris’ abrupt withdrawal from “The Corrections” was insensitive and disloyal.
“The guy behaved like a total a–hole,” says a source. “He got every point he wanted in his contract, and then he just walked away. He acted in complete and total bad faith. Scott was furious.”
Not only did Rudin deep-six “Clybourne Park,” he also dropped two other Norris plays he was planning to produce in New York next year.
Sources say Norris is still reeling from Rudin’s retaliatory strike.
So, too, is the cast — Christina Kirk, Frank Wood, Crystal A. Dickinson, Annie Parisse.
They’re in Los Angeles performing the show at the Mark Taper Forum. Most of them didn’t want to schlep West but did so with the knowledge that, after the LA run, they’d be on Broadway in a critically acclaimed new play.
Now, because of Norris’ miscalculation, they’re out of work.
Photo shoots were canceled this week, ad campaigns scrapped and publicists re-assigned to other productions.
“Bruce has a lot of explaining to do,” says a production source.
Norris could not be reached for comment.
Also staggering from Rudin’s wrath is Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns the Walter Kerr. One of the theater chain’s executives begged Rudin not to scrap the show because the company would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent.
Rudin, I’m told, shot back with: “Why don’t I just give you one week’s gross from the box office at the Eugene O’Neill? That should cover your losses.”
Jujamcyn owns the O’Neill, which is home to “The Book of Mormon.” Last week’s gross: $1.5 million.
Jujamcyn officials are scrambling to save “Clybourne Park.” Yesterday they were calling other producers, urging them to pick up the show.
(Paging Jeffrey Richards!)
“They love the play, and they’re trying to do everything to keep it on track,” says a source.
“Clybourne Park” is a companion piece to Lorraine Hansberry’s famous 1959 play, “A Raisin in the Sun.” But “Clybourne” is told from the perspective of a white couple who sell their house to the Youngers, the black family in Hansberry’s play. In the first act, the other white families in the neighborhood try to discourage the sale.
The second act takes place in 2009. Clybourne Park, now a dilapidated neighborhood, is about to be rejuvenated. A rich white couple has bought the house and wants to tear it down. But some of the black families are resisting the yuppification of their old neighborhood.
The Los Angeles Times called the play “abrasively funny and fiendishly provocative.”
It’s exactly the kind of play David Merrick would have produced.
Provided the playwright didn’t double-cross him.