A hit musical to producers is like red meat to carnivores.
When one comes along, they scrap and claw for a hunk and then tear into it with abandon.
The show they’re salivating over right now is “Matilda,” which opened to five-star reviews in London in November. Based on Roald Dahl’s classic children’s story about a brilliant girl with monstrous parents, “Matilda” has the potential to be another “Annie” or “Oliver!” — which is to say, a smart family musical that stands to make millions.
Barry Weissler, one of Shubert Alley’s more aggressive meat eaters, has been stalking the musical ever since he caught it last summer at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon, where it played before it went to London.
Stuart Thompson, co-producer of “The Book of Mormon,” is also in the hunt; so are Tom Viertel and Richard Frankel, the producing team behind “The Producers” and “The Norman Conquests.”
So far, though, no one’s been able to get a claw into the show despite all sorts of behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
That’s because the RSC, which is producing the show in England, is skittish about teaming up with a New York producer who would demand a big chunk of the potential profits.
In 1986, the RSC created a little musical you may have heard of called “Les Miserables.” The RSC produced it with Cameron Mackintosh, who took it to the West End, Broadway and countless cities around the world.
“Les Miserables” has a worldwide gross of nearly $2 billion. The RSC’s take from that, according to company records, is $18 million.
That’s not bad, but it’s only a fraction of what Mackintosh and his investors have made.
Now that the RSC has another potential mint on its hands with “Matilda,” the company isn’t inclined to share the wealth.
“They’re going to do it themselves,” says a source, “maybe in conjunction with a theater owner but not with an independent producer.”
I hear the Nederlanders, who own several desirable Broadway houses, have the upper hand. James M. Nederlander, the family patriarch, has a relationship with the RSC that goes back nearly 40 years.
He produced the RSC’s first New York hit, “Sherlock Holmes,” on Broadway in the ’70s, and in 1981 he presented the company’s celebrated production of “Nicholas Nickleby” in New York. He also brought over the RSC’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” which made a star of Alan Rickman.
“The RSC and the Nederlanders work very well together,” says a source. “The RSC will get a good theater and a producing partner who doesn’t interfere. Some of those other guys would be much more aggressive. The RSC doesn’t want any friction.”
“Matilda” is slated to open on Broadway a year from now. Overseeing it will be British producer Andre Ptaszynski, who ran Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company The Really Useful Group until he became a victim of last year’s fallout from the failure of “Love Never Dies.”
Ptaszynski is a smart and charming fellow — call me for lunch, Andre! — but his knowledge of the tricky Broadway terrain is untested.
Some theater insiders think he could use a savvy, hands-on New York partner to navigate the press, marketing, production costs and the Tony campaign.
“Broadway is not like London,” says a veteran producer. “It’s a much harsher jungle, and aside from Cameron and Sonia Friedman [“The Mountaintop”] very few British producers have figured it out.”
Though “Matilda” certainly has the potential to be a big hit, it’s by no means a cake walk. Despite the glowing reviews, the show isn’t selling out in the West End.
If mismanaged over here by the RSC, it could end up like “Billy Elliot,” a wonderful show that should have run much longer than four years in New York.
“The RSC is taking a real risk wanting to call the shots in New York,” says another producer. “They have very little experience over here. If they screw it up, they’ll have only themselves to blame.”
We’ll be looking over your shoulder, RSC.