The poor — and I do mean poor — Public Theater is facing some tough times.
The theater that once produced “A Chorus Line” has gotten a reputation around Broadway for failing to meet financial obligations on such shows as “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “The Motherf**ker With the Hat.”
The Public had pledged to invest heavily in both, but at the last minute told its producing partners that, oops, we don’t have the money.
The mood at its flagship theater on Lafayette Street is, I’m told, pretty grim. The Public is at odds with the producers it left struggling to raise cash. It also has its own financial problems, and is still grappling with fallout from the recent firing of executive director Andrew Hamingson.
Hamingson was let go because he pledged money to commercial producers without, apparently, telling the Public’s board of directors. Frankly, I think he’s a fall guy. How can a board not be aware of financial commitments made on behalf of the institution it’s supposed to oversee?
Who’s the chairman of this board — Mr. Magoo?
The Public’s artistic director, Oskar Eustis, has emerged relatively unscathed from the Hamingson fiasco. But surely he bears some responsibility for the Public’s predicament.
Only a couple of years ago, he bragged about a deal he’d struck with commercial producers to bring Public productions uptown.
He was so eager to be “Mr. Broadway,” he practically high-kicked his way through Shubert Alley wearing a gold “Chorus Line” top hat.
Given the drubbing the Public’s been taking for its addiction to the Great White Way, you’d think the theater would be happy to lie low on Lafayette Street.
But, no — it simply can’t resist the siren call of “Broadway Melody.” And so, this week, the theater announced it was bringing its Tony-winning revival of “Hair,” which has been touring the country, to the St. James for 10 weeks this summer.
This decision isn’t sitting well with investors, who fear a Broadway run could wind up costing them money.
“This engagement of ‘Hair’ could leave the investors bald,” snickers a veteran producer.
“Hair,” revived in Central Park in 2008, was a hit on Broadway the next year, recouping its $6 million in just 15 weeks.
But a subsequent London production was a complete wipeout, and production sources say the national tour so far has returned only 40 percent of its investment.
“The tour has been disappointing,” says an investor. “We’ve gotten very little back. And
now we’re coming back to Broadway and competing against all the new shows?”
Theater insiders say the return engagement is risky.
Across the country, local theaters essentially buy a production, guaranteeing, at the least, its weekly running costs.
Broadway’s theater owners rent out their buildings without any risk to themselves.
Sources say the Public’s gotten a good rental deal on the St. James, but “Hair” investors will still be on the line if the show doesn’t earn more than its weekly overhead.
In an e-mail, Eustis wrote: “Michael, you are as right about this as you were about the [Stephen Adly] Guirgis play [‘The Motherf**ker With the Hat’] last week. This production was a spectacular success in Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago . . . We are confident audiences will welcome it back this summer.”