Manderley has been torched.
“Rebecca,” the foundering $12 million Broadway musical slated to open next month at the Broadhurst, has been cancelled due to lack of financing, theater sources said today.
The cancellation caps a bizarre — and still unfolding tale — of a beleaguered Broadway producer, a mysterious investor whose identity and death have yet to be confirmed and a collection of A-list Broadway talent, including Tony Award-winning director Michael Blakemore, whose lives and careers have been thrown into limbo.
The beleaguered producer — Ben Sprecher — was forced last week to postpone the show after he claimed his biggest investor, Paul Abrams, died from malaria after a trip to Africa. But Abrams’ death — and existence — were never confirmed. Sprecher himself said he never met Abrams nor had a single conversation with him despite the fact Abrams had agreed to write a check for $4.5 million.
The production said in a press release today the producers were “left with no option” but to postpone the show after Abrams’ death, which it said occurred in London on Aug. 5.
It also claimed a poison pen email, “filled with lies and innuendo,” was sent to a new investor who might have save the production.
“The e-mail was designed to scare this investor away and it succeeded. The investor withdrew,” the statement said.
Sprecher said Abrams was a prominent business man in Johannesburg, South Africa but theater people who looked for evidence of his existence there came up with nothing, sources say.
Sprecher spent last week scrambling to raise money from other investors but it appears he was unable to put a deal together. Yesterday morning panicked cast members began hearing rumors that “Rebecca” was off.
Blakemore and book writer/lyricist Michael Kunze flew in from Europe expecting to begin rehearsals on Monday, sources say. They’ve been working on the show, which is based on Daphne Du Maurier’s classic gothic novel, for more than a year. Cast members passed up other jobs because they had faith that Sprecher, who kept them in the loop via e-mail, would be able to shore up the production.
Sprecher seethed over the e-mail in the press release.
“Why anyone would be so hateful and cruel and would go to such a huge amount of effort to uncover confidential information, including the details of a private transaction and the identities of an individual and his attorneys, and send such an e-mail with the goal being to shut down a production that involves the jobs of over a hundred people and their families, is something I am having a terrible time grasping,” he said in the statement.
“We will not stop our efforts to mount this show and alternatives are already unfolding. We will continue doing everything we can to protect this asset and our investors. We have provided a copy of this e-mail to the proper authorities and a criminal investigation is already under way,” he continued.
Sprecher, who at one point owned several Off Broadway theaters, has a reputation for being a tough and unforgiving landlord. His predicament this past week has riveted the Broadway community, and a fair number of producers and agents who’ve done battle with him were having a good chuckle over their lunches at Sardi’s.
A veteran producer, sizing up the behind-the-scenes turmoil of “Rebecca,” said: “I have never seen anything like this. And I don’t think its over. It’s the best show in town!”