It may be cold comfort, but Ben Sprecher, the beleaguered lead producer of “Rebecca,” isn’t the only Broadway type out there on the street with his tin cup.
The producers of the upcoming musical “A Christmas Story” are also on the prowl for a good chunk of change. Sources say they’re looking to replace about $4.5 million from an investor who pulled out of the production at the last minute.
E-mails from the producers, some with a slight tinge of desperation, have been flying around to potential backers trying to make the case that “A Christmas Story” is a good investment.
* It’s a perennial favorite that can be trotted out for years to come!
* It will spawn productions around the country!
* C-list celebrities are coming to our opening!
Allow me to throw a lump of coal at this scenario.
There’s a glut of holiday shows this year, and they’re going to cannibalize one another. “A Christmas Story,” at the Lunt-Fontanne, is up against “The Grinch” at Madison Square Garden, “Elf” at the Hirschfeld and the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.
“A Christmas Story” can only run during the holiday — who’s going to see a show with “Christmas” in the title in July? — which means it will take years to turn a profit.
“White Christmas,” the pioneer on the holiday front, made some money the first time around, but subsequent productions were losers.
The well-heeled producers of “A Christmas Story” could finance the shortfall themselves, sources say, but they’re already in pretty deep and they’d like to spread the risk around.
Where’s Paul Abrams when you need him?
Speaking of the late Mr. Abrams, I really think Broadway should dim its lights tonight in honor of that great but mysterious impresario.
He was so reclusive in life that no one ever seems to have met him. And he’s so reclusive in death that nobody seems to know where his body is.
Abrams was the “investor” — to the tune of $4.5 million (a popular figure on Broadway) — in “Rebecca.” His alleged death from malaria last month has thrown the production into chaos.
But people involved in the show are still awaiting a death certificate from another mysterious person who claims to be the executor of the estate. No one’s met the executor either, I’m told.
The cast and crew were told that rehearsals will begin Monday, but as of late yesterday afternoon there was no con-firmation that Sprecher had replaced Abrams’ $4.5 million.
Sprecher has told people in and around the show that he’s lining up money from another source, who wants to remain anonymous. But no one’s seen the “checkie,” as they say in “The Producers,” yet.
Sprecher himself was elusive yesterday.
As of late yesterday afternoon, theater sources who tried to reach him were told he was “in a meeting.”
(He had nothing to say to me yesterday except to reiterate through a spokesman that an announcement about the show’s future would be forthcoming.)
I checked out some of Sprecher’s other investors in the show — and there are some interesting characters.
For instance, CPS Equity. Judging from its Web site, CPS seems to be a company that makes commercial real estate loans. It’s hard to figure out where CPS is located, however. The site doesn’t give an address. I called the number, but all I got was a computerized voice telling me the “party” I was trying to reach was not available.
My favorite “Rebecca” investor — one who really does exist! — is the wonderful Anthony Fusco Jr.
He’s a lawyer from New Jersey by day, but at night he’s a cabaret singer. His act is called “A Lawyer and His Ladies.”
Fusco didn’t return my call about “Rebecca,” but I urge you — I beg you! — to check out his YouTube clip, “Tony Fusco Music Promo.”
His version of “I Go to Rio!” is a real hip-swiveler, and his “That’s Life” a stirring anthem of defiance.
The Shuberts are going to need a booking for the Broadhurst in the unlikely event (ha!) that “Rebecca” doesn’t come together.
“Tony Fusco on Broadway” could be the answer to their prayers.
He’d be this season’s Hugh Jackman.