You know what the D in “Broadway 4D” stands for? Dead.
The plug’s been pulled on this ambitious project, conceived by such prominent showbiz figures as “X-Men” director Bryan Singer, former CBS executive Jeff Sagansky and Robert Kory, a Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer. Sources say they were unable to raise the $80 million needed to get the project off the ground and complete renovations to the long-shuttered Times Square Theater on West 42nd Street.
Rehearsals have been canceled, but a spokesperson for “Broadway 4D” says the reports of financial problems are “inaccurate” — and that the producers hope to keep the production alive.
But that’s not what people involved in the show are hearing.
“It’s not happening,” one source said. “It’s over.”
What, exactly, was “Broadway 4D” supposed to be?
A press release last year described it as “a 3-D film-enhanced show incorporating in-theater special effects” — extravagant sounds and, bizarrely, scents. The film would have contained scenes from classic Broadway musicals, including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita.”
But what I want to know is what would the “scents” have been? The whiff of kitty litter for “Cats”? Perhaps a pungent Alpine cheese fondue to accompany “The Sound of Music” — or a No. 12, chicken with broccoli, for “Flower Drum Song”?
In any case, because of its heavy-hitting backers, “Broadway 4D” attracted first-rate talent. Hugh Jackman, who played Curly in a celebrated 1998 revival of “Oklahoma!” at the National Theatre, was scheduled to shoot a scene this week in which he would sing “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.” Sierra Boggess, now playing Christine in Broadway’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” was going to reprise her turn as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.”
“Glee” star Matthew Morrison (“Hairspray”), Antonio Banderas (“Nine”) and Betty Buckley (“Cats”) were also scheduled to appear on-screen.
The only thing in the can, I’m told, is Christina Aguilera’s rendition of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” from “Evita,” sung perhaps to the smell of empanadas.
The collapse of “Broadway 4D,” which was first reported Wednesday night by Broadway.com, has left some of these stars miffed. “They were excited to have their performances preserved for all time,” one source said. “That’s not going to happen.”
The producers e-mailed the actors the other day saying they would “understand” if they have to pursue other offers.
Jackman will be just fine.
But I’m sad about the Times Square Theater. Built in 1920, it’s the only venerable theater on 42nd Street that sits empty. Livent, the company set up by convicted fraudster Garth Drabinsky, backed off from a plan to renovate it back in the ’90s just before that company collapsed. And now, with the apparent demise of “Broadway 4D,” this wonderful old theater, once home to the Gershwins’ “Strike Up the Band” and Noël Coward’s “Private Lives,” will remain dark.
I’m so depressed I’m going to put on my cast album from “Bombay Dreams,” order some tikka masala and create my own scent-specific show.