Not to beat a dead horse — but “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” is headed for the glue factory.
Last week, I reported that the producers of “Leap of Faith,” having picked up the scent of death at the St. James, were sniffing around to see if they could line up the theater in the spring.
And now comes word that a letter has gone out to Tony voters urging them to see “Clear Day” before Feb. 12.
Ira Pittelman, the lead producer of “Clear Day,” hasn’t made a formal announcement yet, but he’s been spotted at the theater giving everybody consoling hugs.
(Ira’s big on hugs. Around Shubert Alley they call him “huggles.”)
Production sources say this $12 million fiasco will call it quits on Feb. 19.
The end can’t come too soon for leading man Harry Connick Jr.
He can barely contain his misery when he’s onstage playing the role of a psychiatrist.
“I bet the reviews sent him to a psychiatrist,” jokes a Tony voter.
Others have noticed that Connick, who showed off an extremely buff chest a few years ago in “The Pajama Game,” has put on weight.
“Usually when you’re depressed you eat a lot,” notes another Tony voter.
Bitch!
As bad as things appear to be onstage, they’re even worse off, production sources say.
“We’re in a show that everybody hates,” one person says. “You can feel the audience hating it.”
Connick is so unhappy, his dressing room’s called the “dark zone.”
He blames director Michael Mayer for ruining his Broadway career, sources say, and refuses to speak to him.
Mayer certainly has to shoulder a good deal of the blame for one of the biggest flops of the fall. It was, after all, his idea to resurrect this failed 1966 musical and complicate its already convoluted plot even more by throwing in some gender-bending nonsense.
But Mayer should be able to skate away from this embarrassment relatively unscathed. His work on “Spring Awakening” and “American Idiot” was exemplary, and he’s the lead director on the eagerly anticipated NBC series “Smash.”
(Full disclosure: I’m the star — or will be once my 45-second scene in Episode No. 9 is broadcast in March. TiVo it!)
Connick, on the other hand, will have a hard time shaking off the perception that he can no longer carry a big musical.
He demanded a star salary — said to be nearly six figures a week — but didn’t deliver the goods.
In an effort to gin up ticket sales, the producers recently changed the artwork on the marquee. The original was a photo of Connick clutching a pair of black glasses and looking at a heart-shaped bouquet of flowers. After I pointed out that the marquee looked like an ad for 1-800-FLOWERS, the producers changed it to a picture of Harry looking suspiciously like . . . Hugh Jackman!
They’ve also begun airing a television commercial.
But nothing’s helping. Advance sales are dwindling, and the horseshoe of empty seats ringing the edge of the orchestra is getting wider with each performance.
On a clear day in the St. James, you can shoot moose.
KEVIN Spacey is tearing up the Brooklyn Academy of Music in “Richard III.”
The last great actor to play that part at BAM was Sir Ian McKellen in 1992.
Which is a good excuse to get this anecdote into print.
McKellen’s close friend and press agent, the late, great Bob Fennell, wanted to show the actor an authentic slice of Brooklyn.
So he took him to lunch at Junior’s Cheesecake across the street from the theater.
When the waitress, who spoke impeccable Brooklyn-ese, heard McKellen’s accent, she asked: “What do you do?”
“I’m in a play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music,” he replied.
“Oh, you’re an actor,” said the waitress. “Well, good luck to you. It’s a very difficult profession.”
A true story Bob loved to tell.