EXCLUSIVE: A New York State judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a dozen investors in Nerds, a musical about the tech titans Bill Gates and Steve Jobs that collapsed weeks before its first scheduled preview on Broadway.Continue Reading
SCOTT RUDIN OWES SPOTCO $6.3 MILLION, AD AGENCY CLAIMS IN LAWSUIT
SpotCo, a leading Broadway advertising and marketing agency, filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against producer Scott Rudin, claiming that he left the company on the hook for $6.3 million in unpaid fees.Continue Reading
PRODUCER SPRECHER OUT ON $100,000 BOND AFTER CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ARREST
Ben Sprecher, who spent six years in court trying to restore his reputation following the pre-opening collapse of Rebecca the Musical, was accused in a Federal complaint of possessing and distributing child pornography.Continue Reading
ESCAPE FROM MANDERLEY: ‘REBECCA’ PRODUCER SETTLES WITH PRESS AGENT
EXCLUSIVE: Broadway’s oddest and most enduring financing-scandal-turned-courtroom-drama has closed.
After six years, 471 legal filings, one trial and another that had been on tap, Rebecca producer Ben Sprecher has ended his effort to hold his former press agent accountable for the collapse of his musical. Last month, Sprecher settled his personal lawsuit against publicist Marc Thibodeau, obviating a second trial concerning the aborted Broadway show.Continue Reading
‘REBECCA’ PRODUCER SEEKS NEW TRIAL AGAINST PRESS AGENT
EXCLUSIVE: Ben Sprecher‘s six-year campaign to hold his former press agent accountable for the collapse of his musical and reputation has been cleared for another courtroom showdown.
Earlier this month, an appellate court declined to intervene in the producer’s lawsuit against publicist Marc Thibodeau, opening the door for a second trial relating to the aborted musical Rebecca. At issue are emails that the press agent sent to a prospective backer in September 2012, linking Sprecher to a fraud.
Sprecher is “radioactive in the theater community and unable to find work,” the producer’s lead lawyer, Erik Groothuis of Schlam Stone & Dolan, wrote in an October 2018 brief in New York Supreme Court. Thibodeau “torpedoed both the musical, and my career with it,” Sprecher said in a 2017 sworn statement.Continue Reading
‘NERDS’ CRASH HIGHLIGHTS WEAK INVESTOR PROTECTION
EXCLUSIVE: Ticketmaster and Telecharge say they refund theatergoers for cancelled performances.
It’s a different story for investors in shows that get cancelled before opening night. Exhibit A: Nerds, the musical.
In early 2016, Nerds Broadway LLC collected $606,000 from 13 angels who wanted in on the comedy about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
Four days after receiving the last of the checks and less than two months before the scheduled Broadway opening, lead producer Carl Levin announced Nerds’ indefinite postponement. He cited the loss of a major backer.
Until recent years, a production company that abandoned a show was obligated to make investors whole, except the investors who waived their right to a refund.Continue Reading
RUDIN, TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ESTATE TENTATIVELY SETTLE ‘GLASS MENAGERIE’ LAWSUIT
EXCLUSIVE: A promising Broadway courtroom drama appears to be closing out of town.
Scott Rudin and the University of the South have agreed in principle to settle the University’s lawsuit alleging that Rudin’s production company failed to pay royalties on his Glass Menagerie revival starring Joe Mantello and Sally Field. Lawyers for both sides filed papers in Federal Court in Tennessee disclosing the tentative deal yesterday, exactly a year after the play began previews at the Belasco Theatre.
