Broadway Journal

‘CABARET’ PRODUCERS: BACKER TRIED TO EXTORT US

by

EXCLUSIVE: The lead producers of the recently-shuttered revival of Cabaret  responded this week to a lawsuit by an Atlanta investor who alleged that he and other backers had been defrauded. Led by theater conglomerate ATG Entertainment, the producers filed a motion to dismiss the complaint and its “wild and unsubstantiated accusations” and said the investor tried to extort them before he sued.

Cabaret  closed on Sunday after grossing $90.3 million over 610 performances at the ATG-owned August Wilson Theatre. It hasn’t returned any money to its Broadway backers for a total loss of its $24.25 million capitalization.Continue Reading

‘CHESS,’ ‘QUEEN OF VERSAILLES’ GET TAX CREDIT REPRIEVE

by

EXCLUSIVE: The Broadway League delivered welcome news to its members today: New York State found the funds to extend a valuable tax credit by five weeks, with another extension possible.

Empire State Development will accept applications for the New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit for shows having their first paid performance by Oct. 20, 2025, according to the state.  The previous deadline for the first performance was this Monday, Sept. 15. Continue Reading

‘CABARET’ INVESTOR SUES ATG AMID EARLY CLOSING

by

EXCLUSIVE: An investor in the failed $24 million Broadway revival of Cabaret has sued its lead producers, accusing them of fraud. Separately, the producers announced today that the musical will close Sept. 21, four weeks earlier than planned, after just 17 months of regular performances at the August Wilson Theater.

While grossing more than $88 million since it began previews in April 2024, the company presenting the revival of the dark musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Joe Masteroff hasn’t returned any money to investors, resulting in a total loss to-date. Backers were “induced to invest cash into multi-layered structures designed to conceal revenues, divert payments, and facilitate self-dealing among insiders,” Atlanta-based entertainment lawyer James Lorenzo Walker Jr. said in his Sept. 4 complaint in New York Supreme Court.Continue Reading

IS BLACKSTONE BROADWAY’S NEXT BIG LANDLORD?

by

EXCLUSIVE: The billion-dollar question on Broadway and the West End: Who will buy ATG Entertainment, an increasingly dominant force in live theater.

Blackstone Inc., the private equity and real estate giant led by billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, is rumored to be exploring a takeover of the multinational producer and theater owner, after acquiring a minority stake last year. Buying all of ATG Entertainment from another private equity company, Providence Equity Partners, would be one of commercial theater’s priciest transactions ever.Continue Reading

BROADWAY TAX CREDIT POOL IS DEPLETED

by

EXCLUSIVE: A key subsidy for commercial plays and musicals is out of money.

The Broadway League held a video meeting with members on Tuesday afternoon to disclose the depletion of the four-year-old New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit program. Shows that begin public performances by Sept. 15  may still receive the subsidy — of up to $3 million for Broadway productions. Shows that start later won’t be eligible.Continue Reading

PUBLIC THEATER REDUCED & REVISED EUSTIS’ PAY

by

EXCLUSIVE: In July 2023, when the Public Theater cut 19 percent of its staff, Artistic Director Oskar Eustis vowed to significantly reduce his own pay as a gesture of solidarity amid the austerity.

The charismatic 66-year-old leader followed through. In 2023, Eustis’ total  compensation dropped 8 percent from the previous year, to a still-hefty $1.1 million, according to a Public Theater financial document posted on its website last week.Continue Reading

INTIMATE ‘MAYBE HAPPY ENDING’ ENGINEERS TURNAROUND

by

Maybe Happy Ending  achieved an unlikely Broadway rebound.

During previews last fall, the beguiling one-act musical about love and loss in the digital age failed to crack $300,000 a week at the box office. It likely lost money every week for its first 10 weeks at the Belasco Theatre, based on an early production document estimating that it needed published weekly box office grosses of about $820,000 to break even. Few shows recover from a deficit that daunting.Continue Reading

‘JUST IN TIME’ PREVAILS IN TOUGH SEASON FOR NEW MUSICALS

by

Jonathan Groff is scheduled to perform twice at the Tony Awards on Sunday. The enviable television exposure should confirm his show, Just in Time, as the most commercially successful new musical to-date of the 2024-25 Broadway season.

Groff, 40, who was Tony-nominated for playing King George III in Hamilton, will join other original company members to mark 10 lucrative years on Broadway; and lead Just in Time, in which Groff plays the 1950s and ’60s singer-songwriter-actor Bobby Darin. Last week, the average ticket price at Circle in the Square –which Derek McLane refashioned as a faux nightclub — was $213.52. That’s the highest average ticket price of any musical now on Broadway.Continue Reading

DANCIN’ DESIGNERS DUE MORE THAN $200,000

by

EXCLUSIVE: A Federal judge has ordered producer Joey Parnes and two of his companies to pay more than $200,000 owed to designers of his short-lived, 2023 revival of Bob Fosse’s Dancin.’

In August 2024, Parnes signed a stipulation that six Dancin‘ designers were shortchanged by a total of $202,683. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer confirmed an arbitrator’s award that Parnes and two limited liability production companies he controls pay the shortfall to the designers’ union, plus interest and attorney’s fees.Continue Reading

BOONDOGGLE OR SOUND POLICY? CLARIFYING THE BROADWAY TAX CREDIT

by

EXCLUSIVE: Good Night, and Good Luck has repeatedly set weekly records as the highest-grossing play in Broadway history. Nonetheless, the George Clooney blockbuster projected it will qualify for a $2.5 million subsidy from New York State, according to a production operating agreement distributed to investors.

Glengarry Glen Ross, the hit revival starring Kieran Culkin, expects $1.9 million from the state. Othello, which charges as much as $921 to see Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, projected $2 million in state aid.Continue Reading

Copyright © 2019 Broadway Journal.