Broadway Journal

WILL A NEW ‘SWEENEY TODD’ MAKE ITS INVESTORS A KILLING? (EXCLUSIVE)

August 23, 2022 by Philip Boroff

Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller is raising as much as $14.5 million to revive Sweeney Todd on Broadway this spring, a test of whether a big-budget Stephen Sondheim revival can succeed in the post-Sondheim era.

Josh Groban (The Great Comet) will play the vengeful barber and Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George) will play the creative pie maker Mrs. Lovett, according to an operating agreement distributed to investors and reviewed by Broadway Journal. The musical, with a book by Hugh Wheeler, will be staged by Hamilton director Thomas Kail with a full orchestra playing the score, a person familiar with the revival said. (Two prior Broadway revivals, while critically acclaimed, were comparatively small-scale productions.)Continue Reading

OSKAR EUSTIS IS NONPROFIT THEATER’S PANDEMIC PAY CHAMP (EXCLUSIVE)

August 10, 2022 by Philip Boroff

In 2020, a year in which theaters were dark for nine and a half months, Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis earned $1.15 million in pay and benefits, more than any other nonprofit theater leader in New York.

Eustis’ 10 percent jump in overall compensation — disclosed in the Public’s 2020-21 tax return filed with the New York Attorney General — runs counter to the company’s messaging about pandemic pay. In an April 2020 New York Times story about the cancellation of Shakespeare in the Park and planned staff furloughs, Michael Paulson reported that much of the remaining staff “will take up to a 25 percent pay cut. Eustis will take a 40 percent pay cut.”

The tax return, which details compensation for calendar year 2020, tells a different story. Eustis, one of the highest-profile figures in nonprofit theater since assuming leadership of the storied organization in 2005, was paid $901,000, up from $807,000 in 2019. Benefits and deferred pay were valued at an additional $255,000.Continue Reading

‘HAMILTON’ PRODUCER RETURNS TO ROOTS WITH ‘BLACK NO MORE’ AT THE NEW GROUP

November 19, 2021 by Philip Boroff

EXCLUSIVE: Seven years after Hamilton began previews at the Public Theater and gave the business of Broadway and touring a shot in the arm, its lead producer, Jeffrey Seller, is following a similar playbook. He’s underwriting The New Group‘s world premiere of Black No More.Continue Reading

‘WEST SIDE STORY,’ ‘HANGMEN’ GET SBA FUNDS TO RESUME PERFORMANCES; ‘HAMILTON’ SECURES $50 MILLION

July 12, 2021 by Philip Boroff

Ivo van Hove’s video-heavy revival of West Side Story,  which was originally produced by Scott Rudin and opened a month before Broadway was shuttered, has scored a $10 million Small Business Administration grant to reopen.

A person familiar with the production said it will imminently announce when it will resume, along with who will oversee it. Following multiple reports alleging that Rudin abused his staff, the producer has said that he’s stepping back from the entertainment business. There’d been industry speculation that the musical, which was capitalized at $16 million and received mixed reviews, would not return.  Continue Reading

‘WAITRESS’ SCORES $10 MILLION TIP FROM FEDS

July 7, 2021 by Philip Boroff

Broadway is usually a risky business — but the remount of Waitress  looks like an excellent bet.

Pop star Sara Bareilles, who wrote the musical’s acclaimed score, will return to the lead role for the first six weeks of the four-month engagement, scheduled to begin Sept. 2 at the Barrymore Theatre. And the U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded the production $10 million as part of its disaster relief program for the live entertainment industry.Continue Reading

SBA TARGETS JULY 4 FOR MOST SHUTTERED VENUE GRANT DECISIONS

June 16, 2021 by Philip Boroff

The U.S. Small Business Administration plans to notify 10,000 Shuttered Venue Operators Grant applicants, or 70 percent of the total, about awards by Independence Day, Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin wrote to members.Continue Reading

CUOMO SAYS BROADWAY CAN REOPEN AT FULL CAPACITY SEPT. 14; RECOMMENDS INDUSTRY REQUIRE VACCINATION FOR ENTRY

May 5, 2021 by Philip Boroff

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today that Broadway can resume performances at 100 percent capacity on Sept. 14 and recommends that Broadway require Covid-19 vaccinations for entry to theaters.

“The simplest formula: 100 percent vaccinated,” Cuomo said at a news conference. “The theaters are going to have to make those decisions.”Continue Reading

BROADWAY CONDUCTORS & ARRANGERS WILL FOSTER INCLUSION IN THE PIT

October 26, 2020 by Philip Boroff

Growing up in Las Vegas, Ilana Atkins started studying piano at six but eventually hit a wall with classical music.

“The music didn’t speak to me,” she said. “As I got older, the most consistent response I got was, ‘Oh girl, you’re light skinned and you play the piano, you could be the next Alicia Keys.'”Continue Reading

‘HAMILTON’ PRODUCER RECEIVED EMERGENCY SMALL BUSINESS LOAN (EXCLUSIVE)

July 7, 2020 by Philip Boroff

Jeffrey Seller, the lead producer of the blockbuster Hamilton  and a producer of the film version that streamed on Disney+, received an emergency small business loan for his company backed by the federal government, according to Treasury Dept. data released on Monday.Continue Reading

‘HAMILTON’-ENDOWED PUBLIC THEATER DELAYS FURLOUGHS WITH $4 MILLION OF U.S. AID

May 21, 2020 by Philip Boroff

EXCLUSIVE: The Public Theater, which has earned tens of millions of dollars launching Hamilton, received federal assistance meant to preserve jobs threatened by the pandemic.

The Public borrowed roughly $4 million through the Paycheck Protection Program, according to Shareeza Bhola,  a spokeswoman for the nonprofit. The loans, which are overseen by the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration, may be forgiven when borrowers spend at least 75 percent of the money on payroll over eight weeks.Continue Reading

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