Broadway Journal

LUFTIG WINS LATEST ROUND IN ‘KINKY BOOTS’ BATTLE

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EXCLUSIVE: A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a reorganization plan for Hal Luftig Co. that gives the busy producer breathing room in his six-year court battle against a deep-pocketed investor.

The litigation involves the 2013 Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots, which Luftig produced with Daryl Roth. (Roth isn’t involved in the dispute.) In 2022, an arbitrator found that Luftig and his company breached an agreement with the Reno, Nevada-based investor Warren Trepp regarding proceeds from the blockbuster. Continue Reading

TODAYTIX ADVANCE PROMPTS BOX OFFICE UNION PROTEST

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EXCLUSIVE: Broadway’s box office union, which is in contract negotiations with the Broadway League, claims that the industry’s embrace of TodayTix Group represents an unfair labor practice.

The Treasurers and Ticket Sellers Union — Local 751 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — accused the League and two of its largest landlord members, the Shubert and Nederlander Organizations, of “unilaterally changing terms and conditions of employment…concerning the distribution of theater tickets.” The complaint was filed with the National Labor Relations Board in connection with TodayTix, the 11-year-old, easy-to-use app for buying tickets to Broadway shows and other cultural events.Continue Reading

‘SOUND & FURY’: INSIDE THE ‘SLEEP NO MORE’ LITIGATION

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As Sleep No More  prepares to close after a historic 12-year run, the producers of the immersive show are in an epic battle against their landlord.

Producers Arthur Karpati and Jonathan Hochwald owed $4.5 million in rent as of July 1, 2024, having guaranteed the payments on their West 27th Street lease, according to their landlord, Harlan Berger, in a sworn statement filed in New York Supreme Court. The debt has increased by about $500,000 a month, per court records.Continue Reading

‘LITTLE SHOP’ UNIONIZES, OVERCOMING PRODUCER PUSHBACK

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Production workers at Little Shop of Horrors  have unionized. Producers of the off-Broadway musical had sought to delay an election and disputed the eligibility of two crew members to cast ballots.

The vote was 16 in favor of joining the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and one opposed, according to a National Labor Relations Board filing. On Friday, the NLRB certified IATSE as the collective-bargaining representative of 26 full-time, part-time and on-call Little Shop  workers, in audio, video, carpentry, wardrobe, hair and makeup. Six to eight crew members work any given performance, the producers said in a filing.Continue Reading

JUDGE BOOTS LUFTIG CO. BANKRUPTCY PLAN AS SUPREME COURT HOVERS

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Producer Hal Luftig suffered a setback in his court battle against a wealthy investor over millions of dollars from the musical Kinky Boots, a conflict the U.S. Supreme Court may play a role in resolving.

Luftig said that Nevada investor Warren Trepp jumpstarted the producer’s career — and then tried to destroy it. Trepp said that after decades of patronage, he was the one who was betrayed.Continue Reading

JUDGE REJECTS PLEA TO HALT ATG-JUJAMCYN COCKTAIL COUP

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A New York judge declined to intervene in a battle for Jujamcyn Theaters’ lucrative concessions business — a win for Ambassador Theatre Group after acquiring control of the Broadway landlord.

Sweet Hospitality Group has handled drink and snack sales for Jujamcyn’s five theaters since 2010. Last month, Sweet Hospitality filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court to prevent Jujamcyn under its new regime from terminating the concessions contract. The complaint provides a window into Broadway concessions and the deal that Jujamcyn and the multinational landlord and producer Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) announced in February “to combine operations.”Continue Reading

‘KINKY’ SUITS: HOW THE PRODUCER OF A HIT MUSICAL LANDED IN A BANKRUPTCY COURT BATTLE (EXCLUSIVE)

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Successful producers rarely publicly discuss filing for bankruptcy. Hal Luftig — whose Kinky Boots  had a lucrative six-year Broadway run — said last week that personal bankruptcy may be in the cards if a judge doesn’t approve his plan to reorganize one of his companies.

Hal Luftig Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, after an arbitrator ruled that Luftig and his company breached an agreement with a longtime investor, Reno, Nevada-based Warren Trepp.Continue Reading

SEC PROBES BIG BROADWAY FUND’S ‘OUTSIZED’ RETURNS (EXCLUSIVE)

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By their own account, the founders of the Broadway Strategic Return Fund turned an overlooked investment niche into a bonanza.

Hunter Arnold, John Joseph and Curt Cronin established their hedge fund in January 2016 to invest in U.S. and U.K. live theater productions, plus tours, cast recordings and other ancillary businesses. With “few professional investors participating through a highly organized and disciplined investment process,” the fund’s Sept. 30, 2021 Due Diligence Questionnaire said, the founders believe “there is an untapped opportunity for outsized profits.”

The year-old marketing document declared, “$100,000 invested at [the] fund opening is currently valued at $416,280.” That’s double the rate of return of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index over the same period — a remarkable result for an industry in which roughly 80 percent of commercial theater productions fail to fully repay their investors, let alone turn a profit.Continue Reading

RUDIN ON THE SPOT: SPOTCO LAWSUIT TURNS TO DEPOSITIONS

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EXCLUSIVE: With the Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird  adjourned indefinitely, a real-life court battle between its producer in exile and original advertising agency is heating up.

Scott Rudin, who’s kept a low profile following reports about his volcanic temper and bullying of employees, must answer questions under oath by Aug. 31 about his financial relationship with the theater ad agency SpotCo, according to filings in New York Supreme Court. The video deposition would be made public only if it’s introduced as evidence in SpotCo’s lawsuit against Rudin and entities he controlled.Continue Reading

FOUNDERING ‘PARADISE SQUARE’ GHOSTED GROUP SALES CHIEF, LAWSUIT SAYS

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EXCLUSIVE: Paradise Square has had a bumpy road to Eden.

Nominated for 10 Tony Awards, the second-highest total of the season, it was Broadway’s worst-selling musical in the week ending on May 8, posting just $194,000 in ticket sales. Since its first preview on March 15 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, it hasn’t come close to its weekly breakeven — $599,000, per an estimate in its 2019 operating agreement. (Comparably sized musicals usually cost more to run.)

A new lawsuit against Paradise Square Broadway LP filed in New York Supreme Court, not far from where the Civil War-era musical is set, provides a window into the Garth Drabinsky production. It’s the Canadian producer’s first show on Broadway since he was convicted in 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario, of defrauding Livent Inc. shareholders of nearly half a billion dollars. Publicly-traded Livent, which Drabinsky co-founded, filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998.Continue Reading

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