Broadway Journal

OPENING DOORS: DAVID CARPENTER ON CAROLINE PRUGH

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While working as an arts reporter for Bloomberg News, I met Caroline Prugh in March 2006 at the now-defunct Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Kentucky. She was there on behalf of the revered producer and general manager Stuart Thompson. Just 32, Caroline seemed to know everything about theater, commercial and nonprofit, past and present.

Keenly insightful and quick to laugh, Caroline later left the safety of Stuart Thompson’s office to go to graduate school and become a playwright. During the pandemic, she created interactive video dramas with her close friend David Carpenter. Continue Reading

DONALD TRUMP CONVICTED OF FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS

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Donald J. Trump, the former president who received a Broadway producing credit in 1970, was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal.

For further information about the Manhattan jury’s historic verdict, see The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

Paris is Out!, a comedy by Richard Seff that ran 96 regular performances in 1970 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, was produced in association with Trump, according to the Internet Broadway Database.

TONY AWARDS TO BAR CO-PRODUCERS FROM STAGE (EXCLUSIVE)

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The Tony Awards are enmeshed in a high-stakes dispute over who gets stage time on Broadway’s big night.

Some co-producers — whose primary role is to invest or raise money for shows — have been informed by Tony Award staffers that they aren’t welcome onstage at the David H. Koch Theater on June 16. In recent years as production budgets swelled, swarms of co-producers have taken the stage when awards were handed out for the categories of best musical, play, musical revival and play revival.Continue Reading

BROOKE SHIELDS ELECTED ACTORS’ EQUITY PRESIDENT

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EXCLUSIVE: Celebrity prevailed over experience at Actors’ Equity Association, where Brooke Shields was elected president of the labor union representing about 51,000 actors and stage managers.

Shields got 2794 votes, vs. 1940 votes for stage manager Erin Maureen Koster and 834 for Chicago-based actress Wydetta Carter, according to a tally shared with Broadway Journal.Continue Reading

DECLINING SALES MUTE SEASON’S CURTAIN CALL

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The frenetic 2023-24 Broadway season officially ended Sunday. Notwithstanding encouraging results this Spring amid back-to-back openings ahead of the Tony Award nominations, industry statistics indicate a stalled recovery from the pandemic.

Broadway recorded 2023-24 attendance of 12.3 million, which was little changed from the previous season and down 17 percent from 2018-19, the last full season before the industry shutdown. Box office grosses in 2023-24 dropped 2.4 percent to $1.54 billion, according to the Broadway League, the trade association of theater owners and producers. That’s the lowest since 2016-17, not counting seasons that were partially or entirely cancelled due to the pandemic.Continue Reading

JEREMY O. HARRIS LANDS STARRING ROLE AT WILLIAMSTOWN (EXCLUSIVE)

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In an out-of-the-box hire to revive one of the nation’s preeminent summer theaters, the playwright, producer and actor Jeremy O. Harris has been tapped to program the Williamstown Theatre Festival, a person familiar with the company said.

The 34-year-old Slave Play  playwright will lead a “creative collective” at the 70-year-old Western Massachusetts institution, which in recent years has been a prime tryout venue for Broadway. Acting alumni include Matthew Broderick, Audra McDonald and Bradley Cooper.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

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