BroadwayWorld Investigates: What Happened in Odessa, Texas?

Lots of strange theatrical happenings have been occurring lately in the most unlikely of places – Odessa, Texas. It was announced in February of 2005 that Olivier-winner Maria Friedman, and Tony-winner Daisy Eagan would appear in Gypsy at the Ector Theatre in Odessa. That casting news sent ripples of excitement through the theatre world that Friedman would choose the show to make her stage debut in the United States along with a return to the stage for Daisy Eagan. Mentioned in those early articles for the first time was Tony Georges, who at age 20 was announced to direct, and produce the show. The same announcement for the theater's upcoming season also included word that Bernadette Peters would appear in concert this August.

 As excitement began to build for those high-profile events, the chances of the town becoming a theatrical 'Mecca' seemed all the more possible when in May of 2005 Georges announced another high-profile addition to Ector's season – a revival of Sweeney Todd, starring Betty Buckley and Shuler Hensley. Sweeney was set to take place in August of 2005. The theater's season was also announced to include licensed productions of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Anything Goes.

Fast forward to July of 2005 and all 3 high-profile productions have been called off - Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, and Bernadette Peters in Concert, accusations are flying all around, actors and musicians in the other productions are complaining about not being paid, and Equity is refusing to allow the theatre to issue more contracts. A Broadway Pulse item linking up some of the many oddities about the theater last weekend resulted in an overwhelming amount of emails, from frustrated theater patrons, frustrated and unpaid musicians, and the offer of an interview from Tony Georges himself.

I spoke with Georges, and the transcript of an e-mail interview follows below. Speaking with those residents, actors, and professionals painted a common theme of promises being made, contracts being signed, and then a complete lack of follow-through. Multiple people told tales of being unable to reach Georges, especially in crunch times of when money was due, and the end results are now apparent to all.

 Theatrical agent and industry-vet Jeff Berger (who represents Shuler Hensley, among others and counts Buckley and Friedman amongst his friends) summed up the problems in perhaps the most succinct of manners, noting simply that "No one was acting like vultures, myself included, but when professionals in the theatre industry are made promises, and guarantees, they need and expect them to be kept." He compared the talent of performers to other commodities, and noted that unlike a bank's ability to re-possess a car, or a mortgage when payments weren't made, all performers could do was to take back their talents by not performing. When George's many promises fell through over the last months, taking back their talents is just what they did. Berger also noted that what were described as "extravagant" demands, were in fact attempts by the performers to deliver quality, professional productions in what many were realizing were non-ideal circumstances.

 As those non-ideal circumstances continued to come to light, here's what Tony Georges had to say…

BWW: Where does your interest in theater come from?

TG: My interest in theatre stems from my early years as a performer. I grew up in a family with very little, and theatre was one of the only activities that was "free." ANYONE could perform; it didn't matter who you were.

 How does a 20-year old wind up in charge of a theater in Texas?

This is one question that I get often. I was born in Colorado, but moved to Texas when my father decided to attend law school in Austin in my early years. Upon his exit from school, we moved to Midland (next to Odessa) for his professional career. At age 14, I took my first directing job at the Permian Playhouse theatre in Odessa. The Permian Playhouse was a community theatre with an unusually accommodating facility for musical shows. Only 400 seats, true, but it had the backstage and fly gallery to rival many "prestigious" venues. In my three years at the Permian Playhouse, my productions grew in size and complexity. My taste for the "spectacular" musical was acquired while producing shows like Peter Pan, and The Wizard of Oz. Each show played to record-breaking audiences, and the theatre's board of directors was very supportive of my endeavors. In July of 2002, I left my position at the Permian Playhouse to attend high school at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California.

 Someone else assumed my full-time position, and I was left with no venue in which to produce another musical. In the winter of 2002 a friend who worked with Odessa's community college contacted me. They had finished a renovation of their performing arts center, and asked me if I would be willing to produce a show to "open" the new place. Around that same time, circumstances brought my attention to a charitable organization in Odessa called Angel House. Formerly known as the Odessa Rape Crisis Center, Angel House was the newly founded shelter for abused women and children in Odessa and the surrounding areas. It seemed as though I could accomplish two things. Though I was in California, I made arrangements to produce The Secret Garden in the newly refurbished Deaderick Hall at Odessa College a few weeks after my departure from school as a fundraiser for Angel House.

 Plans were made. Ironically, I made an offer to Daisy Eagan to play Martha in the production. I was turned down pretty much instantly, and I don't believe Daisy remembers it, as we've not discussed it ever. Funding for education in Texas fell through the next Spring, and community colleges across the state had to cut close to ten percent of their annual budgets. Odessa College sold the performing arts center and the television station attached to it to the local school district in a way to cut financial liabilities. The school district was apparently not interested in our benefit production using their newly purchased real estate, so we were without a theatre.

I was contacted by a city official in regard to the Ector Theatre, which was located in downtown Odessa. The city of Odessa had spent a small amount of money to repair the building, and had little luck in finding a tenant. The theatre was originally a 1400-seat movie house, which featured no backstage, no fly gallery, and no dressing rooms. The difference between the building in original form, and when I first came into it was only that everything was older than it was when it was new-- but clean! I had no intention of agreeing to produce the show in the Ector when I first visited the physical plant, but my personal obligations to the Angel House charity told me that I couldn't back out of the project. After looking EVERYWHERE else, I agreed to produce the show, knowing it would be next to impossible.

Three months thereafter, the theatre had undergone a mini-makeover. A new stage, theatrical lights, a makeshift orchestra pit, and some ill-placed dressing rooms put our first show on stage. A successful run put a special place in my heart for the oddly designed Ector Theatre. At that time I wasn't interested in a permanent position, as I would be attending college a few weeks later in England. I agreed to revisit the idea of a long-term contract with the theatre at a later date.

June of 2004 brought me back with the idea to present a summer season in the Ector. Nothing like it had ever been done in our area. With fingers crossed, I proceed making plans.

So who then dreamed up the ideas for these all-star productions?

Interestingly enough, no one did. We've been in a constant state of evolution. We originally thought that our season would be pretty low key. Our original announcement included four events: Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors, Gypsy, and Cats. No stars were attached to the season.

The first thing to hit us was a non-Equity tour of Cats opting to come to Odessa a few short weeks after our announcement. Knowing we would rather not try to sell the same show twice in a calendar year, we altered our plans for a three-show season. We did not officially make our season tickets available until after we altered our plans to reflect three shows only.

As we began to make specific plans for each production, I made the assumption that Beauty and the Beast would likely be our highest-profile production. I arranged for new sets and costumes to be made and cast William Michals (a Broadway Beast) in the show. Plans continued as I contracted puppeteers for Little Shop of Horrors and negotiated technical deals for jobs throughout the season.

In December, the idea hit me to obtain one "star" performer to help sell the season. Our productions always sell well in the box office, but with such tremendous upfront costs, we needed to push people into buying early. As I had already made a previous offer, I thought to once again call on Daisy Eagan to headline the season. Daisy spoke with me on and off and opted to accept the job. I was thrilled to have her. Once I had Daisy in the role of Louise, I knew I had some form of leverage to get a credible name actress in the leading role.

Knowing full well that I was not a well-known entity, I knew I had to approach potential stars with great care. After careful consideration, I targeted Betty Buckley to play Rose. Ms. Buckley had done the role twice before, was available at the time, and lived close to Odessa. In addition, Betty's manager had contacted the theatre about the possibility of presenting Ms. Buckley in concert. After a slow negotiating period over the winter holidays, it looked like Betty wouldn't be an option for us. Maria Friedman, however, was represented by the same agent, and talks began with Maria about the possibility of having her perform in our season between runs of Woman in White.

While Maria's deal was being negotiated, we experienced a dry spell in season ticket sales. In order to boost the sales, we made arrangements to present a concert with Bernadette Peters, which would be for our members only. As it was only a concert booking, Bernadette was very agreeable to coming.

With Bernadette and Daisy officially in place, we knew our season was strong enough to seal the deal with Maria Friedman. She accepted our offer and the information leaked out that she would be appearing in our season. In February I was surprised to see an article on Playbill with the information, before we had announced it.

Shortly after the announcement, I received an angry phone call from Actors Equity Association in response to our announcement. Alien performance is a hot topic with Equity, and I certainly understand why that is. However, in this particular case, I didn't feel that Maria was taking a job from an American actress, as we were planning for a seasonal agreement which would guarantee a certain number of Equity contracts issued; Maria would not be among them. As Texas is a "right to work" state, we had already planned to hire Ms. Friedman off the union contract; this is perfectly legal and certainly fair. Ms. Friedman was not a member of Equity in the USA, and therefore it wouldn't be a problem. It would much like a friend of mine from England coming to perform as a non-Equity performer in any production that I did. Provided that all of the official paperwork is done, it should make no difference. Had Maria not been a star, Equity would not have cared.

Our season negotiating was scrapped and Equity began to recalculate their interest in our organization. As we had already announced Ms. Friedman's performance, we felt strongly that we should keep her on our season if at all possible. After a couple of months, Equity returned to us with a proposal to work on a higher contract than we had originally planned, more than doubling our minimum salaries, and more than doubling the original number of contracts we were required to offer, thus more than tripling our anticipated season bond. They noted it was the only way to ensure that they would release any Equity contracts in light of Maria's performance in Gypsy. I should have declined the offer, but I didn't. Maria had been such a dream that I couldn't imagine being denied the right to use her. I made the agreement and moved onward.

As I sat a reworked the budget, I realized that the Equity agreement would really be a stretch for us, but that it would likely work out fine in the end. Our season would be secure provided that there were no major problems jumping into our laps. A major problem in the middle of our season would cause a financial hole throwing everything in chaos.

We got word not three weeks later that the producers of the national tour of Little Shop of Horrors had decided to hold Texas as a potential market… ALL of Texas. Though there was no place within almost 200 miles with the facility needed to house the tour, we were asked to select another production.

The decision to produce Sweeney Todd is where I made my first really big mistake. Offering the role to Betty was the second. This is not designed to say that Sweeney is not a wonderful show; nor is it to suggest Betty is not an outstanding performer, but as we came to realize later into the project, it was simply too much too fast.

Taking them one at a time, what derailed Sweeney Todd?

I could write a book about this. Sweeney seemed like a perfect replacement for Little Shop of Horrors. Both shows have small casts, unit sets, specialty prop items, and deal with eating people. It is also one of my favorite shows. In order to understand exactly what happened to the production, it's important to have a little more information about our organization.

Firstly, while many people working with us are not as seasoned as the veterans of Broadway, there are people here with tremendous talent. Among the most notable are my costume designer (Asa Benally), scenic designer (Judd Vermillion), lighting designer (Michael Skinner), my assistant (Sally Osborn), my conductor (Greg Pysh) and my assistant director and choreographer (Angela Pasternak). Most of the above named hold terminal degrees in their fields and are not native to Odessa. In addition, there are talented professional actors in our area who may not have won Tony's, but have won the favor of our local audiences time and time again. Dale Jenkins, an Odessa actor of great versatility and talent will always sell more tickets to my productions than Betty Buckley, guaranteed. More importantly, we all work well together and respect one another.

Betty Buckley also has a team of people with whom she feels comfortable working. This I am willing to accept. Her people are incredible, without doubt, many of the top names in the business. I agreed to entertain the idea of using as many of her people as I could afford. I felt odd about leaving my usual bunch "out in the cold," but it seemed like there was no other way.

As plans proceeded, complications with Beauty and the Beast got in the way of our time for planning Sweeney to the extravagance that Ms. Buckley expected. I was so buried in other problems that I never really completed the appropriate business with many of the people involved—agreements, contracts, phone calls, money… the works.

As such, we were not prepared to present the show as it had come to be.

Why did it happen that way? Out of inexperience and fear, I suppose. It was my understanding that we would agree to hire Ms. Buckley for a more than generous salary in exchange for her understanding that she would be performing under the direction and within the technical parameters of talented and reasonably inexperienced professionals of our choice. Betty asked us to call Shuler Hensley, and we did, even though we really didn't want to—once again, not because we didn't LOVE Shuler, but because it was just one more thing that we had not anticipated of great time and expense. The same was true of Mr. Tunick. We don't dispute that he was such a catch for us, but there had to be a line drawn somewhere, and that line was a moving target. More and more was added to the production, making it nearly impossible to manage. As a new theatrical organization, we had no business producing a show of the expense and caliber that this was becoming, especially when we were doing it in light of the fact that we had more than capable staff "waiting in the wings" to do the work just as well, for far less money.

By the time our deal with Betty was almost complete, we had agreed to hire the following personnel for her: Personal hair stylist, personal wig designer, personal shoe designer, costume shop of choice, personal dresser, sound designer of choice, personal sound mixer, lighting designer of choice, personal pilates instructor, conductor of choice, leading man of choice, personal dialect coach, and personal make-up designer.

There were also long lists of what would need to be provided in the way of housing and in her dressing room, all prior to Ms. Buckley actually arriving in Odessa. After the second day of Betty's Odessa stay we were being asked to give her full authority on casting, staging, and designing.

On the Shuler and Jonathon front, we had lost them both, and gotten them back, and lost them again, and during a heated argument between Betty and I taking place in the office at the theatre, I received a phone call from Jeff Berger (their management) giving us "one last chance" to have them in the show. However, as I had not yet paid Shuler for the rehearsal time, he was not willing to agree to a fully-staged production, and they were only willing to present the show as a concert. Also, strange and strong language was used in reference to their stays in Odessa. Mr. Berger said to me, "We want all of the money in escrow in two days. If every letter of the contract is not followed, my clients are out of there." This is understandable. He went on to give me the truer picture, "If the contract says the maid will arrive at 10:00, and she shows up at 10:05 then… boom… breech of contract, we keep the money, and we go home."

The relationship developed between Mr. Berger and I had never really been a good one. I had dropped the ball over and over again with this deal, as I kept wondering if there weren't some way to accommodate the production without the added financial obligations of his clients. Despite the wonderful talents of his clients, they would only help our national profile, and would not contribute in any way to the sale of our tickets. I felt uncomfortable proceeding with such a risky venture when I knew that Mr. Berger would be looking for reasons for his clients to go home and keep the organization's money. I was in WAY over my head. I scrapped the project. It would not have been responsible to proceed.

Is there hope for the show? Maybe. I'm not sure really. Betty and I haven't spoken, and Mr. Berger has been speaking to anyone who will listen about the evils of Odessa. I would doubt that if I did choose to proceed that it would be with the same casting. I suppose anything is possible. The show is such a wonderful piece of theatre. I know I will want to do it again at some point.

The British press reported that Maria Friedman backed out of Gypsy because you had cast your mother, and a hairdresser. The show is now said to be derailed as well, with both Friedman and Eagan backing out in recent days…

The British press reports many things that are not true. It's part of their special charm.

Ms. Friedman is, in my opinion, the greatest living musical theatre actress. She is an absolutely wonderful woman, and she understood our position very well. Ms. Friedman would never be so rude and disrespectful to another human being as to suggest that she would withdraw her involvement from a project based on the fact that she heard that someone had been cast who was a hairdresser.

I find it very odd that there was no attempt for a comment from her or myself when that story was published. I also find it strange that when it was put on Playbill and in other places that no one attempted to verify it through myself or through her representatives, even after I called to initiate the correspondence. What is even more bizarre is how similarly the random news story reads to an email I received from Jeff Berger shortly after we had cancelled the production of Sweeney Todd:

Quote from Jeff Berger, June 13, 2005:

"I am going to have a talk with Bernadette Peters and Maria Friedman and let them know what I believe has occurred. At least they should know that your production of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST features your mommy and the local hairdresser, that the theatre is small and shabby and that the housing is dorm-style. The rest of your e-mail is hardly worth addressing. You are completely unknown outside Odessa."

This email was in response to my apology and explanation as to why I would not be able to present the show due to my inabilities to deliver upon the promises I had made, and was asked to increase daily. For the record, it's true that my mother appeared in a small character role in Beauty and the Beast. While she was not cast in other productions on my season, my mother is actually a very talented actress. If there's one thing everyone knows, it that's you don't insult someone else's mother. If I had cast my mother, I would expect Ms. Buckley or Ms. Friedman to slap a smile on their face and perform with her; I will not have anyone, no matter how accomplished they think they are, degrading my friends, family, and associates—ever. That's human decency.

Ms. Friedman is not appearing in our show due to our current complications with Actors Equity Association. We hope to resolve those problems quickly and proceed in their good standing.

Bernadette Peters agent has told the press that agreed on advance payment and a contract never came which is why she backed out. What's your take?

True. I didn't have enough money in enough time. I wish it were different, but it's not. I adore Ms. Peters, and I hope to present her concert to the residents of this community in the future.

How would you surmise the problems you've faced this season overall? Did you dream too big?

There were too many giant obstacles to overcome. If had only known that we would have to sign the big Equity deal, or known what it was really going to be like to deal with Ms. Buckley, or known that we would lose the rights to Little Shop of Horrors, or known that the costume company we hired for Beauty and the Beast would be problematic, etc—we could have made a better plan. But essentially what happened was that anything that could go wrong did go wrong. We weren't prepared to take that kind of a hit over and over again.

What's next for you, Do you think you can regain your lost credibility? What does the future hold?

I don't really know. I imagine that it's only a matter of time until people forgive and forget. If they don't, there's nothing I can do about it. I offer my most sincere apologies to everyone who has been mistreated in the process of assembling and disassembling this year's season. Nothing has been done intentionally to cause harm or inconvenience; we hope to resolve our problems and continue to produce high quality work in the future.

What's next at the Ector?

Anything Goes… both literally and otherwise.

Anything Goes has opened at the Ector earlier this week, with no word as of yet on what will happen after that production closes. As of the writing of this article, the theater's web site – www.ectortheatricals.org, still includes listings of the cancelled events, including Bernadette Peters in Concert, and the Maria Friedman / Daisy Eagan run of Gypsy.

Overall, it appears that the eager, well-intentioned, young producer bit off much more than he could chew, and what's next for him, and Odessa's Ector Theatre is now anyone's guess.