Garth Drabinsky, Broadway Producer Convicted of Fraud and Forgery, Will Hold General Auditions in Toronto for Several New Projects in Development

Is Garth Drabinsky aiming for a comeback in the Toronto and Broadway Theatre scene? It seems unlikely considering he's been convicted of and served a sentence in Canada for fraud and forgery that occurred during his time as the head of Livent. Drabinsky was never extradited to the United States and the charges relating to 16 counts of fraud and conspiracy have not been tested in the American courts.

BroadwayWorld has learned that Toronto-based casting office Dayton/Walters Casting Inc. is holding general auditions for Drabinsky and Associate Producer/Senior Resident Director Anne Allan for several projects in the "development phase."

A listing for the auditions states: "The goal of these sessions is to introduce Mr. Drabinsky to those musical theatre artists (and actors who sing) with whom he is not familiar, as well as to reacquaint him with established artists in the Canadian theatrical community whose work he admires and respects."

The listing states that Drabinsky is looking to see "Men and women aged 20+ of all ethnicities and vocal types who either have recent solid acting/vocal performance training and/or are established artists with substantial professional theatre/musical theatre credits." The listing concludes that the auditions will commence on January 29th.

A Toronto Star article published late December re-prints a rumor from the New York Post that Drabinsky is working on a musical version of the 1988 film "Madame Sousatzka" - a film which Drabinsky produced with Shirley Maclaine in the starring role. The article reports that Drabinsky has already booked the Elgin Theatre in Toronto for a pre-Broadway run.

Brett Randall, the general manager of The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, told BroadwayWorld that "Our policy is not to comment on what our clients may, or may not, be planning, as it's better that they speak for themselves at their chosen times." He concluded via email that "no single entity has a long term reserve of both theatres."

Michael Walters, co-founder of Dayton/Walters, was not willing to provide any further details about the general auditions being held by his company for Drabinsky. He wrote to us that "...all of the information we have is contained within the audition posting itself and there is nothing else to add at this time." Interestingly, Michael Walters and Sherry Dayton were employees at Livent and part of their internal casting team before the company's collapse - after which they went on to find their own casting agency.

Most notably, Dayton/Walters held principal casting sessions for replacements in the two touring productions and the Broadway production of The Book of Mormon in Toronto.

I attempted to contact Drabinsky through an office in midtown Toronto which is associated with his production company. A phone call to the company was answered, and I was informed they would not be commenting on or releasing any further information on the casting sessions and any projects currently in development. When asked if Drabinsky would be interested in commenting on this story, I was told "probably not."

Livent was one of North America's biggest live theatre companies in the 1990s but has since gone out of business. The company had produced such Broadway shows as Ragtime, Showboat, The Phantom of the Opera (Toronto) and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Considering the charges pending against him in the United States, and the secretive nature of his current work - I find it unlikely that Drabinsky has any plans for a major comeback or pre-Broadway production in the near future. Considering Drabinsky is currently occupied fighting the Ontario Bar Association as well as the Canadian courts to have his Order of Canada reinstated - he has enough drama in his life off of the stage.

Follow Alan Henry on twitter at @alanhenryTO.

Alan Henry can be reached at alan@broadwayworld.com.