Industry Pro Newsletter: A Casino in Times Square? Drabinsky Sues Equity

Actors Equity featured prominently in industry news last week - voicing support for a potential casino project in Times Square (in opposition to the Broadway League), as the subject of a defamation suit from Paradise Square producer Garth Drabinsky, and in their continued efforts to organize the dancers at Star Garden Topless Bar - which Industry Editor Cara Joy David provides great in-depth coverage of. All of this comes as the industry continues to work towards a new normal, while facing tremendous challenges on all fronts.

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Industry Trends

Cara Joy David: Inside the Fight for Adult Dancers to Join Actors' Equity

The Star Garden Topless Dive Bar dancers were the first in what Equity hopes will be a long line of announcements focusing on the representation of people for work that does not take place on a standard legitimate stage. Another organization that Equity said they are organizing is the Griffith Observatory planetarium lecturers. According to Equity President Kate Shindle, negotiations are taking place to unionize some actors who perform "standardized patient" work, which involves acting as patients in training programs for medical professionals. According to Shindle, in these situations, Equity members have previously performed these duties in a non-Equity capacity. Click here to read more...

BWW Regional Awards Nomination Period Closes October 31

The nomination period for the BroadwayWorld Regional Awards closes on October 31 - so make sure you get your nominations in before the deadline, and prepare your audience for when voting begins in November. Click here to read more...

Broadway/New York

Bruce Vilanch Departs A Sign of the Times by Cara Joy David

Last week A SIGN OF THE TIMES -- a musical that previously played at Goodspeed Musicals in 2016 and Delaware Theatre Company in 2018 -- was announced for a new developmental reading. The release stated the musical had "several script revisions" and the librettist was now Lindsey Hope Pearlman, who was formerly an Associate Director of the tuner. Absent was any mention of well-known comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, the original librettist, who had been developing the show for almost a decade.

It is not all that rare for creatives to leave projects before they are announced. The recent David Adjmi story about his Oscar Levant play was a reminder of that.

It is somewhat rarer for writers to depart after a creative team is announced but before a production is scheduled. Paula Vogel leaving WAITRESS is one example.

It is even rarer yet for writers to drop off once dates for a production have been announced. It happens though. Recently Paul Rudnick's name disappeared without explanation from DEVIL WEARS PRADA materials, leaving Kate Wetherhead -- who joined Rudnick as a co librettist last year -- as the only credited book writer for the musical's Chicago tryout. Another example is when BE MORE CHILL duo Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz departed DIARY OF A WIMPY KID before it started performances in Minneapolis. (The reason for the Vogel and Iconis/Tracz departures was officially "scheduling conflicts." Without commenting on those two exits, "scheduling conflicts," commonly used when actors depart a production, is often not a completely accurate explanation of a departure.)

But once and a while writers are no longer credited after a first (or second) production. Harvey Weinstein famously fired all the writers and the director after FINDING NEVERLAND premiered. Marcus Gardley was one of four book writers credited with writing PARADISE SQUARE during its Chicago run but was (likely by choice) absent from its Broadway's Playbill. Usually, when a new voice is desired, a new writer is just tacked on -- à la Amber Ruffin joining Matthew López on SOME LIKE IT HOT -- but these other situations do occur.

It is surprising each time it happens, and it is especially odd for a writer replacement to be announced in a release that also touts positive reviews from prior productions, as the SIGN OF THE TIMES release did. For the new reading, the description of the show's plot remains the same, as the musical is still "based on an original story by Richard Robin."

The piece just seems to be moving forward without Vilanch; he is still on the seemingly out-of-date website as the show's sole book writer but one imagines that will soon change. A production spokesperson did not provide a reason for the switch. Reached via email, Vilanch (who is currently working on another musical with SIGN OF THE TIMES director Gabriel Barre) said he had "no comment" on his SIGN OF THE TIMES departure, but added he "hope[s] it's a giant hit."

A Caesars Casino Above the Minskoff?

The New York Times reported last week that Caesar's Entertainment and SL Green Realty Corporation have begun the process of bidding for one of three casino licenses to be granted in the NYC area. Actors Equity issued a statement in support of the project, citing the increased security in the proposal as ultimately a win for the theater district. The Broadway League, however, voiced opposition to the plan. Click here to read more...

Drabinsky Sues Actors Equity for Defamation

The Roth Law Firm, PLLC, on behalf of producer Garth Drabinsky, filed a lawsuit today alleging defamation against Actors' Equity Association. The producer of Paradise Square was added to Actors' Equity's Do Not Work list earlier this year as a result of "outstanding payments and benefits, and a persistent pattern of abuse and neglect that produced a hazardous and poisonous work environment." The decision to add Drabinsky to the Do Not Work list was made after the production failed to pay the company its income via weekly direct deposit. Drabinsky was convicted of fraud and forgery while working as a producer and sentenced to 17 months in jail in Canada. Click here to read more...

Regional

New Jersey Theatre Alliance Adds New Board Members, Member Theatres

The Alliance Board of Trustees has named Laura Ekstrand as chair, Michael Stotts as vice chair, and Janeece Freeman Clark as secretary. Board President continues to be Marshall Jones III, while Treasurer continues to be Michael Schnoering, FAIA. Since its creation, the Alliance's mission has been to strengthen and represent the professional theatre community in New Jersey by serving as the voice of the industry, as well as a capacity builder, inventor, and developer of a wide range of resources. The Ritz Theater Company and Camden Repertory Theater were welcomed as new members of The Alliance in accordance with this mission. Click here to read more...

Without Additional Federal Funds, Regional Theaters Look Hard at the Business Model

As various federal programs kept regional theaters and other venues afloat during the shutdowns of the pandemic, the reopening to audiences and lack of those same programs are creating new headaches for regional theaters as they work to evolve, get their audience to return, and attract a new, younger audience. Click here to read more...

Kennedy Center Drops Mask Mandate

The Kennedy Center has become the latest high profile theater to make the change. Other theaters in the DC area have also adjusted their policies, but not all have gone to fully dropping the requirement - some are hosting some masked performances, some non-masked, while others have retained their mask requirement. Click here to read more...

A Range of Cleanup Required in South Florida

Hurricane Ian's raging floods tore into the westernmost arts buildings in Collier County, covering historic structures in a foot of mud, flooding filing cabinets with documents, and even displacing walls. Arts facilities suffered damage ranging from none, like Artis-Naples, which was restored after Hurricane Irma destroyed the Baker Museum in 2017, to almost complete destruction in the Wang Opera Center. But the cleanup is underway as performances resume. Click here to read more...

International

Audiences Hesitant to Return Post-Pandemic

According to a recent survey, about a fifth of theatergoers have not visited since theaters closed in March 2020. A recent study called Theatres Beyond the Stage, which comprised a poll of more than 2,000 theatergoers, has the data. About 18% of past theatergoers indicated they haven't reserved tickets for a play at any theater since before the pandemic and that they are unsure whether they will return, according to the study. Furthermore, 20.4% more people stated that they are booking "considerably less". Click here to read more...

Missed our last few newsletters?

October 17, 2022 - Unionization Takes a Step Forward at Star Gardens

Questions of access continue to be discussed after an incident at Hadestown last week, ultimately highlighting that there is a deep need for more education around the topic for everyone involved. In the UK, educational access for school children is becoming more challenging than ever before with cuts to funding for those trips. But we lead off this week's Industry Trends section with a great update from Cara Joy David on the unionization effort of the Star Gardens Topless Dive Bar and how that push factors into the wider plans for unionization pushes from Actors Equity Association. Click here to read more...

October 11, 2022 - Theatres Aim to Hold True to Their Values, Some Audiences Are Being Left Behind

In the midst of the wider labor movement across the economy, theatre workers continue to fight for their own rights to a safe and non-abusive workplace. As theatres work to return to the new normal, we continue to find new ways in which the industry needs to find improvements on the way that they treat those that are creating the art - we have arrived at the "rubber meets the road" moment for every theatre that issued statements about their ideals in the past few years. We also received a new wrinkle in that conversation this week as more details emerged about the development process of Goodnight, Oscar - with excellent reporting first on the BroadwayWorld site by Cara Joy David, and continued below in this newsletter. Click here to read more...

October 3, 2022 - Broadway Lawsuits Find Resolution, Garret Receives Death Threats

Settlement was the word of the week on Broadway, with both the Rudin/SpotCo suit and JPP/Wagner Johnson lawsuits finding resolution through settlement - the latter is the subject of a new regular feature for this newsletter from our Industry Editor Cara Joy David. On the regional front, we continue to explore the challenges of reopening - from new audience trends in the Chicago market to the far more serious death threats received by Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garret. Click here to read more...

BroadwayWorld Resources

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