According to Michael Riedel and the rest of the theater community Spiderman will not be spinning any webs on Broadway.
Last week, production crews at both the Hilton Theatre and the scene shop where the show was being built were put on "hiatus" because the producers ran out of money. Assistants in the scene shop "ran to the bank to cash their checks because they weren’t sure they’d clear," a source says.
Now comes word that the actors have been released from their contracts, with no incentive (i.e., money) to hang around waiting for the production to get back on track.
Meanwhile, ticket agents are desperately trying to get refunds for deposits from theater parties that booked early previews.
Although it is interesting to watch the story grow into a legendary cautionary tale, I have to wonder how much money of the supposed $45M budget has already been spent (read wasted).
First and most unfortunate is the fact that the Hilton Theatre has been gutted for the design installation of the show. Of course we have to assume the Hilton has insurance and what not so is protected for the costs of rebuilding its interior. It will of course have to be dark for a while – likely the next six months for both repairs and to find a tenant that has a show that can fill the giant theater (largest on Broadway). Even if all construction costs and lost licensing income is covered, the theater is certainly getting a reputation for hosting big, expensive shows that aren’t very successful. I don’t think anyone believes Young Frankenstein came anywhere close to recoupment and without seeing the numbers I would bet they didn’t. And let’s not forget previous short term tenants Hot Feet and The Pirate Queen. Sure Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opened the renovated space with an 8 month run but it surely wasn’t as successful as producers hoped and I can’t find any statements about it recouping (although as a side note anything with Raul Esparza is a great show in my book – well almost anything). As a matter of fact the only folks who probably made any money at the theater were the producers of How the Grinch Store Christmas. Reputations stick to theaters. Look at the Little Shubert, most folks I know think the space is cursed, not that they would go on record. The Hilton is quickly become a great theater to lose a lot of money in.
Second, let’s take a moment and think of all of the good that $45M (or whatever portion of it that was spent and I get it was a lot of money) could have done…
- it would have covered one year of operating expenses for Roundabout or MTC.
- it would have covered one year of operating expenses for New York Theater Workshop, Second Stage, Signature, MCC, Primary Stages, Women’s Project, Classic Stage, Atlantic, Playwright’s Horizon, Vineyard, and New Group with a bit of money to spare that could have covered the Public’s expenses down on Lafayette Street.
Don’t want the money to go to nonprofit theatre – fine:
- it would have covered the capitalization of 15 (FIFTEEN) straight plays on Broadway
- it would have covered the capitalization of about 30-45 straight plays off-Broadway
- it would have covered the capitalization of 3 musicals of pretty hefty size on Broadway
- it would have covered buying 1000 full price tickets to other Broadway shows every night for an entire year
I guess I made my point that $45M is a lot of money to spend in theater. So it seems insane that someone could ever waste it all on one show!
As Michael Riedel points out:
But at $45 million — and with a weekly running cost of almost $900,000 — "Spider-Man" at the 1,700-seat Hilton could never be profitable.
The show would have to run five years, selling every single seat in the house, to just break even.
"That," says a source who crunched the numbers, "is insane."
How in the heck did this even happen? How did this show ever raise any money in the first place? Although we won’t know the full story until one of the participants includes it in an autobiography (and even then it won’t be the full truth) Riedel states what most of the industry has been whispering behind closed doors:
"Spider-Man" has been in trouble from the beginning, done in by the inexperience of its producers — Sony, Marvel Comics and David Garfinkle, a Chicago lawyer who, sources say, had almost no Broadway experience.
"He was in over his head," a source says.
Taymor, the director of "The Lion King," conceived of "Spider-Man" as an "installation show," something big and bold and full of special effects. Something, in other words, like Cirque du Soleil.
That’s fine if you’re going to put the damn thing up in Las Vegas, where "installation shows" run several times a day and are funded in large part by hotels and casinos.
I should note the show hasn’t been scrapped yet as Riedel also “fairly” noted:
A desperate attempt was made last week to save "Spider-Man" by bringing in a couple of veteran producers. But they’re too smart to get involved in what’s turning out to be the biggest fiasco in Broadway history.
And so, while the official line is "the production will begin previews on Feb. 25, 2010," the betting is that the Hilton Theatre, whose insides have been gutted for this show, is going to be an empty barn this winter.
updated 8/12
No related posts.
Point of clarification — 42nd Street ran a number of years at the Hilton (when it was called The Ford center) and it recouped its investment. Ragtime opened the theater in 1998 — not Chitty Chitty Bang Bang