Last updated: 12:34 am
January 9, 2009
Posted: 12:34 am
January 9, 2009
FOR a musical about peace and love, "Hair" sure is generating a lot of conflict and hate.
The bad blood has put off some potential investors, one of whom says: "I thought the show could work, but all this backstage stuff doesn't make it very attractive."
The Public Theater, which controls the rights to the show, last week pushed out lead producer Elizabeth I. McCann, who admitted she was having trouble raising money for the $6.5 million production, which is due to open at the Hirschfeld in March.
She's been replaced by Jeffrey Richards, who, with two shows on the boards and another three on the way, seems to be producing on steroids.
But McCann, never one to go gently into the night, has been making noises about suing the Public, sources say.
"She thinks the Public and Jeffrey are poaching her investors," a source says.
I rang her yesterday and asked if that were the case.
"Should I join a class-action lawsuit with John Guare?" she cracked.
Guare, the Pulitzer-winning playwright, is also ticked off at the Public. His new play, "A Free Man of Color," was canceled on the eve of rehearsals last month because the theater failed to capitalize it.
"The truth is," McCann said, "I haven't made up my mind what I'm going to do. I have been asked to participate [in 'Hair'] - they've told me I'm welcome at all the meetings - but I haven't responded. I've started to turn my attention to other projects.
"But I'll tell you one thing. I am absolutely convinced that a nonprofit and a commercial management should not be co-producers. Ever."
That's a far cry from what Oskar Eustis, the head of the Public Theater, was blathering on about only a month ago. He proudly told the Times that even though the Public wasn't going to put "a dime" into "Hair," the theater would have an equal say in artistic and business matters - and would get a large percentage of the profits.
"I agreed to that deal, and it was unwise," McCann now says.
A veteran producer not involved with "Hair" adds: "It was stupid. Why would I want to put money into something that is a good deal for the Public? I want to put money in something that is a good deal for me."
Potential "Hair" investors also knock McCann for offering a deal that was "onerous," one says.
"You only got one dollar of the general partnership for every four dollars you raised," this person says.
Most Broadway shows offer a one-for-two split.
Which is what the new producer, Richards, is now doing to entice investors. He's approached many of the same people McCann did, although not everyone's biting.
"Frankly, I don't think the show will work in this market," says one.
Still, the betting on Broadway is that Richards will raise the $6.5 million.
"There will be 20 people above the title, but he'll get the money," says a producer.
Meanwhile, Broadway, which loves a good fight, is training a beady eye on Eustis to see how he comes out of this scrape with McCann.
Eustis has a knack for alienating powerful people. In addition to Guare, he's annoyed Carole Shorenstein Hays, a major contributor to the Public. She was going to put up the money for the Guare play but pulled out because Eustis didn't keep her abreast of rewrites.
Former Public Theater chief George C. Wolfe, who was going to direct the Guare play, isn't happy, either. He was recently overheard on a flight from Los Angeles lamenting the state of affairs at the Public.
"Oskar's in the hot seat," says a theater insider. "He'd better hope 'Hair' is a hit."
michael.riedel@nypost.com
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