'Rollin' derailed by Tony rules decision
Tuner closes down
Produces Ashton Springer and John Grimaldi shuttered the show after Sunday's matinee in the wake of what they called a "devastating" and unfair decision.
"We have all the expenses and hassles of a Broadway show and none of the potential benefits," Grimaldi said. "All because of an organization that seems to make up the rules as they go along."
The committee denied the producers' petition to enter the Tony race on the grounds that the show is not playing in an official Tony-eligible theater. It's playing at the Henry Miller Theater, aka the Kit Kat Klub, most recently home to "Cabaret." That show, however, was deemed Tony-eligible by the committee last season, and the producers hoped "T.O.B.A." would be, too.
"A precedent had been set," Grimaldi said. "What's the difference between 'Cabaret' and our show?"
Tony spokesman Keith Sherman would only say that the Broadway eligibility of "Cabaret" producer the Roundabout Theater Co., which normally houses its Broadway productions at the Criterion Center Stage Right, was a factor in the exception to Tony rules made for "Cabaret."
"I'm in a Catch-22," said producer Springer before announcing the show would close. "They've got me paying Broadway rates at the unions, but now I'm told I'm not a Broadway show."
The show had been struggling at the box office in its first weeks, pulling in just $49,528 of a potential $360,000 for the week of March 22-28.
