'Prayer' ruckus stirs up discontent
Craig Lucas objected to 40% subsidiary rights
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Lucas and his agent objected to the 40% subsidiary rights (for 10 years) the Roundabout wanted in return for a production of "Enemy" at its Off Broadway space, the Laura Pels.
Writerly displeasure over sub rights was voiced publicly about a year ago in a speech made by scribe Richard Nelson at an ART/NY conference, lamenting, among other things, the various ways in which "participation" by commercial and nonprofit producers drains a playwright's income. Roundabout gets a particularly bad rap among scribes, since its 40% slice is the highest in Gotham.
Among other large-scale New York nonprofits, Manhattan Theater Club asks for varying percentages of sub rights, whereas Lincoln Center Theater asks for none. (Center Theater Group in Los Angeles began following LCT's example in January.)
"Obviously none of us want our authors to be unhappy," says Roundabout a.d. Todd Haimes. "They're one of the reasons we're here. On the other hand, different theaters have different needs. I think Lincoln Center is more stable because they have such a large endowment."
The 40% mirrors the sub rights a commercial producer asks for -- which some writers can more easily countenance on that level, citing what they consider to be the greater risk taken on by the producers and their investors.
"We have conversations with nonprofit theaters scheduled," says John Weidman, prexy of the Dramatists Guild. "The time's overdue to take a look at this."
With the absorption of New Line Cinema by Warner Bros., what happens to Antonio Banderas' potential return to the Rialto?
The theatrical arm of New Line, one of the producers of Broadway tuners "Hairspray" and "The Wedding Singer," has a number of screen-to-stage adaptations in various stages of development, including "Don Juan de Marco," with Banderas and book writer Marsha Norman attached, and "Secondhand Lions" from composer-lyricist team Michael Weiner and Alan Zachary and scribe Rupert Holmes.
Answers to questions about the status New Line's theatrical slate won't likely come for another couple of months, as the dust settles from the Hollywood shakeup.
But it does look as if the tuner incarnation of "Elf," with a score by "Wedding Singer" duo Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, remains on track, as deals near completion and a Broadway run is considered.
With London buzzing about Kneehigh Theater's glowingly reviewed legit version of 1945 Noel Coward pic "Brief Encounter," talk of Stateside interest in a potential Broadway transfer quickly made the rounds.
Turns out producers hoping to score rights to the show don't have to leave town to check out Kneehigh's work. The Cornwall, England-based troupe is in the midst of making its Gotham debut with an irreverent version of "Rapunzel" at the New Victory Theater.
"Rapunzel" may be a more family-friendly affair than the adult romance of "Brief Encounter," but still, "It's a great introduction to Kneehigh," says Emma Rice, the company a.d. who helmed both "Rapunzel" and "Encounter."
The multimedia "Brief Encounter" is staged at a 450-seat movie theater in London, and Rice would hope to find a similar venue in New York. "I might have a look around when I'm there with 'Rapunzel,' " she says.
