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The business of Broadway has always been cloaked in mystery. Most of its 40 theaters are run by three private organizations that operate out of public view. Producers keep deal-making under wraps. The biggest mystery of all is why so many sophisticated investors go along with business-as-usual on Broadway when few shows turn a profit.
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Ben Sprecher
But nothing about Broadway has been quite as bewildering lately as the $12 million musical “Rebecca.â€
Start with a rich investor unknown to clubby Broadway insiders – a mystery man named Paul Abrams. Go on to the astounding sum he is said to have promised to raise for “Rebeccaâ€: $4.5 million, easily 10 times more than the wealthiest regulars normally put down for a show. Then: Reports in August of his sudden death in Britain of malaria – yet no obituaries, no death notices. A representative for the Abrams estate surfaces, a person identifying himself only as “Wexler†who refuses to speak by phone and uses an e-mail address created just last month.
Finally, late last week, came the revelation that the lead producer of “Rebecca,†Ben Sprecher, a man trying to make the leap from Off Broadway to the Broadway big leagues, had never met Mr. Abrams or spoken to him by phone. That disclosure, confirmed by Mr. Sprecher, sent some of his other investors reeling.
“I’ve never heard of a situation where you didn’t at least meet the person raising 30 percent of your show budget,†said Robert E. Wankel, president of the Shubert Organization, one of the big three Broadway landlords and a six-figure investor in “Rebecca†as well as the owner of its intended theater, the Broadhurst.
“Broadway does business in its own strange way, I’ll grant you,†Mr. Wankel said. “But this is the strangest bit of show business to come along in a long time.â€
Mr. Sprecher is scrambling to make up the $4.5 million gap in the budget of “Rebecca,†which opened to critical praise in Vienna in 2006 and is based on the gothic mystery novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. A spokesman for the show said on Monday that financial commitments are in place, but the money has yet to be deposited.
Mr. Sprecher has been here before: He canceled a London production of “Rebecca†last year because of financial and technical difficulties, then canceled a Broadway production last winter when he could not raise the money again. He said in a telephone interview on Friday night that he would begin paying his cast this week, but delayed the start of rehearsals until an infusion of $4.5 million arrived from investors, whom he declined to name.
“This is a musical that has been a hit in Helsinki and Vienna and other European cities, and I know it can be a hit on Broadway,†Mr. Sprecher said. “I realize I made mistakes putting together the financing, but I’m doing everything I can to make this show happen.â€
Mr. Sprecher acknowledged that if “Rebecca†does not open, his company, Sprecher/Forlenza Productions, could be liable for millions of dollars to his investors, a potentially ruinous situation because much of the money has already been spent on building the show’s sets.
For several Broadway producers, the troubles facing “Rebecca†are a cautionary tale about would-be Broadway personalities like Mr. Sprecher who lack the wealth and professional connections needed to guarantee show financing yet still want to become lead producers of big-budget Broadway musicals.
Mr. Sprecher developed close ties to the Shubert Organization while running an Off Broadway theater for it, which helps explain the Shubert executives’ flexibility with him. Yet Mr. Sprecher has enemies, too, from his years dictating terms as an Off Broadway landlord, and his reputation in the business is mixed. Major Broadway producers like Roy Furman (“The Book of Mormonâ€) and David Stone (“Wickedâ€) passed on “Rebecca,†leading Mr. Sprecher to turn to mostly first-time Broadway investors and shadowy figures like Mr. Abrams.
Emanuel Azenberg, a veteran Broadway producer who counts Mr. Sprecher as a friend, said he feared that Mr. Sprecher “may have bitten off more than he can chew†in his attempt to become a player on Broadway.
“There are only a handful of Broadway producers who have the money and contacts to take on a major musical as a lead producer,†said Mr. Azenberg, who brought Mr. Sprecher on as a producer of Broadway plays like the 2005 revival of “The Odd Couple.†(Mr. Azenberg is not involved with “Rebecca.â€) “If Ben ends up raising the money, it will be an incredible comeback. If he doesn’t, he’ll face a lot of difficulties producing again.â€
Mr. Abrams has become a mysterious specter haunting the show – not unlike the ghost that is central to the musical’s plot. One “Rebecca†investor, Nanda Anand, a filmmaker and first-time Broadway investor, said she was simply relieved when she learned of Mr. Abrams’s interest in the show last spring after the production was first canceled for Broadway.
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“When I heard that an investor had come along and fulfilled the lack of funds, I did not question the source or the amount of capitalization originating from one individual,†Ms. Anand said. “I trust Ben Sprecher and find him to be very diligent. I saw no reason to raise any questions at all.â€
Mr. Sprecher would not say whether he now has doubts about whether Abrams existed. He said he was supposed to meet Mr. Abrams once, but Mr. Abrams canceled, and Mr. Sprecher said he had seen no need to fly overseas to see him. Mr. Sprecher said they communicated by e-mail, and that he learned the death-by-malaria story in August by e-mail from Mr. Abrams’s associates just at the point when he needed Mr. Abrams’s money to pay for the start of rehearsals and theater construction in September. Mr. Sprecher said he then flew to London to try to get money from the Abrams estate, but said he never met with an estate representative. He said the representative, who went by the name Wexler – he or she did not use a first name – communicated with him only by e-mail.
Wexler’s e-mail address was created last month, according to the registration of the e-mail domain name, which was done through Domain Discreet Privacy Service. On Saturday Wexler replied to an e-mail from The New York Times requesting information about Mr. Abrams, declining to comment on behalf of the estate. Another associate of Mr. Abrams, Milton Silverstein, with an AOL e-mail address, was also not forthcoming about Mr. Abrams on Sunday. Both Wexler and Mr. Silverstein declined to provide any independent evidence that Abrams existed, such as an obituary or other record.
Mr. Abrams was a business consultant based in Johannesburg, according to Mr. Sprecher.
“All I know,†Mr. Sprecher said in a telephone interview, “is that one of our major investors died last month, and we are doing everything we can to replace his money.â€
“Do I wish I had met the man? Yes. Do I wish that I hadn’t been so dependent on one investor? Yes. But raising money for Broadway shows is very, very difficult, and I had no reason to think that this money wouldn’t be delivered.â€
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