``Passing Strange'' The Broadway Musical

Broadway's Rock Musical Makes `Strange' Bedfellows (Update1)

Commentary by [bn:PRSN=1] Jeremy Gerard []

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- When theater owner Gerald Schoenfeld saw ``Passing Strange'' last spring at the Public Theater, he liked the new show so much he called artistic director Oskar Eustis and said he wanted to move the rock 'n' roll musical from the East Village to Broadway.

These days, Broadway's landlords are in the catbird seat: With long-running hits like ``The Phantom of the Opera,'' ``Wicked'' and ``Jersey Boys'' playing in the most desirable houses for years and even decades, independent producers are often left cooling their heels, or mounting shows in less desirable theaters.

Nevertheless, Schoenfeld was a day late, Eustis replied. He'd already fielded a call from independent producer Elizabeth I. McCann, who also wanted to move ``Passing Strange'' to Broadway. Like Schoenfeld, she felt the Candide-like tale of a young man's journey to self-knowledge, set to a driving score performed by an onstage rock band, deserved a longer life.

As chairman of the Shubert Organization, which owns 17 Broadway theaters and three more outside New York, Schoenfeld, 83, is the most powerful executive in the commercial theater.

With more than $220 million in assets, Shubert frequently invests quietly in shows but rarely signs on as a producing partner. After all, collecting rent from independent producers is much less risky than gambling in a business where eight out of 10 shows fail to recoup their capitalization costs.

Co-Producers

Schoenfeld's enthusiasm for ``Passing Strange,'' however, resulted in a partnership with McCann. In addition to being longtime colleagues, both are skilled at finding common ground when they need to. What they needed now was $5 million to finance the move uptown.

``I thought the show would have appeal beyond the audience at the Public,'' Schoenfeld said in an interview from his office at Shubert headquarters atop the Shubert Theater in Shubert Alley. ``And I thought these young people were very, very smart.''

Schoenfeld and McCann quickly struck a deal to co-produce the show.

``I wasn't quite sure what I was watching,'' McCann, 78, said in an interview, about her reaction to ``Passing Strange'' at the Public. But the younger staff members she'd brought with her had no such qualms. ``They were completely blown away.''

Schoenfeld said he'd put up $675,000 of the $5 million budget for ``Passing Strange,'' making Shubert the single biggest investor. And the show would move to the Shubert-owned Belasco Theater on West 44th Street. One of Broadway's smallest (and most beautiful) straight-play houses, the Lyceum has just over 1,000 seats, half of them in the orchestra, where the most expensive seats are. With Broadway's best theaters already spoken for, there wasn't much choice.

Diverging Interests

This is a perfect illustration of the diverging interests of landlords and producers. Theater owners want to ``lock up'' their houses with long-running hits; independent producers want to replenish the pool of new shows.

Late last fall, the ticket-buying public saw just how acrimonious things can get when a strike by union stagehands against the theater owners and producers shut down most of Broadway during the holiday season.

What appeared to be a typical labor-management conflict over wages and work rules had in fact begun as a standoff between the two management camps.

In the past, labor negotiations were dominated by the theater owners (which include, along with Shubert, the Nederlander Organization, which controls nine Broadway theaters, and Jujamcyn Theaters, with five). They could afford to sign off on costly deals with the union because ultimately it was their tenants --the producers -- who paid for them.

This time, the younger independent producers were determined to break that decades-old cycle. They were at war as much with the landlords as they were with the union.

Costly Strike

One result was that the strike ran three weeks, costing producers and workers far more than they won in the new contract. (Both sides claimed victory, with producers winning work-rule concessions, though fewer than they sought, and stagehands getting raises at the cost of some jobs.) As usual, the faction least hurt by the strike was the theater owners.

It was during the stagehands' walkout that McCann had the unenviable task of raising the rest of the budget for ``Passing Strange,'' a show she knew would need time to build an audience.

``Trying to raise $5 million, especially during the strike, was brutal,'' she said.

Among the show's 15 co-producers are veteran Broadway investors Bill Kenwright, Chase Mishkin and Boyett Ostar Productions. The nonprofit Public Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California, which first produced the show, are listed as associate producers and will share in any profits.

The transfer marks the first time Eustis has participated in such a move since becoming head of the Public, he said in an interview. He added that the Public has been a ``fully active partner'' in the show.

Promote, Promote

The two largest expenses after moving the show into the Lyceum, McCann said, are advertising and, not surprisingly, the rent the producers have to pay -- to Shubert. McCann knows the going rate for each of Broadway's 39 houses. ``Passing Strange'' got a fair deal on the Lyceum, she said, but no special break.

Advertising accounts for $2 million, or 40 percent, of the show's budget, McCann said. It opened Feb. 28 to some of the most enthusiastic notices of the season. But it had no stars, no advance ticket sales and no name recognition.

Promotional Cost

The producers spent more than $300,000 over the first two weekends on full-page advertisements in the New York Times. They've spent another $45,000 on promotion through the Internet, searching for the audience that matches the material.

``Young writers who don't necessarily want to write -- dare I say it? -- `Mary Poppins,' are now finding their way to Broadway,'' McCann said. ``So the most fascinating challenge for me is promoting it not the old traditional way but with people who know how to get to this audience.''

Despite the sometimes competing interests that have occasionally found Schoenfeld and McCann on opposite sides of the fence, they're using all the wisdom gained in their collective 161 years on the planet to persuade 7,200 people a week to buy tickets to ``Passing Strange,'' their rock concert cum Broadway musical. It won't be easy, but Schoenfeld seemed almost giddy at the challenge.

``You know,'' he said, ``I'm on the cutting edge.''

(Jeremy Gerard is an editor for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)