Rebecca: Broadway premiere cancelled again

Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza, the lead producers of the new musical Rebecca, based on the classic novel by Daphne du Maurier, have cancelled the show's Broadway premiere due to lack of capitalization. Rebecca was scheduled to begin previews in Nov 2012 at the Broadhurst Theatre.

The producers need a further $4.5 million to complete the show's capitalization, which is the sum lost following the death of key investor Paul Abrams in Sep this year.

The producers state that an anonymous investor stepped in at the final moment to complete the capitalization after Paul Abrams' death, but the party has now withdrawn from the production after receiving harassing emails from an unnamed source.

According to a press release "On Friday September 24 at approximately 1PM, Sprecher and Forlenza were informed that an extremely malicious e-mail, filled with lies and innuendo, had been sent directly to the new investor that morning from an anonymous third party. The e-mail was designed to scare this investor away and it succeeded. The investor withdrew."

In a statement Sprecher added, "Why anyone would be so hateful and cruel and would go to such a huge amount of effort to uncover confidential information, including the details of a private transaction and the identities of an individual and his attorneys, and send such an e-mail with the goal of being to shut down a production that involves the jobs of over a hundred people and their families, is something I am having a terrible time grasping. This is devastating for everyone involved in this wonderful and unique production. All that we have ever wanted to do is put on this amazing show."

The statement goes on to read, "We will not stop our efforts to mount this show and alternatives are already unfolding. We have provided a copy of this e-mail to the proper authorities and a criminal investigation is under way."

This is the second time the show's announced Broadway premiere has been hit with captilization problems. It was originally scheduled to open at the Broadhurst theatre on 22 Apr 2012, but was cancelled due to lack of investment.

That initial cancellation saw the withdrawl of the show's originally announced stars Sierra Bogges and Tam Mutu. With the funds supposedly in place, the producers announced that the productioin would now premiere at the Broadhurst Theatre on 18 Nov 2012, following previews from 30 Oct 2012, with Jill Paice and Ryan Silverman in the lead roles of 'I' and 'Maxim de Winter,' respectively.

Along with Jill Paice and Ryan Silverman, the cast was also to have featured Karen Mason as 'Mrs. Danvers,' Howard McGillin as 'Frank Crawley,' James Barbour as 'Jack Favell,' Donna English as 'Beatrice de Winter,' Nick Wyman as 'Giles' and Henry Stram as 'Ben.'

Based on the classic Daphne du Maurier novel (and later turned into an Oscar-winning film by Alfred Hitchcock), Rebecca is the story of Maxim de Winter, his new wife ("I") and Mrs. Danvers, the controlling and manipulative housekeeper of Maxim's West Country estate of Manderley - where the memory of his first wife, the glamorous and mysterious Rebecca, still casts a shadow.

The musical features original book and lyrics by Michael Kunze, music by Sylvester Levay, English book adaptation by two-time Tony Award winner Christopher Hampton (Sunset Boulevard), English lyrics by Hampton and Kunze, and direction by Tony Award-winner Michael Blakemore (Kiss Me, Kate; City of Angeles; Noises Off) and Francesca Zambello (Little Mermaid).

Rebecca had its world premiere in 2006 at Vereinigte Buhnen Wien in Vienna, where it played for more than three years. Productions of Rebecca have also played Budapest, Hungary; Helsinki, Finland; Stuttgart, Germany; St. Gallen, Switzerland and at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo.