Another pre-Broadway play, 'Brigadoon,' cancels local run
In the latest blow to its highly anticipated fall lineup, Broadway Across America-Boston announced yesterday that the pre-Broadway tryout of "Brigadoon" at the Colonial Theatre has been canceled, and the revival's Broadway run has been postponed. The moves were attributed to a lack of appropriate Broadway theater space in the spring of 2009.
This is the second show, after "Nice Work If You Can Get It," starring Harry Connick Jr., to be slated for a Boston premiere before Broadway and be unexpectedly pulled from Broadway Across America-Boston's 2008-09 schedule. Organizers are refunding early ticket sales and group deposits.
"We were so excited, obviously, that we had the two pre-Broadways of both 'Brigadoon' and 'Nice Work,' " said Drew Murphy, president of Broadway Across America-Boston. "I'm sad about it because we were looking forward to both the shows, and I think 'Brigadoon' was really going to be exciting. But the other part of it . . . to a certain extent this really shows that Broadway theater is really healthy because there are no theaters available."
The revival of "Brigadoon" - a story of two American tourists who, while vacationing in Scotland, stumble into a village that comes alive once every 100 years - is being directed and choreographed by Tony winner Rob Ashford and features a revised book by Tony winner John Guare. The show was slated to make its world premiere at the Colonial Oct. 14-Nov. 9 before hitting New York in spring 2009.
"Of course, for a producer to do any out of town tryouts no matter where it is, Boston or Denver or Seattle or Philadelphia, if you don't have a place to go in New York, there is a domino effect," Murphy said.
Last week, Murphy sent a letter to subscribers telling them that "Nice Work If You Can Get It," which had been scheduled to make its world premiere at the Colonial Dec. 16-Jan. 11, was "officially postponed" with no new date scheduled. Drawing on George Gershwin tunes, the musical was to reunite Connick with director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall, who directed him in an acclaimed 2006 New York revival of "The Pajama Game." "Nice Work" was postponed after Marshall dropped out of the project.
Programmers have been working the phones nonstop to find replacements, Murphy said, reaching out to producers who expressed interest in coming here before the season lineup was announced and others who called after hearing about the cancellations. It is too early to say which shows are being considered, he said.
Landing both pre-Broadway runs was considered a significant development in Murphy's goal of making Boston a key tryout city again. "It's the nature of the beast," he said of the sudden changes. "We were lucky to get two pre-Broadway shows, and it's just unfortunate that both of them experienced difficulties."
