Corporate America muscles in on theatre….

Yesterday I blogged about the respective successes and failures of American film entertainment giants Disney and Warner stretching their portfolios to Broadway; but now it seems that all of corporate America wants in on the action, too. While Enron’s chief executives have just been found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and insider trading in a scandal that has rocked corporate America, I’ve just seen a theatrical crime that suggests that some of the moneyed men of America may have as little taste and artistic judgement as others of their rank lack honesty and are now convicted criminals.

The lead producers for Hot Feet, billed as a “new dance musical” that re-works the back catalogue of Earth, Wind and Fire into a new story, is Transamerica, a company that (according to their programme biography) “offers innovative financial products and services with a common purpose: to help individuals, families and businesses build, protect and preserve their hard-earned assets.” But clearly whoever it is there that thought backing this musical was a good idea wasn’t exactly serving the common purpose to protect the company’s own ‘hard-earned assets’. They will surely be going down the pan any day soon.

Mind you, it doesn’t exactly look as if too much money has been spent on it. But in the way of Broadway, I am sure looks are deceptive, and this has cost a bomb. The show, struggling to attract attendances at the moment of around 40%, is also bombing badly. Perhaps it’s all just a tax write-off.

But the write-off of the show proves the dangers of producers going into Broadway with more money than sense. The sad thing is that Broadway needs its powerful financial backers, and Transamerica, if advised properly, could have spent their money far more wisely. I hope that this experience doesn’t sting them so much that they don’t want to go near the theatre again. But they are not alone in corporate investors wasting their money here: also on the title page are Polymer Global Holdings (“an innovator in the rubber industry” who are “the world leader in rubber-backed frabric products used for advertising and promotional applications”) and Goldley Morris Group LLC (“a limited liability corporation” whose “focus and mission” is “to develop corporate investments, capital investments, real estate acquisitions and other diversified investment transactions throughout the southeastern region of the United States”). Diversification into the arts is a welcome development; but it needs to be done with skill and judgement.