On Friday I was served with a legal warning on behalf of Nimax Theatres and the producers of Rain Man. Good heavens - what had I done wrong? (Yes, I know I recently drew attention to the state of the toilets at the Garrick on the opening night of Zorro, but that was an indisputable fact that Nica Burns told me personally this blog had drawn her attention to).
The curious thing, however, is that it was for something I had not written yet, nor indeed intended to write. Instead, it was for something that another journalist had written, namely Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail, and I was being warned not to repeat the story that had appeared that day in the Mail regarding the production (which was originally due to open tomorrow, but has been postponed to Friday week, following the departure early in rehearsals of original director David Grindley).
I have to confess that I do indeed read Baz’s column every Friday.
Though there’s a constant race nowadays for breaking news to appear on the web first, he still routinely manages to get stories that no one else does. It’s called good old-fashioned journalism - he doesn’t simply wait for the press release to arrive, but is fed stories from his sources inside the business that keep him ahead of the game.
On Friday, for instance, he revealed publicly for the first time that Stage Entertainment (the producers behind Hairspray at the Shaftesbury) plan to bring a new musical version of Sister Act to the West End, possibly to the London Palladium, and revealed that Anthony van Laast had been hired to choreograph. When I checked with Peter Thompson, who looks after Stage Entertainment’s PR, he insisted that no creative team has yet been engaged. But if and when Sister Act does materialise, you can be sure that van Laast will indeed be on the billing.
I have no idea of the origins or authenticity of Baz’s other offending story; but the producers were quick to react. I received a phone call from an assistant at the show’s PR agency on Friday morning warning me that the story was inaccurate, and that legal action was being pursued. Later in the day, I received an e-mail from the PR containing the text of a lawyer’s letter confirming that steps were being taken against the Daily Mail; but also putting me on notice that I should not repeat the original story (or indeed the contents of the letter, that was marked “Strictly Private and Confidential - Not for Publication”). Surely the quiet words that had passed between the PR and me earlier should have sufficed; but a hammer was being used to crack a nut (or arguably, in my case, a nutcase). As I replied to the PR, “The rest of us aren’t the bad guys here. There’s nothing like trying to win friends and influence people - and this is nothing like that!”
I can entirely understand the producers wanting to ensure that a false and potentially defamatory story doesn’t receive wider currency that its original source provided; but weirdly, even though I had already received both the phone call and the legal letter, that original source continued to publish the offending feature on its website. It wasn’t until well after I alerted the show’s PR to this continuing fact that it was finally removed from there. By this time, of course, it could well have been picked up by the contributors to the various theatre bulletin boards - again, I have no idea if it was, but nowadays it is impossible to police the various chatrooms, so the producers may have been trying to lock the stable door after the horse had bolted.
Still, there was a competing story online, courtesy of the Daily Mirror’s 3am column, about the same production that may have provided a useful distraction: that Harnett was caught on CCTV camera romping with a “mystery girl” in the library of the Soho Hotel. I have had no instruction not to repeat this, so am presumably in the clear to do so. It’s the kind of publicity that helpfully keeps the star in the news; but the PRs should get onto the Mirror pronto: the story makes no mention of his appearance in Rain Man. They need to get it fixed.
Meanwhile, no news is bad news elsewhere: while at this time of year we are being bombarded with press releases from theatres announcing their autumn and winter seasons, there’s a weird absence of news from the Bush, and their website confirms it: the last attraction there was a three-night run for a play called Turf at the end of August, and nothing is announced beyond it. After last winter’s fight to save the Bush Theatre after the threatened cut in the Arts Council grant led to the grant being restored (and the theatre, in turn, refurbished), it’s perplexing that it has now apparently gone dark. When will it return? We need to be told.
Finally, I spent all day yesterday at the Barbican, where the latest Robert Lepage epic, Lipsynch, was receiving its world premiere. The day began at 1pm and didn’t end till nearly 9 hours later at 9.40pm (actually, and rare for an epic of this sort, ten minutes ahead of the advertised end time!); but with four twenty minute intervals plus a 45-minute meal break, it actually turned out to be under seven hours of actual theatregoing — a comparative doddle compared to, say, the RSC History cycle a few months ago.
But what’s particularly striking about this season is how few people are actually going to see it: the complete cycle is being given just five times in all (four in day-long cycles over two weekends, with an additional cycle across three nights from tomorrow to Thursday), and not all areas of the theatre are open for it. Initially the theatre only had the stalls and first circle on sale, but I was told last night there is flexibility to sell the second circle, as well, if demand requires it. (Views from the top gallery, however, will be too restricted to open).
So I am guessing that somewhere between 800 and 1000 people will see each cycle - a total of around 4,000 to 5,000 people in all. With tickets at a top price of £60 (which would buy you just one musical in the West End, but here buys you seven hours of theatre - even Trevor Nunn’s Gone with the Wind didn’t give you that, though it tried!), I wonder what the subsidy per ticket works out at. And if I’ve previously complained that productions at places like the Donmar inevitably have their reach limited by their seating capacities, at least 24,000 people saw Othello — around five or six times more than will see Lipynch. Sometimes it is not just the smallest London venues that perpetuate a sense of exclusivity, but also the largest.
I've no idea what was in the Daily Mail, but it doesn't take a seasoned theatre-goer to realise that no amount of delays is going to fix a Rain Man play starring Josh Hartnett. Bad idea, badly cast.
I to was at yesterday's Lipsynch performance. The one thing stuck out for me was although there are only five full cycles of the show, the Barbican is making a killing in the intervals - I spent far too much money on teas/coffee and snacks during the breaks!!