Here’s Why Tony-Winning Broadway Musical ‘Paradise Square’—Produced By A Convicted Fraudster—Is Being Taken To Court

Topline

The musical Paradise Sq. will finish its Broadway run on Sunday, however the manufacturing—which marked a return to Broadway for producer Garth H. Drabinsky after he was imprisoned for fraud—will dwell on in courtroom, because it faces a mounting variety of authorized challenges for unpaid wages and different fee disputes for employees already hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The solid of ‘Paradise Sq.’ on Broadway takes a bow on April 3 in New York Metropolis.

Bruce Glikas/Getty Photographs

Key Details

Two unions, United Scenic Artists and Actors Fairness—which characterize the manufacturing’s designers and performers, respectively—filed complaints towards the manufacturing and producer Bernard Adams this month, the Hollywood Reporter first reported Tuesday, alleging unpaid wages and advantages.

The United Scenic Artists lawsuit, filed in federal courtroom, argues the manufacturing owes $156,965.85 in unpaid wages and advantages, which an arbitrator had awarded to the union but it surely alleges the manufacturing by no means truly paid.

Actors Fairness first sued the present in Could looking for $174,091.32 for unpaid profit contributions, later reaching a settlement settlement for $412,807, but it surely has now filed a separate lawsuit in state courtroom for $189,877 after the manufacturing stopped making funds because the settlement requires, in response to the Reporter.

The Actors Fairness lawsuit comes after the union beforehand directed performers to not report back to rehearsal in February for a day, which the Reporter and New York Post report was resulting from a contract dispute over funds.

A former group gross sales employee for the present sued the manufacturing in Could in state courtroom for $9,000 in unpaid wages; that dispute stays pending, although the manufacturing has moved to dismiss the claims.

Paradise Sq. was additionally taken to court by the Employees’ Compensation Board of New York in 2021 for $16,000 for allegedly failing to hold employees comp insurance coverage, however that case has been settled.

What To Watch For

Extra lawsuits. In line with the Reporter, extra contractors with the present are nonetheless negotiating funds with the manufacturing, and will nonetheless file authorized motion.

Shocking Reality

Drabinsky is the lead producer on Paradise Sq. after serving a 17-month jail sentence, plus parole, in Canada. He was convicted in 2009 for defrauding buyers of greater than $400 million by means of his manufacturing firm, which was behind various Broadway hits from the Nineties like Kiss of the Spider Girl and Ragtime. Drabinsky and his producing companion stored a number of units of accounting books, falsely representing the corporate’s income, and used pretend invoices to funnel cash on to their financial institution accounts, the case’s trial uncovered, and he was initially sentenced to a seven-year jail time period. Paradise Sq. marks Drabinsky’s first Broadway credit since Fosse in 1999. The producer just isn’t instantly implicated within the litigation that’s been filed towards the present, nonetheless, which has as an alternative named as defendants the manufacturing firms created to deal with the present’s funds and Adams, who’s listed as the top of these firms as an alternative of Drabinsky. (Drabinsky has been banned from taking part in some enterprise actions in Canada.)

Essential Quote

“The producers have identified for months that they owe the designers and assistant designers who’ve constructed the world of Paradise Sq. 1000’s upon 1000’s in unpaid wages and profit contributions,” Carl Mulert, nationwide enterprise agent for United Scenic Artists’ Native USA 829, advised the Reporter. “Now that the manufacturing is closing, who’s being stiffed? Our members.”

Chief Critic

A spokesperson for Paradise Sq. declined to remark to Forbes on the litigation towards it or the allegations of unpaid wages. In a press release to the Post in February about Actors Fairness asking performers to not go to rehearsal, the manufacturing’s normal supervisor Jeffrey Chrzczon stated the manufacturing is “absolutely bonded…and no salaries have been missed all through the 9 years of [Paradise Square’s] growth.” The overall supervisor added: “Lots of the actors in Paradise Sq. have labored with Mr. Drabinsky on earlier productions.”

Tangent

Paradise Sq. has additionally raised eyebrows financially for elevating its capitalization from $13.5 million to $15 million weeks after the present had already began performances on Broadway, Forbes beforehand reported in Could, which means it tried to lift much more cash from buyers than it initially stated it could. The transfer was seemingly unprecedented for a Broadway present—which generally raises all of its cash by opening night time—and raised extra questions concerning the present’s monetary well being.

Key Background

Paradise Sq. is a brand new musical specializing in relations between Irish and Black Individuals in Civil Battle-era New York Metropolis, which opened on Broadway in April. Although the present earned 10 Tony Award nominations and one win for lead actress Joaquina Kalukango, who garnered consideration for her performance through the awards ceremony, the present announced on Monday it could be closing lower than per week later. The closing discover has adopted months of disappointing gross sales for the manufacturing, which have seemingly pushed the present’s monetary troubles. The present grossed simply $266,926 on the field workplace for the week ending July 10 and performed to half-empty theaters on common, according to the Broadway League, and has failed to make even $500,000 on the field workplace in per week, far under what’s wanted for costly musical productions to get better their prices. The pay disputes additionally come after employees on Broadway have already suffered over a yr of economic hits, as Broadway remained shuttered through the Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020 to fall 2021, leaving 1000’s unemployed.