Rebecca Producer: I was duped, I was raped
Rebecca Producer: I was duped, I was raped
#1Rebecca Producer: I was duped, I was raped
Posted: 10/17/12 at 6:26am
The latest developments on what I've been calling The Weirdness of Rebecca. Ben Sprecher, one of the two lead producers of the imploded musical, gives an interview to the New York Times, attempting to explain, among other things, why he lied to the reporter.
Rebecca Producer: I was duped
Updated On: 10/17/12 at 06:26 AM
#2Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 6:52am
Well that comparison is a bit over dramatic.
How can you feel sorry for someone who apparently didn't even complete a rudimentary background check on his main investor?
There's lack of due diligence and then there's total carelessness.
Sprecher falls into a category that's below those.
....but the world goes 'round
#2Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 7:58amAt least it wasn't rape-rape.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
#3Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 8:01am
Were they also rooting through his rutabaga, raiding his arugula, and ripping up his rampion (his champion, his favorite)?
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES
#4Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 8:06am
It seems to me as the facts are coming out he was indeed duped by a very skilled con man. As the Bernie Madoff case made clear even sophisticated, successful people can be taken by a skilled hustler.
I am a firm believer in blaming criminals for being criminals and not their victims for being victimized.
#5Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 8:13am
Skilled? Hotton was exposed in five minutes once someone actually bothered to look into his "investors".
And Sprecher may wish to play the victim, but don't forget he was responsible for other people's money as well. He is a professional producer. It's his job to ensure the funds he raises are legitimate.
....but the world goes 'round
wonkit
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
#7Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 9:56amThis is as illegitimate of a rape as I've ever seen.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#8Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 12:25pm
He is starting to write the lyrics for the Wittman/Shaiman song when this becomes the plot of the next season of SMASH:
SPRECHER:
I was duped, I was raped,
I was conned, I was had,
I had thought I did my homework,
But I guess I did it bad.
Well, of course I did a Google search!
Who wouldn't do a Google search?
But I Facebooked and he Linked me
And somehow he still hoodwinked me!
I was hoodwinked, I was duped,
I was raped, and now I'm sad.
hyperbole_and_a_half
Leading Actor Joined: 3/21/11
#9Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 1:02pm
Wow. I'm really not fond of calling out inappropriate rape metaphors when carelessly used by insensitive douche bags because language is fluid and we shouldn't allow words to have so much power, etc., but that, Ben Sprecher, is an inappropriate rape metaphor.
Let's work the metaphor backwards, shall we?
Mr. Sprecher says he was "raped" by a con artist who bilked him out of commissions on investments he never delivered, ultimately leading to the loss of a small personal fortune and the collapse of a Broadway musical. A casual Google search reveals that this conman was no stranger to fraud lawsuits well before Rebecca warbled its way over from the Continent, and that Mr. Sprecher should've known better. Instead of coming clean about his world-destroying lack of aptitude, Mr. Sprecher then indulged in lying to the press, hiding the truth from investors and lashing out at email boogeymen before eventually couching himself in a sexual violence metaphor.
That isn't actually rape; the closest analogy that I can think of is a woman who drunkenly thought she let an NBA team into her vagina, was disappointed to find out it was actually just Flava Flav and his entourage, and then squawked to the National Enquirer that she was raped.
I guess what I am saying is that Mr. Sprecher should just shut up and go away? Yes, let's do that.
#10Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 1:22pm
The spectacular rape,
With costumes ordered from the East,
Requires rehearsal,
And takes a dozen men at least,
A couple of singers,
And a string quartet,
A major production,
Requires a set
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES
#11Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 2:02pmI'm with you, hyperbole. I really, really hate when people say they were "raped" when it's not even close, not even a bit (such as this situation).
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
PatrickDennis92
Stand-by Joined: 9/25/12
#12Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 2:37pmWell, in the case of a legitimate rape, producer's bodies have, and I'm quoting doctors, have the ability to shut down their productions.
#13Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:06pm
More on the story in CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/16/justice/broadway-scam/index.html?hpt=hp_t3&is_LR=1
#14Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:54pmThe word rape has multiple meanings.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#16Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:57pm
Good thing our bodies have a way of preventing pregnancy when these things happen. 
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
#17Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 3:58pm...except that in today's society, it is most commonly linked with one.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#18Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:07pm
I know you prefer "defrauded," but the proper word is "raped."
It's short and businesslike.
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES
#19Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:38pm
...except that in today's society, it is most commonly linked with one.
Ok, well there are two ways to approach this matter. First, you could decide that he did compare himself to a female being raped (sexually) and get offended. Second, you could decide that he used another meaning of the word which, although might cause you look twice because of the common use of the word, isn't really that offensive. Isn't it just easier to do the latter? I never thought he was literally comparing himself to someone being raped.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#20Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:48pmMen can be raped, too, qolbinau. And he is saying he was violated, in the same way rape victims are. That cavalier use of the word to describe being violated or overpowered or whatever is taking the edge and importance of the word from men and women who have actually been raped.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#21Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:52pm
The fact is that words and definitions change over time. Very rarely will people now use it as "an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation"- unless in sexual connotation.
In the way Sprecher uses it comes off melodramatic at best.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#22Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 4:53pmI guess, I see your points. He probably shouldn't have used the word.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
PatrickDennis92
Stand-by Joined: 9/25/12
#23Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/17/12 at 5:27pm
Well, there's the obvious, open schoolboy rape.
CHURCH DOOR TOUCAN GAY MARKETING PUPPIES MUSICAL THEATER STAPLES PERIOD OIL BITCHY SNARK HOLES
#24Rebecca Producer:
Posted: 10/18/12 at 2:47am
Update: Alleged Rebecca con man Mark Hotton arrested without bail as a "considerable threat" to the community
Rebecca producer: I was duped, I was raped
