Drabinsky Goes to the Slammer

[allofmylife]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 2:22pm

Smiling. Seriously smiling.....

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 2:34pm

And Tony Georges roams our streets, free.

What a world, what a world.

[Kad]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 2:37pm

No, mysteriousgrowl, Tony Georges goes into hiding. With his original name, and available photographs and records.

[once a month]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 3:31pm

Hard to believe it took longer than it took for Ragtime to be revived. Must be nice to still have 'funds'.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 3:40pm

"No, mysteriousgrowl, Tony Georges goes into hiding. With his original name, and available photographs and records."


Well, now we know whose payroll YOU'RE on.

R-Right?

No. Wait. Okay, now I'm confused again.

All I know is he's bad. Let's just leave it at that.

God.

[James885]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 6:29pm

Good. I haven't a scrap of sympathy for Mr. Drabinsky.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 11:48pm

He brought us Ragtime. For that, we must be grateful.

I cannot help but thinking of him doing "Prisoners of Love" ala Zero . He might also be interested in "Jailhouse Rock"

[allofmylife]

Posted: 9/14/11 at 12:13am

He brought us Ragtime and two sets of books. A great number of people got hurt. What cost this art he produced?

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/14/11 at 2:27am

I see he had his sentence reduced. Money still does come in handy.

Posted: 9/14/11 at 2:49am

Kiss of the Spider Woman, the Prince Show Boat, and arguably Parade would have never happened without him either (well Kiss might have, but after its disastrous workshop reaction producers weren't exactly rushing to it).

No defence for his behaviour, but I do admit to missing some of what he did for musical theatre here in Canada especially--it was thrilling as a kid to get to see these shows, often before or as soon as they opened in New York, in Vancouver in the beautiful Ford Theatre he built there.

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/14/11 at 3:29am

Eric, if you had ever worked for him - I did, once - you would not be looking for an upside to his conduct. He's easily the worst human being I have ever met in the business.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 9/14/11 at 4:53am

Ask his investors what they did with their profits. He's off to the pokey for a reason. Maybe they'll let him share a cell with that other great Canadian entrepreneur/high flyer, Lord Conrad Black. Max and Leo, together again.

Posted: 9/14/11 at 5:20am

Mallardo, I appreciate that, and have absolutely zewro doubt about it. But I still do miss (and this was *100%* his fault) some of what he did for theatre--particularly growing up on the West Coast of Canada, it was thrilling to have someone actually make a serious attempt at a major commercial venue for these shows in Vancouver.

[Baileyboo]

Posted: 9/14/11 at 1:00pm

I too worked for him for about 4 years. Hard to imagine a more miserable, inhumane, unreasonable, person. He is getting off too easy, if you ask me. He hurt many, many people. Ruined lives. Destroyed companies. Left hundreds unemployed. Tried to get others to take the fall. Good riddance, GD. Good riddance.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 9/14/11 at 3:07pm

The trail of debris and wrecked lives goes all the way back to the Toronto Theater Festival, through Can-Con movies, Cineplex-Odeon, Universal and then his foray into theater. Enjoy the institutional food, Garth.

[canmark]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 5:09pm

A documentary about Garth Drabinsky will screen at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (September 6-16, 2012).

Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky
http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/showstopperthetheat3

According to Toronto Star columnist Martin Knelman, the film includes:

"Pro-Garth testimony will come from performers who have starred in Drabinsky shows, including Elaine Stritch (Show Boat) and Chita Rivera (Kiss of the Spider Woman). But there will be plenty of anti-Garth evidence from some who have clashed with him, including author Peter C. Newman.

Among others who get screen time in Show Stopper: Toronto theatre players Aubrey Dan, Albert Schultz and Dan Brambilla; actress Diahann Carroll (who starred in the musical Sunset Boulevard); Allen Karp, who took over running Cineplex after Drabinsky was ousted from the empire he controlled before founding Livent; Toronto Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian; and Luminato CEO Janice Price."

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/1234205--tiff-will-showcase-doc-on-garth-drabinsky

[jv92]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 11:02pm

Drabinsky was a passionate, creative producer. That's all I know from listening to people like Hal Prince and John Kander. However, I am all for hearing the "other stories." I don't doubt them.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 9:23am

Sadly I find many of the proclaimed "passionate, creative" people tend to be miserable human beings, especially those in a position of a power. I don't care how much passion or creativity you have, if you can't treat the people working under you decently then you aren't worth a damn. Not to discount what Hal Prince and John Kander might have to say about him, but I doubt that they were ever treated by Drabinsky the way he treated those he felt were "beneath" him.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 11:01am

I agree. They'd better interview the "under house parlour maids" to get the real story or at least a balanced picture, not just the lords and ladies upstairs.

Updated On: 8/1/12 at 11:01 AM

[canmark]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 10:42pm

I saw Show Stopper last night. It was a pretty good documentary, but I think more suited to TV than theatrical presentation.

The film focused on his rise in business, which included pretty much creating the multiplex concept for movie theatres and the development of the Cineplex chain. His fall from grace at Cineplex (and development of enemies) and development of Livent, a vertically integrated company that not only produced shows, but owned theatres and built sets, and so on (and new enemies created).

He spent wildly, over-leveraged, but did seem to do so in order to create a quality product--whether it be a first-class movie theatre (with real butter for the popcorn!), or developing quality theatre (Ragtime, Parade, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Show Boat revival). But these productions couldn't possibly make money. He cooked the books for years in order to keep the business afloat.

His defenders would say that his fraud was at least noble: it wasn't that he was trying to steal money for his own benefit, but so that he could continue to produce quality shows.

Elaine Stritch was a surprise guest at the screening--she appears in the film as a Drabinsky defender. Chita River and Diahann Carroll have positive things to say. Michael Riedel provides some of the dirt--although also speculates that Drabinsky had bad luck (for example, opening Ragtime in the same season as The Lion King, when it might have opened the previous year against lesser competition (Titanic)).



Edit: > They'd better interview the "under house parlour maids" to get the real story or at least a balanced picture, not just the lords and ladies upstairs.

The film doesn't really concern itself with the "little people" who were stepped on underfoot. But I don't think this is a flaw of the film. There's only so much time, and the film really wants to show how Drabinsky (an enterprising Torontonian) repeatedly built up businesses (often tangling with big wigs in Canada, Hollywood and Broadway) only to see them collapse.

Updated On: 9/12/12 at 10:42 PM

[bobs3]

Posted: 9/12/12 at 11:30pm

"Drabinsky had bad luck (for example, opening Ragtime in the same season as The Lion King, when it might have opened the previous year against lesser competition (Titanic))."

It's true. If he had eschewed the Los Angeles production of RAGTIME and opened the show on Broadway in the spring of 1997 (I know the Ford wasn't ready yet, but he could have put it into another house) it would have swept the Tony Awards (at least 9 awards including Best Musical) and would probably have played for 5 or 6 years. On the other hand, had RAGTIME opened that season, TITANIC (despite Rosie O'Donnell's raves) would have closed a week after the awards ceremony.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 9/13/12 at 12:23am

I'm not sure where he could have put Ragtime if he had wanted to open before the Ford Center was ready. It was a really large production and the only other theatres I could see it fitting in were occupied. Beauty and the Beast was still in the Palace (and I Disney would have laughed him right out the door if he came to them to try to get them to transfer out of there), Sunset Boulevard didn't leave the Minskoff until March and that would not have been enough time to get Ragtime opened in time for the 1997 Tony Awards, and Victor/Victoria was still playing in the Marquis.

His only option really would have been the Gershwin, as Show Boat had closed that January, but he ended up putting his revival of Candide in there instead.

[canmark]

Posted: 9/14/12 at 9:42pm

Review from The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/show-stopper-theatrical-life-garth-drabinsky-toronto-review-369703

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/14/12 at 10:45pm

If not for him , the georgeous Oriental Theater in Chicago would no longer be there. Along with the Chicago, those are the only 2 theaters still left in the Loop. The rest are all gone including the gem known as the United Artists.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/21/12 at 2:29pm

The director of the documentary did an interview on my fave CBC show, The Q, today. It's a good listen--the guy mentions how bad the man was, and also how brilliant in some ways, particularly from a Canadian perspective, in that we've never had someone like him here before. It's amazing to hear how expensive his shows were--and how misguided he was about making back that money. I had guessed, but didn't know before, that he was depending on Ragtime getting the musical Tony... Anyway, it's here to listen to:

http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2012/09/21/barry-avrich-on-garth-drabinsky/