Word: playfulness
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...biggest corporate fraud in history is turning into one of Broadway's most expensive plays. A team of theater producers is spending nearly $4 million to bring Enron to New York City from London. That's a fraction of what Hollywood routinely doles out, but on Broadway the multimillion-dollar budget of the play, which is set to open for previews on April 8, is drawing attention...
...tough economic times, though, may be exactly what Enron has going for it. The play details the rise and fall of the notorious, eponymously named, Houston-based energy company, which collapsed amid fraud in 2002. The demise of Enron had little to do with mortgages, bank bailouts or any of the things that have been at the heart of the recent financial crisis. Nonetheless, the lead producer of Enron, Jeffrey Richards, says the play is sure to strike a contemporary chord with audiences. (See the top 10 plays...
...unexpected good news in mid-March. A newly released report uncovered accounting tricks at Lehman Brothers, causing many to compare the defunct investment bank, which failed in September 2008, to Enron. That put the energy company, at least briefly, in the headlines again. And Lehman Brothers is in the play as well, portrayed by two actors in an overcoat as a Siamese twin. "It's a play about our society and the way it attracts greed and corruption," says Richards. "Enron was the beginning." (See a TIME cover story about Enron's fall...
...What's more, producers say business plays can draw a bigger crowd than other productions. Susan Gallin, who produced in the mid-1980s the off-Broadway hit Other People's Money, about corporate raiders, says she remembers more men in the audience of that play than in others she has worked on. "There is an audience for business plays that just doesn't exist for other plays," says Gallin...
...Nonetheless, even by recent standards, Enron is a gamble. With 22 actors, it has a much larger cast than the typical play. It has numerous sets, a handful of musical numbers and three lurking, red-eyed velociraptors to represent Enron's hidden debt, among other props. The play has gotten rave reviews in London, and the director Rupert Goold, who is staying with the Broadway production, won London's Evening Standard award for best director. But the producers decided to replace the cast when they brought the play to New York. All that has driven up the budget...