Will Sousatzka make it to Broadway?

As a glowing image of the African sun set on the stage for the final Toronto curtain call at the Elgin Theatre on Sunday, that was surely the question on the mind of producers. The audience gave the show a standing ovation. But this could be the final look at the short-lived world premiere of a lavish, controversial musical.

The average Canadian may not have heard of Sousatzka, except perhaps for the 1988 movie starring Shirley MacLaine that was adapted from the book by Bernice Rubens.

But the Toronto musical was perhaps the most buzzed-about event of the theatre season, closely watched by insiders in New York and London. And with a substantial cast of 47, including Tony Award-winning veterans, the success of the show has major repercussions for the city’s arts scene.

It also had the makings of the great redemption story. That would be of theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky. After spending 17 months in jail for forgery related to his Livent theatre empire, this was his great comeback.

Based on the 1962 novel Madame Sousatzka, Drabinsky worked on a musical version while behind bars. Would he, like Martha Stewart or Robert Downey Jr., be released from jail and return to form?

Drabinsky, to be kind, may have questionable accounting practices. But what is not in debate is his talent. His Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime, both shows honed in Toronto, would move to Broadway where they would win multiple Tony Awards.

Sousatzka, meanwhile, takes place in the worlds of apartheid South Africa and Nazi-occupied Europe. At the centre is a musical prodigy being trained for greatness.

“They can’t bear to see you soar. They will destroy you,” says Themba’s (Jordan Barrow) mother Xholiswa (Montego Glover) in lines that might have been written by Drabinsky himself.

Critics certainly, have not been enamoured of the show.

The Star’s Karen Fricker gave it one star out of four, saying it was an “overproduced, overcomplicated mess.”

And ticket sales cannot be described as blistering. During the show’s last week, seats were sold on a two-for-one special. One website reported that tickets were being given free to people who donated blood and through hospitals.

That’s how theatre-goers seated beside me happened to be there at 2 p.m. on a Sunday, accidental participants in a bit of theatre history: either seeing the next big Broadway hit before everyone else or witnessing Drabinsky’s last stand.

Michelle Curtis, a retiree, says she heard about the show because her daughter, a nurse at Michael Garron Hospital (formerly Toronto East General), got tickets for free on Wednesday. She hadn’t heard about the play but said she was pleasantly surprised.

“I thought it was very impressive. They did an amazing job,” said Curtis, who was at the matinee with her two daughters and son-in-law. “And I loved the music.”

Curtis’s other daughter, teacher Rosemarie Rabindranath, said she thought the show was captivating and “very emotional. I really liked the scale of the show. ”

The mother and daughter said they both appreciated the way the story segued seamlessly between intimate moments that would lead to grander spectacle.

At this point, I’m not sure if it’s the free tickets talking. Although Curtis is emphatic: “I’m not saying this just to say it.”

But at intermission I go down to the cafeteria where I bump into Alvin Cassius, a music concert stage manager who is gulping down his $2 coffee. Cassius paid for his balcony tickets, although at the two for one price.

“The reviews were really awful, so I wasn’t really expecting much, but I thought it was pretty good,” says Cassius. “I think Drabinsky can still put on a show.”

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The reality is, as much as Drabinsky has been vilified, there are very few theatre producers of his calibre willing to invest in the performing arts. Toronto’s David Mirvish is the lone figure standing after others have failed to make a go at creating one of the world’s most financially risky art forms.

Mirvish used to joke that his father, Ed Mirvish, likely spent 90 per cent of his efforts running the theatre business for maybe 5 per cent of the total revenues from his shops, restaurants and other businesses.

“Theatre is a disease and I’ve caught it,” Ed would say.

Drabinsky obviously caught the same bug. The hurdles seem endless; even if the show does make it to Broadway, Drabinsky is barred from entering the United States. He has been under indictment for fraud since 1999. That means he would essentially have to produce a Broadway musical via Skype.

And because he is not allowed to handle finances, he is working at arm’s length from the box office, with Teatro Proscenium Limited Partnership, formed by former CBC executive Richard Stursberg.

Drabinsky declined to comment on this story, although he told the Star’s Mary Ormsby that Sousatzka represents “some of the best work of my life in theatre.”

According to a spokesperson for the show, theatre producers from New York and London have been seeing the musical over the past week so “the next round of performances or development can be planned.”

“New York is still very much of interest to the producers. . . . They are reading reviews, listening to comments from ticket buyers and deciding next steps. But no plans have been finalized yet,” the spokesperson told the Star.

The plan was always to go to Broadway. Drabinsky does not think on a molecular scale; the tickets boldly state that you are watching a “pre-Broadway Engagement.”

But getting to Broadway is a mug’s game. The post-Sept. 11 musical Come From Away, about the response of residents in Newfoundland to tragedy, is the rare exception. That recently opened to solid reviews on Broadway and is heading to front-runner status for a Tony.

But no one is counting Drabinsky out. He has defied the odds before.

Asked whether producers were happy with the reception of the show, a publicist sent postings of fans who loved the show saying it “receives standing ovations every night.”

As to whether they were happy with box office receipts, the reply is disingenuous but not unexpected: “Are producers ever happy with ticket sales, except maybe for the producers of Hamilton?”

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