Saturday, May 1, 2010

Former 26th Street Theatre Producers In The News

The Naples News, that is.  Chris Silk, who covers entertainment over on the Gulf Coast, looked into the not-so-spotless record of Gary Waldman and Jamison Troutman in two articles published in the Saturday edition of the paper.

The first article deals with The Life, a story that we broke on the Theatre Scene last year.  The story covers all the ground from last year, and includes the police report filed after out-of-town cast members called the police for assistance.  Silk spoke at length with Waldman, and audio clips of that interview are included.  Silk also talked to several of the cast members in question. 

Silk also mentions that although Waldman and Troutman have basically been blacklisted by two different professional unions, audition notices still stated the producers were looking to cast AEA actors.

The second article includes details of debts and lawsuits, which surprisingly includes MTI (Music Theatre International), which licenses most of the musicals in the U.S.  If you're producing musicals, this is one company you don't want to annoy.  Silk includes court documents, and audio clips of Waldman's responses to them.  By and large, he's singing the same song he's offered over the last 12 years; he doesn't owe money because the other party didn't deliver something, or he doesn't know anything about any debt because "I'm the Artistic Director.  I don't pay the bills."  Well, we knew that, didn't we?

Silk has been very careful to include Waldman's responses, going so far as to include audio clips.  Silk also included links to many of the favorable reviews Waldman has earned throughout his career, as well as a few words from Phil Hinton, who was worked as Musical Director on many of Waldman's productions.  It's important to remember that Waldman has had a string of artistic successes under his belt.

He's just a lousy accountant.

Anyway, Chris Silk has presented two thoroughly researched articles, and they are worth the read.

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