LEGENDS - THE PRODUCER

We sit in a darkened theater. We get swept into the script, the characters, the set, the acting, the entertainment. We enjoy the experience, applaud the performance. We are happy.

So is the producer.

We take it all for granted: the stars, the lights, the sound effects, and everything else that contributes to the overall production.

That’s just fine with the producer.

There are so many things we don’t see or hear or realize, but they’re all part of the producer’s responsibility when it comes to putting a Broadway show on stage for our entertainment. Ben Sprecher, the president and CEO of the Sprecher Organization in New York City, is the producer of LEGENDS!, and I was able to catch up with the theater mogul a few weeks ago by phone.

I began our conversation with the usual “money” question: Is the producer responsible for raising the money necessary to mount and sustain a show? “Well, yes, of course,” Sprecher answers, “that is my responsibility, but actually I make the two most important unilateral decisions: I decide what to produce and I decide when to close it.”

He goes on to explain in more detail. “My responsibilities include the identification and selection of shows to produce, the overall financing and economic structure of those shows, and the hiring of creative personnel, including directors, actors and designers for each production.”

The Sprecher Organization, and more specifically Sprecher himself, has produced a number of works, including the Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick; the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Fortune’s Fool starring Alan Bates and Frank Langella; Larry Gelbart’s hit Broadway comedy Sly Fox starring Richard Dreyfuss and Eric Stoltz; the Tony Award-winning production of Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain Tonight; the Broadway thriller Voices in the Dark starring Judith Ivey; and now James Kirkwood’s comedy LEGENDS! starring Joan Collins and Linda Evans.

“About two years ago, Joan came to see me and explained that she wanted to get back on the stage, maybe Broadway, and did I have any ideas that might work for her. She and I hit it off well, and I really wanted to find something that would work for her, seeing in her the comedic actress that she really is.”

“I looked at 30 years worth of plays that I thought might work for her,” he continues, “and then I remembered – fondly – a play that James Kirkwood, the man who did A Chorus Line, had written, called Legends! I got a copy of it, read it, saw that it had never been revived since ’86, and sent it to Joan.”

“I loved that fact that it was just a fun show, a light piece of cotton candy, and something that Joan could have a good time with, but I didn’t know how she’d react to it.”

“She loved it!” he laughs, “so we started ‘talking’ immediately. She would play the dark-haired, ‘bitchy’ one, but what about the light-haired, ‘nice’ one?”

Obviously they needed two stars, but Sprecher explains that he had to run his choices past Collins before they were even approached. She had no problem with his list, but the process was trickier and beset with all the usual scheduling, availability and time constraints.

“I talked to two dozen or more stars, including Mary Tyler Moore, Shirley Temple, Debbie Reynolds and Florence Henderson. For one reason or another, they were unable to commit, especially since it involved—at the minimum—touring for 30 weeks.”

Sprecher knew that the different venues around the country would really demand two “star names,” and an incredibly obvious idea struck him.

“How about if I call Linda Evans?” Collins and Evans were the cat-fighting stars of TV’s Dynasty in the 1980s, and Sprecher felt it would be a perfect, audience-attracting match.

Sprecher went on to say that Collins didn’t think it would happen. “Joan said, ‘Oh, no, she hates me. She won’t even return your call.’”

“I called Linda anyway. Her response? ‘Really? I thought Joan hated me!’”

Sprecher laughs, “Not only did I patch up a non-existent, unreal ‘feud,’ I found my two stars and knew this was going to be fun for both of them and all of us!”

“I wanted 30 weeks of bookings, got it with no problem. Theaters across North America knew how much people would love to see Joan Collins and Linda Evans together again, live and up close, having fun. And it is fun.”

Sprecher goes on to explain that while the tour may have led to an on-Broadway stint, that plan has changed, and LEGENDS! will tour only. “I was able to develop a budget based on 30 weeks on tour, cobbled together the money, got people like Broadway director John Bowab and well-known fashion designer and costumer Nolan Miller, among others, rehearsed in New York, then headed off to a Toronto opening in October.”

“As a producer,” he continues, “I have a certain way of looking at a show as ‘successful,’ and believe me, this is successful. I’m very pleased. After all, I’m the one who picks up the phone—I’m the ‘provocateur.’”

Regarding his future plans, Sprecher explains, “I’ll be bringing the Old Vic Theatre Company production of Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten, starring Kevin Spacey, Eve Best and Colm Meaney to Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theatre in March. That’s already getting a good deal of buzz.”

Also in development are a new musical entitled Prairie based on the literary classic books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, with book by Beth Henley and music by Rachel Portman, and the musical Rebecca based on the classic novel by Daphne DuMaurier, both to be directed by Francesca Zambello.