Last week, two local stage companies broke big news:
* The Raven Players in Healdsburg would present the hit musical “Rent” in August 2010.
* And Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse would bring back TV and film actor Daniel Benzali, a box office success in ‘Death of a Salesman’ there last fall, back for another show next season.
Things have changed since then. “The Entertainer,” to star Benzali, has been pulled from 6th Street’s schedule.
The Raven Players still plan to put on “Rent,” but now 6th Street does, too. And the Santa Rosa production is scheduled for next May, just a few months before the Healdsburg production opens.
John DeGaetano, head of the Raven Players board of directors, is feeling frustrated about that, but vows his show will go on. (The rights to the play reportedly cost about $11,000, so there’s no going back now.)
“Earlier this year, we got the rights to ‘Rent,’ and it’s in our brochure and we’ve been promoting it. So that’s our side of the story. The 6th Street Playhouse had posted their season and now that’s evidently being changed,” DeGaetano said.
The 6th Street Playhouse had listed its shows for next season in its current program, including both “The Entertainer” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
Now both shows have been dropped and “Rent” has been added, along with some other changes at 6th Street. “The Possession of Mrs. Jones” will move from the 6th Street’s studio theater to the mainstage. Benzali may become available for a different show later in the 2009-2010 season, depending on his film schedule.
Executive Director Elizabeth Craven and board president Pam Zainer of the 6th Street Playhouse both said the theater has been on the waiting list for the rights to “Rent” for several years, but just got the go-ahead recently.
The choice was mostly based on economics, Craven said. “Business” requires a large orchestra and the rights cost almost as much as “Rent,” which only needs a four-piece band. And “Rent” is a hot show.
“‘Rent’ was not available when we were originally picking our season,” Craven said. “I’ve offered to co-produce ‘Rent’ with the Raven Players. It’s my hope we can do it together, but I don’t think we’re in a rival situation anyway.”
And musical director Justin Pyne, already signed up to do the Raven production of “Rent,” recently joined the staff at 6th Street, so he’ll be working on both productions of the show in any case, Craven said.
DeGaetano and the Raven Players aren’t really interested in a co-production. The two theaters are using different directors and the two theaters’ stages are very different.
“We’ve put a lot of energy into this already, and to dilute that would be kind of difficult at this point. There’s a principle here. We are disappointed,” DeGaetano said. “It’s like they’re saying, ‘Hey, we want a piece of the pie.’ It’s hard to know if there’s enough pie to go around. All I know, is we’re going ahead with our production in August next year and we’re going to make it the best we can.”
