A lavish story of redemption or Drabinsky’s final curtain?

Critics have not been kind to ex-con impresario’s Sousatzka, but producers hope for Broadway

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 the1988 movie starring Shirley MacLaine that was adapted from the book by Bernice Rubens.

But the Toronto musical was perhaps the most buzzed 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. 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 who is being trained for greatness.

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

Critics certainly, have not been enamoured with 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. The last week of the show seats were sold on a twofor-one special. One website reported that tickets were being given free to people who donated blood and through hospitals.

That’s how theatregoers seated beside me happened to be there at 2 p.m. on a Sunday, accidentally happening to be 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 Toronto East General Hospital, 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,” Curtis said, at the matinee with her two daughters and son-in-law. “And I loved the music.”

Curtis’ 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.

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.

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?”