BEFORE Harvey Fierstein begins performances next month in “Fiddler on the Roof,” he and his people might want to do a safety check of the show.
There has been a rash of accidents onstage recently, and production sources say safety concerns have become a real issue for the cast and crew.
Last week, Nancy Opel, who plays Yente the Matchmaker, fell through a trap door onstage that was left open during a production number.
Opel was taken to the hospital and received several stitches.
She has been out of the show ever since, but is expected to return next week.
What’s got the cast up in arms is that Opel was the second person to fall through the trap door that night.
The first was a dancer, who, fortunately, was not seriously injured.
Production sources say cast members have also collided with pieces of scenery.
Recently, the producers of the show met with the company to assure them that safety measures were being “quadrupled,” a source says.
But the cast is still uneasy.
Jokes one person: “I hope Harvey doesn’t fall through the stage if he stomps too hard during ‘Tradition.’ ”
A “Fiddler” spokesman says, “Safety is our number one priority, and we’ve stepped up measures to ensure that every member of our cast and crew is protected.”
THERE’S a big push to move “Doubt,” John Patrick Shanley‘s new play about the Catholic Church and allegations of sexual abuse, to Broadway in the spring.
The play, which stars Cherry Jones and Brian F. O’Byrne, both Tony Award winners, opened this week at the Manhattan Theater Club at City Center to rave reviews.
Carole Shorenstein Hays, the San Francisco real estate heiress who is already backing two Broadway plays this season (“Julius Caesar” and “Gem of the Ocean”), put $200,000 into MTC’s production, which gives her the right to transfer it to Broadway.
Yesterday, Hays and her team were on the prowl for a theater on Broadway – no easy task, since all of the best play houses are booked for the spring.
But shows often fall through, and “Doubt” is such a strong play that no theater owner is going to pass up the chance to book it.
“Doubt” would be a welcome addition to a Broadway season short on new plays but long on revivals, one-person shows and appalling new musicals.
It would certainly spice up the awards races in the spring, going head-to-head with Michael Frayn‘s “Democracy.”
“Doubt” may have an edge.
Its cast has won universal acclaim, while the American actors in “Democracy” are generally not thought to be as strong as their British counterparts were in the London production.
THE Nederlanders have decided not to bolt the League of American Theaters and Producers – for now.
But James M. Nederlander, the family patriarch and one of the most powerful men in the American theater, wants a full accounting of the League’s finances and activities.
The League is a trade organization representing theater owners and producers.
It negotiates labor contracts, manages the Tony Awards and markets Broadway as a “brand name” around the world.
Nederlander pays hefty dues to the League, and “wants to know what he’s getting for his money,” says a source.
League officials will be meeting with him next month to answer that question.
They can expect a rough grilling from one of the toughest and shrewdest businessmen on Broadway.