(Philip Boroff’s article appeared on Bloomberg, 7/28.)
Three years after agreeing to buy its own Broadway house, New York’s Second Stage Theatre is struggling to close the deal.
The highly regarded company, whose hits include “Next to Normal” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” risks forfeiting a $3.65 million down payment should it fail to come up with the $21.1 million balance for the theater by May 2012, according to a financial statement filed with the New York State attorney general.
In April 2008, Second Stage announced its plan to purchase the 597-seat Helen Hayes Theater for $24 million. Like most nonprofits, it is still grappling with a recession that short- circuited capital fundraising.
The group is also navigating Broadway’s blurring boundaries between commercial and subsidized producers. Buying the Hayes would make it the fourth nonprofit with at least one Broadway house.