Scott Rudin is back tonight on Broadway.
“Death of Salesman” is the second play he’s producing in his post-cancellation phase. The first one, “Little Bear Ridge Road,” starred Laurie Metcalf. It was a new play, no one wanted to see it, and it closed prematurely.
Try, try, again. Now Metcalf stars in yet another revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” last seen four years ago with Wendell Pierce. Before that, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dustin Hoffman, and so on.
Rudin was exiled from Broadway in 2021 for being nasty, mean, vindictive, and just an all around bully. The brother of a deceased former assistant blamed him for his suicide. Actors who’d worked for Rudin declared him a monster. It wasn’t pretty.
Rudin was irrational most of the time. If you got on his bad side, he wouldn’t let you have press tickets to his shows. He once called me a “mooch” in an email. For some time, I had to buy tickets to his shows just to review them. He was also cheap. He wouldn’t donate performances to the Actors Fund — now called the Entertainment Industry Fund — something all producers did. He’d put them on at midnight, and charge nothing so the fund would get little money.
Nice, right?
Rudin is back thanks to Barry Diller, who’s paying for these shows. “Salesman” has been making about a million bucks every week in previews, although last week it dipped down to $928,000. On social media people seem to like it. Rudin’s put it in the cavernous Winter Garden Theater, which is made for musicals. The sight lines aren’t great unless you’re sitting dead center.
The producer is famous for charging a bundle for plays, forget musicals. If you want a good seat tomorrow night, it will run you 400 clams. It seems like every show has available tickets up front but obstructed (you’d need periscope) and the upper balcony is always empty, but it’s in the Bronx. Last row center is $196 plus a $17 service charge. The good news is, a cherry picker will bring you back and forth to your seat.
