Few investment houses would advocate sinking money into a Broadway
musical. But that's what Fidelity Investments is doing - sort of.
The Boston-based brokerage firm recently announced its sponsorship
of the Broadway revival of "Sweeney Todd," a scaled-down
import from London starring the Tony Award winners Michael Cerveris
and Patti LuPone. The Boston Pops and Boston Ballet have benefited
from Fidelity's largess in the past, but Stephen Sondheim and Hugh
Wheeler's 1979 masterpiece about a revenge-crazed barber slicing
his way through Victorian London? "This was a highly acclaimed
musical, and we felt it was a good community partnership,"
said Vin Loporchio, a Fidelity spokesman.
Forum: Theater
But still -
all those corpses. "It seems to me that what Fidelity is sponsoring
is the art of it, not the substance of it," said Tom Viertel,
one of the lead producers on "Sweeney," which begins previews
Oct. 3 at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. "Every once in a while,
the sponsor and the show are particularly well matched." Mr.
Viertel cited Hallmark's sponsorship of the 1998 "Sound of
Music" revival as an example. "But that's the exception,"
he said. "By that standard, who could sponsor 'Sweeney Todd,'
Sara Lee?" (Sweeney's lady friend, Mrs. Lovett, grinds up his
numerous victims and turns them into meat pies.)
Mr. Viertel
and Mr. Loporchio both emphasized that Fidelity is not a backer
of the play in the traditional, Bialystock and Bloom sense. "They
give us financial support," Mr. Viertel said, "and we
give them access and exposure." That includes the use of a
Fidelity logo in the "Sweeney" print advertisements -
and a fair number of choice tickets for Fidelity clients and employees.
So if you have any cash left over after shelling out $200 for a
pair of orchestra seats, you might consider asking the folks to
your left or right what to do with it.
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