Nobody Knows Anything...But Goldman Knows How To Kill A Musical

"The Princess Bride" was one of the few movies/books being turned into a musical I was actually looking forward to. But according to the NY Post's Michael Riedel, William Goldman and composer Adam Guettel have parted ways rather bitterly. After Adam spent a year working on the show, Goldman suddenly told him that Guettel's cut of the show would be 25% and Goldman's 75%. As far as Goldman was concerned, it was his novel and his screenplay and his idea, so surely it mostly belonged to him. Guettel thought this was grossly unfair and walked away. Of course, Guettel was grossly unwise to spend a year working on songs without a clear deal in place, but that's probably how the polite world of the theater works. Not so, Hollywood, where ruthlessness is the order of the day. Goldman didn't bother denying the claims of Guettel's supporters but his people said Guettel worked too damn slow. All in all, a shame. Riedel also says Matthew Broderick is dragging his feet over returning AGAIN to "The Producers" for one last hurrah (and one last $1.2 million). Nathan Lane thinks the money would be nice. Broderick feels they've dipped into that well once too often, is still smarting from his pans from "The Odd Couple" and is still hurt that Mel Brooks promised him the lead in "Young Frankenstein" (for which he's ideal) but is now auditioning others. I'm torn myself. One last goodbye to the show could be fun, but they are in fact milking it dry.