Theater cancels Woody Allen musical after revived accusation

BACKGROUND: A poster for Woody Allen's musical 'Bullets Over Broadway'. Image Courtesy: The Lincoln Centre; RIGHT: Director Woody Allen at a news conference before the opening of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 11, 2016. REUTERS/Yves Herman/Files

 

NEW YORK: An influential regional theatre has cancelled Woody Allen's musical Bullets Over Broadway after his adopted daughter renewed allegations that he assaulted her.

The Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut said it was replacing a new production of Bullets Over Broadway — Allen's jazz-infused theatrical adaptation of his 1994 film — with the parody musical The Drowsy Chaperone.

"In light of the current dialogue on sexual harassment and misconduct, the author of Bullets Over Broadway, Woody Allen, has come under increasing scrutiny," Goodspeed executive director Michael Gennaro said in a statement.

"Ongoing reports in the media have made this situation even more difficult and complicated and this led us to reconsider the appropriateness of producing the show," he said.

Dylan Farrow, Allen's estranged daughter whom he adopted with ex-partner Mia Farrow, pleaded for the world to shun Allen as she gave her first television interview last week in which she repeated that Allen molested her in 1992 when she was seven.

Allen, 82, has steadfastly and strongly denied the allegations, noting that he was cleared by investigators at the time.

He has accused Farrow's family of brainwashing his daughter after he left Farrow for Soon-Yi Previn, the actress and activist's adoptive daughter from a previous marriage.

But Dylan Farrow's interview, and the rising #MeToo movement's spotlight on sexual abuse by powerful men, have suddenly put pressure on Allen who had remained one of the world's most feted film directors, especially in Europe.

Actors who have worked with Allen, including Colin Firth, Ellen Page and Natalie Portman, have all distanced themselves from the director in recent weeks.

The Goodspeed Opera House is known as a launchpad for Broadway, with Annie and Man of La Mancha among musicals to have their start there.

Bullets Over Broadway — a comedy about a struggling playwright whose quest for financing lands him into dealings with the mob — premiered in 2014 as the first musical written by Allen.

But it closed within months after sluggish ticket sales.