Music Man
Garth Drabinsky’s latest drama By Alec Scott
Image credit: Ron Bull/Toronto Star
He conquered the showbiz world—twice. After creating one of the world’s largest cinema chains and getting pushed out the door for, ahem, aggressive accounting practices, he turned his next venture, Livent, into the continent’s biggest producer of boffo, big-budget musicals, including Phantom of the Opera and Showboat. But if this photograph (taken at a post-premiere fête with Ragtime starlet Lynette Perry and lyricist Lynn Ahrens) catches Garth at his pinnacle, it also marks the beginning of the end. Ragtime, which debuted in December 1996, was the last big hit for Livent before alleged book-cooking brought the curtain down on Drabinsky for a second time. Fast-forward to present day. The ensuing courtroom drama, which kicked off in mid-May, has been providing a steady supply of dinner party fodder for the chattering classes. You might even call it the trial of the century. A theatrical embellishment, perhaps, but would Garth have it any other way?
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