I’ve haven’t seen the Broadway show but I’ve recently been listening to the CD a lot. I saw the movie version years ago.
My question is: what’s the catastrophe about the show being a hit? So Max and Leo’s plans to abscond with the money are spoiled - so what? Maybe they’ll make even MORE money this way! The joke is, they did it honestly!
Oh, and what’s the joke re “the little wooden boy”?
RE: The catastrophe about the show being a hit -
They sold shares in the show of money returned in excess of 100%, namely:
20% for you
25% for you
25% for you
50% for you
20% for you
and on and on
If the show were a flop, “Oh, gee, sorry. Looks like you lost all of your investment.”
If the show is a hit, “Hey, where’s my 25% of the return?”
As for “the little wooden boy”? D’know.
They oversold the rights to the show, i.e. more than 100% of the show is promised to the investors, so there is no way every investor can get their full share of the profits. Not to mention that it leaves no money for Max and Leo. The money they wanted to steal wasn’t profit from the show–it was the money they got from investors that was not spent on the show (they told the investors it would take 2 million to put on the show, but only spent a fraction of that amount on hiring people, doing sets, etc.)
Little Wooden Boy = Pinocchio = lying?
Max says it during “Betrayed,” while he’s recounting The Show So Far, when he gets to the auditions.