IT was three hours before showtime, and the cast of "West Side Story" was making dinner at the Surflight Theater cast house in Beach Haven.
Dates, cast and theater to be announced.
The cast and theater remain to be selected, Mr. Drabinsky said.
But as summer passed, there was no word on a cast, a theater, an opening night.
Mr. Kaye said he had not finished raising the $2 million to $3 million for each show, but had been optimistic that he would have, with the right cast and theater.
Including cast and theater staff, approximately 1,150 were on hand for what is considered one of the most magically dreadful nights in New York stage history.
No cast or theater has yet been announced, but the play will be directed by John Crowley, who directed Mr. McDonagh's drama "The Pillowman" in its National Theater and Broadway productions.
In the Broadway revival of "A Raisin in the Sun," in which Mr. Combs is making his theatrical debut playing the lead, Walter Lee, the producers have adopted a similar strategy, filling the cast with theater veterans like Audra McDonald and Phylicia Rashad.
For nearly two weeks the space has been occupied by a changing cast of theater workers — actors, seamstresses, lighting technicians and prop masters — who are protesting the privatization of a stage once graced by some of Europe's greatest thespians, from Sarah Bernhardt to Vittorio Gassman.
It features a cast of theater luminaries and Justin Guarini.
