He needs no guest stars to fill a house, and his wide appeal to a general theater audience does not run counter to the seriousness of his enterprise.
The company gives a platform to Caribbean actors and playwrights, black and white, English-speaking and Spanish-speaking, but its plans for the season also include productions of Shakespeare and contemporary general theater.
But after negative reviews in the English-language press, the show failed to attract enough of the general theater public, which is essential to a musical playing in a 1,600-seat 1,600-seat
For general theater tickets or dinner reservations, tip $5 to $10 ― and $20 and up for scoring hard-to-get tickets or reservations.
In general, smaller theaters have been quicker to capitalize on the season, programming irreverent takes on the holidays like the Brick Theater's recently closed "Dar and Matey's Christmas SpectaculARGH," or more straightforward family fare like a musical version of "A Christmas Carol" at Players Theater.
In general, movie theater owners, who have been big powers in Hollywood since the silent-film era, do not like any suggestion that might keep anyone away from the box office.
As founders of the satirical ensemble the General Nonsense Theater Company, the two wrote, starred in and helped stage subversive and biting comic sketches and, for a spell, performed in a nameless band with Ms. Oliver as the vocalist.
Mr. Leidenfrost, who is also Mr. Wilson's companion, said he thought the show would appeal to a wide demographic: the general musical theater audience, sports aficionados and what he called the "homosexual audience".
His message was loud and clear: piracy is the biggest threat to the film industry in general and theater owners in particular.
The theaters' general art director promptly resigned, and Istanbul's actors and directors took to the streets to protest the move.
