There's No Business Like Scam Business

Scamfluencers

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.1 • 7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2024

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Garth Drabinsky overcomes a sickly childhood to become a world-famous theater producer, bringing big shows like Phantom of the Opera and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to his native Canada. Then he tackles Broadway, always staging shows that were bigger, brighter, and more expensive than anyone else. Like every theater kid, he’s determined the show must go on — even if that involves a little fraud. But when the most feared man in Hollywood becomes a business partner, Garth’s dreams come crashing down in dramatic fashion.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wundry Plus subscribers can listen to scam influencers early and ad free right now.
0:04.6	Join Wundry Plus in the Wundry App or Apple Podcasts.
0:07.4	Saki. Sachi, I feel very strongly when we get to cover a Canadian scammer.
0:18.0	What is it about a homegrown freak that we just love.
0:22.8	I mean, I think it's just because Canada's so small,
0:26.0	so anytime we get anything, we're like,
0:28.2	hey, that's one of us!
0:30.6	It is really hard to make it as a Canadian, especially in the arts, and there's always a sense of national pride when someone becomes famous.
0:38.0	Yeah, I love all Canadian scammers, murderers, philanderers, whatever you got.
0:44.0	Well, today, I'm going to tell you about a scammer you may not have heard of,
0:48.0	but unfortunately, he has made a big impact on both sides of the border.
0:54.8	It's June 1998 and Garth Dravinsky is sitting in the audience at New York's Radio City
1:00.6	Music Hall.
1:01.6	Garth is a 49-year year old theater producer from Toronto.
1:05.0	He has a broad frame, floppy brown hair, and wire-rimmed glasses,
1:09.0	and he's here for the Tony Awards.
1:11.0	Garth is surrounded by some of Broadway's biggest stars who are all dressed to impress.
1:16.7	He watches as Award after Award is presented and Actors stage performances from the season's biggest
1:22.2	musicals. The cast of the Lion King sings
1:24.9	the Circle of Life and Alan Cumming wows the audience as the MC from Cabaret.
1:29.9	Garth tries to enjoy the show but but as the night goes on, he starts to feel more and more nervous,
1:37.0	because his theater company is in major financial trouble, and he's bet everything on his latest production, Ragtime.
	...

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