Rejected Broadway Posters on Sale to Help Theater Community

This combination of photos shows rejected theatrical poster art from “Cabaret, from left, “Equus,” and “Matilda The Musical,” designed by Frank Verlizzo and available for purchase. (Frank Verlizzo via AP)
This combination of photos shows rejected theatrical poster art from “Cabaret, from left, “Equus,” and “Matilda The Musical,” designed by Frank Verlizzo and available for purchase. (Frank Verlizzo via AP)
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Rejected Broadway Posters on Sale to Help Theater Community

This combination of photos shows rejected theatrical poster art from “Cabaret, from left, “Equus,” and “Matilda The Musical,” designed by Frank Verlizzo and available for purchase. (Frank Verlizzo via AP)
This combination of photos shows rejected theatrical poster art from “Cabaret, from left, “Equus,” and “Matilda The Musical,” designed by Frank Verlizzo and available for purchase. (Frank Verlizzo via AP)

Letting the world see your failures is usually something most people try to avoid. Not for theatrical poster designer Frank Verlizzo — he hopes you’ll put his on your wall.

Verlizzo is selling prints of his rejected posters for such shows as “Cabaret,” “Equus” and “Matilda” with all proceeds going to the aid organization Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

“It’s exciting for me because it’s work that I particularly loved that I didn’t think anyone was ever going to see,” says the artist. “So it’s kind of wonderful that they’re now out in the world, for better or for worse.”

The 16 posters included in the series — each goes for $399 with a frame — were either rejected, never pitched or part of a group of submissions that Verlizzo made that allowed only one winner.

One highlight is an alternative poster for “The Lion King.” Disney, of course, went for Verlizzo’s stark animal mane stamp that has become iconic. But now people can mount an unpublished design of his which uses paw prints from King Mufasa and newborn Simba to illustrate both the past and the future.

“There are a million reasons why a poster gets rejected for a show,” he explains. “It’s a room full of people. It’s like one big beauty contest. Everybody has their favorites.”

The offerings include an intriguing one for “Matilda” that uses letters of the alphabet to make up a graphic portrait of the imaginative heroine. Verlizzo created it for the Broadway run of the musical but producers decided to keep the previous West End campaign.

Verlizzo, who designs under the moniker “Fraver” — a combination of his two names — says opening his vault and helping fellow artists during the pandemic was a “no-brainer.”

“The devastation in the theater industry was unbelievable. So many of my friends were unemployed instantly,” he says. “I hope it raises a lot of money.”

The project is in partnership with Gelato, the global production platform that enables artists to sell their designs to customers anywhere in the world using a network of local producers, which means carbon emissions are minimized.

Julia Ryland, who led the project for Gelato, said each poster takes you behind the creative process and in some ways celebrates the people who work on Broadway who often aren’t seen.

“Each one has a story. And I think we crave stories during this time. We crave creativity,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that wall art has become so popular. Customers are just craving art and things to put up on their walls and bring into their homes now that we can’t access it in other ways.”

Posters play a key role in a show’s life. Until word of mouth takes over, ad campaigns have to entice patrons to be willing to pay high ticket prices for something they may know little about.

“It’s definitely the first thing anybody sees about any show. And the thing I like most about it is it’s the thing that stays behind when the show’s no longer around,” Verlizzo says.

The latest set — on top of a collection of his work, “Fraver By Design: 5 Decades of Theatre Poster Art from Broadway, Off-Broadway and Beyond,” show Verlizzo’s range, which includes everything from woodcuts to elaborate typography to stylized illustration.

“This was a criticism I always came up against at school — ‘You don’t have a style. You don’t have your own style,’” he says. “It’s like, ‘Well, I like all sorts of things. I like wood cuts. I like illustration. I like graphic design.’ I don’t see why I have to tie myself down to any one particular look or style.”

To make his posters, Verlizzo starts with a script and dreams up an image that can be shrunk down to the size of a postage stamp newspaper ad or blown up to be on a billboard.

“I read it quickly first and try to get visual impressions, which is really what I’m reading it for,” he says. “Sometimes there’s a theme that I see evolving that I think would be that I could express graphically.”

He works so far ahead that often the script isn’t finished yet and there have been no casting decisions yet. He tries to come up with something to “catch your eye or intrigue a possible audience member.”

In addition to art for “The Lion King,” Verlizzo has made his mark on Broadway with hundreds of posters for such shows as “Sweeney Todd” and “Sunday in the Park with George.”

He has no hard feelings if his design isn’t picked by producers. “When I finally do get to the theater to see the show, I always understand why they made the choice they did. It always makes perfect sense to me,” he says.



Donald Trump Vows to Help ‘Troubled’ Hollywood with Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone

This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
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Donald Trump Vows to Help ‘Troubled’ Hollywood with Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone

This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)

Donald Trump wants to make Hollywood "bigger, better and stronger" and has cast Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as stars of what he is calling his "Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California."

On Wednesday, the President-elect announced on his social media site that the three actors would be his eyes and ears to the moviemaking town.

"It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!" he wrote on Truth Social.

He also called the trio special envoys. Special ambassadors and envoys are typically chosen to respond to troubled hot spots like the Middle East, not California.

Gibson said in a statement that he got the news "at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can."

Gibson, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, added, "Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?"

US film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and, in the past week, the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the US was down 26% from 2021, according to data from ProdPro.

In the greater Los Angeles area, productions were down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, the lowest since 2020. This past October, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program to $750 million annually (up from $330 million). Other US cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have used tax incentives to lure film and TV productions to their cities. Actor Mark Wahlberg is even making plans for a Las Vegas production hub.

"I’m old enough to have touched some years of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and I’ve seen its slow deterioration since. Today, we are in pretty bad shape," Voight said. "Very few films are made here now, but we are fortunate to have an incoming President, who wants to restore Hollywood to its former glory, and with his help, I feel we can get done."

It’s unclear what exactly Gibson, Voight and Stallone will be doing in this effort to bring productions back to the US Representatives for Stallone did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Trump’s decision to select the actors as his chosen "ambassadors" underscores his preoccupations with the 1980s and '90s, when he was a rising tabloid star in New York, and Gibson and Stallone were among the biggest movie stars in the world.

Stallone is a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and introduced him at a gala in November shortly after the election.

"When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like," Stallone told the crowd. "Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!"

The decision also reflects Trump’s willingness to overlook his supporters’ most controversial statements.

Gibson’s reputation has been altered in Hollywood since 2006, when he went on an antisemitic rant while being arrested for allegedly driving under the influence. But he’s also continued to work in mainstream movies and directed the upcoming Wahlberg thriller "Flight Risk."

Voight is a longtime Trump supporter who has called Trump the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.