Ben Hur’s Vienna Setback

Art Concerts chief Franz Abraham is seeking new investors to get his “Ben Hur Live” spectacular back on the road, but signs suggest that some promoters have given up on rescheduling the show.

Abraham’s company was forced into bankruptcy in January, resulting in the cancellation of the “Ben Hur” shows at Gelsenkirchen Veltins Arena in Germany, Belgium’s Antwerp Sportpaleis and the Vienna Stadthalle in Austria.

He’s accepted the responsibility for refunding ticket-holders but says his company has no money to pay them, promising the tickets will be valid for rescheduled shows.

Abraham, who was to meet potential investors March 10, hopes to raise the funds to produce “Ben Hur Live” in its own “Circus Maximus-style” tent in Rome, Cologne, Munich, and London in the autumn.

He looks to have given up on rescheduling Vienna, where the Stadthalle is already giving refunds on the tickets bought through its own box office.

“There’s no legal obligation because the money has already been sent from the box office to the show producer, but these are Stadthalle customers and we have decided to pay the refunds ourselves,” said a representative for the venue’s event management team.

Österreich Ticket, part of German ticket giant CTS Eventim, say’s it’s following the liquidator’s advice and not giving refunds, although it is supplying its customers with the form needed to lodge a creditor’s claim with the liquidator.

The Antwerp Sportpaleis had already decided not to reschedule “Ben Hur Live,” which should have run March 5-6, because it had already moved it twice and felt ticket sales didn’t justify the increased costs.

The other canceled shows now include Kaltenberg Arena, Berlin Tempelhof and Frankfurt Festhalle, although Abraham is hoping to go back to Berlin in the autumn.