Ponzi the Musical

Ever since the Madoff incident erupted late last year, I’ve been wondering about the term “Ponzi scheme.” In The New York Times yesterday, Patrick Healy explains it, while also letting us know about a musical retelling of the story heading to a stage or theater near you.

“Ponzi’s Scheme” tells the story of Charles Ponzi, a charismatic charlatan who came to Boston and fleeced investors for millions of dollars in the 1920s by promising them huge, swift returns on their money — then used the money to pay big sums to earlier investors and repeated the cycle with tier after tier of investors to convey the appearance of earnings.

Jean Doumanian Productions, who produced August: Osage County and several films by Woody Allen, will develop Ponzi’s Scheme, a 2005 non-fiction book by Mitchell Zuckoff, into a musical.

The New York Times piece is here.