QUICK TAKES - March 12, 2009

“Nightmare Alley,” the original musical by Jonathan Brielle that had been slated to open at Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse in June, is off -- at least for now. The project, based on the William Lindsay Gresham novel and subsequent 1947 film about con artists, clairvoyants and carnies, has fallen victim to the tanking economy.

Geffen Producing Director Gilbert Cates said it was “too expensive for us to do this year. So we’re postponing it until next year -- when we have more money and we can do it right.”

In place of “Nightmare Alley,” the Geffen will present “Farragut North,” Beau Willimon’s play about the world of spin during a presidential campaign. The play, which had its premiere off-Broadway last year at the Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater, featured Chris Noth (Mr. Big from “Sex and the City”), who will appear in the Geffen production, running June 24 through July 26.

-- Lisa Fung