A headline in yesterday’s Boston Globe offers a strange and compelling problem/solution set:
Facing debt, Wang to produce its own shows
In other words, in response to excess risk and exposure to losses from touring performances, Boston’s Wang Center for the Performing Arts has decided to increase its risk and exposure to loss as a producer. Says the article:
Instead of relying on touring Broadway musicals to anchor its season, the nonprofit Wang will produce or coproduce its own shows, with an emphasis on ”event musicals” and family entertainment. Among these will be ”White Christmas,” which the Wang plans to make a biennial holiday-season attraction. Spaulding hoped that the lucrative ”Radio City Christmas Spectacular,” the Wang’s biggest hit of this season, would run in alternate years.
The new approach is more likely one of reactive necessity than proactive strategy. The Wang’s competitive marketplace, and its access to popular touring content, has vastly changed in the past few years with the aggressive market entry of Clear Channel Entertainment. Formerly the anchor of large touring productions, the Wang is now second or third or fourth to Boston venues controlled or owned by Clear Channel (which also holds an interest in most of the touring Broadway shows). Clear Channel’s purchase and restoration of the downtown Opera House (which became home to the mega-market-mashing Lion King) pushed the Wang’s business model even further into the red. According to one Boston producer:
”There’s no competition anymore, because the theater business is run by conglomerates, who also own most Broadway shows….Their interest is in keeping their houses full, so they can leverage their investments on Broadway.”
The situation is made even more awkward by the Wang’s ouster of one of its resident company’s cash-cow productions last year, the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker, to present a Clear Channel Christmas spectacular. Now, the self-produced ‘White Christmas’ is likely to be yet another competitor for the Ballet’s holiday favorite, and another point of tension between the venue and its local tenants.
More fun stuff to watch in the Boston performing arts market, and a glimpse of things to come in other cities across the country.
Factually, The Wang Center is not third or fourth in Boston venues. First or second at the least.
Secondly, Radio City Christmas Spectacular has nothing to do with Clear Channel.
Finally, the tension with Boston Ballet and The Wang Center has dissipated over the last year. The Ballet still performs most of its season on The Wang Center’s stage.
IMHO, The Wang Center’s production of shows has more to do with controlling the content of shows it puts on its stage.
As a blogger you have a responsibility for the content you put out.
ANDREW RESPONDS:
Thanks for your note, Johnnyx1. I agree that I have a responsibility to report accurately, so I’ll clarify my points:
My point about the Wang Center being third or fourth relates to Clear Channel productions, simply because Clear Channel controls three or four venues in Boston, and has alternatives to the Wang. I’m not suggesting that the venue is no longer a primary destination for the performing arts, just that its available choices of WHAT to present are diminishing with the new competition.
Second, Clear Channel is a production partner for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in most major cities, and likely has an ownership interest (although I can’t confirm that interest except through conversations with people who know these things…which I have).
Finally, I would doubt that ALL the tension has dissipated between the Wang and the Boston Ballet…I’ve rarely seen a performing arts center and a resident company with a tension-less relationship. Plus, it appears that the Wang’s new holiday show may compete for tickets and attention with the Nutcracker…filling the off years when they aren’t presenting the Radio City show.
And I’m sure the decision to produce their own shows has a complex set of reasons and influences, among them being creative and financial control. But I also suggest that the entry of Clear Channel forced their hand quite a bit.
Please continue to keep me honest. Feedback is appreciated.