{"id":682,"date":"2005-04-28T09:22:54","date_gmt":"2005-04-28T16:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2005\/04\/facing_submersion_ship_captain\/"},"modified":"2005-04-28T09:22:54","modified_gmt":"2005-04-28T16:22:54","slug":"facing_submersion_ship_captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/facing_submersion_ship_captain.php","title":{"rendered":"Facing submersion, ship captain decides to take on more water"},"content":{"rendered":"

A headline in yesterday’s Boston Globe<\/i><\/a> offers a strange and compelling problem\/solution set:<\/p>\n


\nFacing debt, Wang to produce its own shows
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/i> its risk and exposure to loss as a producer. Says the article:<\/p>\n


\nInstead 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.
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/i>) pushed the Wang’s business model even further into the red. According to one Boston producer:<\/p>\n


\n”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.”
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/i>, to present a Clear Channel Christmas spectacular. Now, the self-produced ‘White Christmas’ is likely to be yet another<\/i> competitor for the Ballet’s holiday favorite, and another point of tension between the venue and its local tenants.<\/p>\n

More fun stuff to watch in the Boston performing arts market, and a glimpse of things to come in other cities across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}