{"id":776,"date":"2005-10-03T08:29:15","date_gmt":"2005-10-03T15:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp\/2005\/10\/with_broadway_in_vegas_the_hou\/"},"modified":"2005-10-03T08:29:15","modified_gmt":"2005-10-03T15:29:15","slug":"with_broadway_in_vegas_the_hou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/with_broadway_in_vegas_the_hou.php","title":{"rendered":"With Broadway in Vegas, the house may win again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regional and metropolitan performing arts centers and touring houses may have yet one more thing to worry about in their eroding business models — the aggressive entry of Las Vegas into their world. The New York Times<\/i> covered the trend yesterday<\/a> (login required, try BugMeNot<\/a> if you don’t have an Times<\/i> account). But the issue was bubbling even late last year<\/a> among industry sources. Says the Times<\/i>:<\/p>\n


\nIf it isn’t already, Las Vegas will soon be the second city of Broadway, home to more New York musicals than any market outside Manhattan. It was this, not just snobbery, behind the “Avenue Q” alarm: the fear of further disruption in an already unstable business. If Broadway shows went to Vegas instead of touring, what would happen to the traditional road theaters and their customers? More saliently, what would happen to their backers, who are often investors in New York productions? If they were outflanked by casino operators, how would that alter the kinds of shows that make it to Broadway in the first place? For even though the tail of touring had to some degree wagged the dog of Broadway for years, Vegas now threatened to clone a new dog entirely. A big dog with sequins.
\n<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Vegas, Broadway producers can get the theater they want (built for them, in fact) rather than cram into the existing, landmarked real estate in New York; their artists can live comfortably in one city for the run, rather than bumping from town to town in a national tour; and with nearly 40 million visitors a year to Las Vegas, they can expect an audience. Since most trim the shows to 90 minutes or less, producers can also run 10 shows a week rather than 8 under the same performer salaries. <\/p>\n

While both articles emphasize the impact of Vegas on Broadway, the real folks at risk are the performing arts centers and presenters scattered around the United States. These venues depend on blockbuster tours to keep their accounts in good standing, and to subsidize the rents of resident performing organizations (the symphony, the theater, the ballet, etc.). The positive economics of a Vegas venue, especially for established hits like Avenue Q<\/i>, Phantom of the Opera<\/i>, Mamma Mia<\/i>, Hairspray<\/i>, and Blue Man Group<\/i> make the idea of a long, national tour much less appealing. For at least one popular show, Avenue Q<\/i>, Vegas is an opportunity not to tour at all. Says one producer:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

”What the road seemed to be offering was at most 50 weeks,” said Kevin McCollum, a producer of ”Avenue Q,” “with low guarantees because it wasn’t a show about a warm kitten and your grandmother….Also the size of theater our show works well in, 1,200 seats at most, doesn’t exist on the road. Generally they’re around 2,000 seats, as much as 4,500 in Atlanta.”<\/p>\n

At the Wynn [in Vegas], Mr. McCollum got the theater size he wanted, without censorship or the enormous cost of moving each week. And because concierges and cabbies are more influential than critics in Las Vegas, he also got the chance to let the work speak for itself. ”On the road, by the time you develop word-of-mouth, you’re in the next city,” he said.<\/p>\n

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

Much of America’s infrastructure of performing arts centers and renovated theaters was built on the energy, income, and promise of the Broadway tour. If Vegas skims the cream off the top of that industry, local arts presenters will need to find another way to balance the books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regional and metropolitan performing arts centers and touring houses may have yet one more thing to worry about in their eroding business models — the aggressive entry of Las Vegas into their world. The New York Times covered the trend yesterday (login required, try BugMeNot if you don’t have an Times account). But the issue […]<\/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-776","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\/776","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=776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}