Behind the Scenes: How a Touring House Season is Created

The news wasn't even twelve hours old when BroadwayWorld readers started talking about the pros and cons of the Baltimore Hippodrome 2007 – 2008 season.  Last Thursday, in a special unveiling for group sales leaders and select members of the press, stars from Avenue Q on Broadway sang and announced the line up for next year.  Some readers were ok with the news, others highly disappointed.  To an extent, disappointment was inevitable after the nearly unparalleled season we had this year.  A few of you speculated about what happened behind the scenes.  Well, I went directly to the source to get your questions answered and to put to rest some uninformed speculation.

Marks Chowning, the Vice-President and Executive Director of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, which includes the Hippodrome, took time from his busy schedule to answer a few questions. 

James Howard (JH): When putting together a season of shows for Baltimore, what are your chief considerations for selecting shows?

Marks Chowning (MC): The biggest consideration is given to trying to book the most current product possible.  With Baltimore being so close to New York, many of the more devoted theatre fans often times will go to New York to see shows, but by us booking the freshest product available, we hope to instill in our audiences that we will have the freshest product as soon as it tours.  Secondly, I attempt to balance musicals against plays.  If you look back over the past few seasons, we will always try to have at least one play, if not two.  The difficulty here is that not all that many plays tour, and in the case of the current season, we have both of the plays that are on the road, and unfortunately won't have any next season as no new play is going out.

 

JH: The size and modern technology aspects of the Hippodrome certainly must appeal to the larger touring shows, like The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King and Wicked.  What has been their reaction to working in Baltimore, and do you see much more of that kind of show coming in the future?

MC: Well, as you know, Baltimore has a rich history with theatre.  In its heyday, the Mechanic had the largest subscription in the country at about 22,000.  But, as the shows got bigger, the Mechanic, for both technical and economic factors, became less desirable and in some cases inadequate for the larger shows.  That was one of the primary factors in deciding to renovate the Hippodrome.  With regards to what the shows think, they love it!  A big stage, lots of dressing rooms, easy loading, and a market that is once again coming into its own.  It is a strong statement when Disney chooses Baltimore over Washington D.C. to host the regional premiere of The Lion King, and an even stronger statement that we sold out 14 weeks of the show.

JH: Shows like Wicked have opted for big city sit downs, then launching major tours.  Do you foresee Baltimore ever being a part of that?

MC: I think it is possible, but not likely. I say that because of our proximity to New York and Washington D.C.  Even a market like Boston, that has a long tradition of being a theatre town, doesn't get sit-down long runs like Chicago, Los Angeles or Toronto.   What we are aggressively doing, though, is lobbying producers to start National Tours in Baltimore or hosting a pre-Broadway engagement, which is the next best thing.  Over the last 4 years, we opened the Hairspray tour, hosted the pre-Broadway engagement of The Graduate and opened The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee tour.

JH: What do you think makes Baltimore an attractive place for such a launch?  Will Baltimore be playing host to similar tour launches in the future? 

MC: What makes Baltimore attractive is a threefold issue.  First, we are now one of the largest subscription markets in the United States, with over 13,800 subscribers.  That means we can show Producers a good deal of guaranteed ticket sales right off the bat.  Secondly, for an East Coast market, Baltimore is a relatively affordable market in which to do business in when compared to Washington D.C., Philadelphia or Boston.  It is just less expensive to do business here.  Finally, Baltimore has a strong history as a theatre town, and Producers know that.

JH: In the 1980's Baltimore was known for having a huge subscription base and much longer runs of all of the shows.  Many Broadway shows had their pre-Broadway tryouts here.  Do you think that kind of show could make a comeback to our city?

MC: We are always looking for these types of opportunities and have recently hosted the pre-Broadway engagement of The Graduate.  But, the reality is that fewer and fewer shows are doing out of town tryouts these days due to costs associated with them, as well as the concern Producers have of critics reviewing shows prior to their official opening. 

JH: One pictures all of the people in your similar position selecting shows much like an NFL draft!  What exactly is the process for show selection and booking, considering that dozens of theatres are all vying for the same 15-20 shows?

MC: Well, honestly, it comes down primarily to three factors – routing, spacing and theatre availability.  Obviously shows can't all be in any given market at the same time (or not at least in most markets), so they pick a starting point and start working from there.  In a perfect world, you space the shows out evenly over the season, but that gets adjusted somewhat based on the routing and what other activity a venue might have.  A perfect example this season was Sweeney Todd. I really wanted to book the show, but when they were on the East Coast, I didn't have time in the theatre available.

JH: To what extent do presenters influence what shows go where? 

MC: Presenters have an influence, but market size plays a larger role.  Producers tend to want to play the primary and larger secondary markets early, where subscription numbers are larger and theatre is more popular.  That also gives them the ability to come back and do a repeat 18 to 24 months later, while the show is still fresh.

JH: Recent surveys suggest that theatre audiences are getting younger, and that younger people with disposable income are buying more and more of the tickets.  Is that trend true for Baltimore?  How does this effect show choices?

MC: I think that audiences are getting younger in some respects.  It seems what influences this is a shift in the nature of what shows are currently, meaning that source material is more suited to a younger audience (e.g. Mamma Mia, The Wedding Singer, The Color Purple, etc.).  This has little or no bearing on what shows we present.  There is a limited universe of product available each season, and we work to provide the most current product possible based on what we feel will be most appealing overall to the Baltimore audiences and what we feel will sell tickets.

 

JH: How does Baltimore's proximity to Washington, DC figure into shows playing both cities and for how long?  I'm thinking Spamalot, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Lion King, etc. 

MC: The biggest factor in shows playing Washington D.C. versus Baltimore is really driven by the availability of a venue in either market when compared to the shows routing.  Longer run engagements in D.C. are typically limited to the summer due to the fact that the venue of choice in D.C. is the Kennedy Center, which has limited availability September to May due to the volume of other programming presented there.  [There are also] the economic factors discussed [earlier].

JH: As you prepare for the Hippodrome's 4th Broadway Across America season in 2007 -2008, what are you most pleased with in terms of the health and use of the facility?  What do you hope to see for the future of the Hippodrome? 

MC: I think we are most pleased that the venue has been so well accepted by the community.  It was somewhat of a risk undertaking this project when looking at the location issue, but based on the fact that at the end of 2006 we had had about 1,000,000 patrons attend events in the complex, I don't think that has really turned out to be an issue.  Regarding the future, we just want to continue to bring the best offerings possible to Baltimore and continue to diversify the programming mix. 

Thank you, Mr. Chowning, for your time and information.

PHOTOS: From the Photo Gallery section of the Hippodrome Website.  It is pretty cool!  Check it out at www.france-merickpac.com.

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