off-stage right

William Hanney seems to be on a mission to convert failed nonprofit producing theatre companies into working ventures.

He came to my attention during the on-going negotiations in Stratford, CT regarding the old Shakespeare theatre building there.  I should note that is still a project in process and has run into some serious backlash from local officials.  Now it seems he is buying North Shore Music Theatre’s space that was foreclosed on.

I have been following the North Shore mess because its demise is a case study in how not to respond to a crisis.  My first round of frustration was expressed in my post North Shore Music Theatre was disaster waiting to happen and the fall-out gives a bad name to theater everywhere. I thought and still feel that someone should take responsibility.

According to the local paper’s (The Salem News) article:

Hanney owns Theatre by the Sea in Matunuck, R.I., as well as Entertainment Cinemas, a chain of 10 movie theaters in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut. He said he is confident he can return musical theater to the Dunham Road location by running a leaner operation than North Shore Music Theatre, which went out of business in June due to financial problems and was taken over by Citizens Bank.

The Boston Globe reports:

Hanney has made a habit of buying closed or distressed properties and quickly reviving them.

Those purchases include Theatre By the Sea, a summer-stock house in Matunuck, R.I.; Fresh Pond Cinema in Cambridge; and Falmouth Cinema Pub.

Like North Shore, Theatre By the Sea produces musicals, though on a far smaller scale and not year-round. Its upcoming season includes “A Chorus Line,’’ “Little Shop of Horrors,’’ and “Hello, Dolly!’’ There is also a restaurant on site….

He didn’t give positive reviews to the organization’s business structure.

“It was just so top-heavy,’’ he said. “It just had too many people. It was unnecessary. We do [theater] every single year at Theatre By the Sea. We get great reviews and we make money every single year. We run a very successful 200-seat restaurant, which also makes money.’’But Theatre By the Sea is a much smaller operation, with 500 seats to North Shore’s 1,500.

That doesn’t concern former artistic director Jon Kimbell, who has met with Hanney several times leading up to the sale.

I don’t know Hanney or Theatre by the Sea, so I can’t really comment on the likelihood of his success with North Shore.  Looking at Theatre by the Sea’s website I sure looks like generic “summer” theatre fare (and I mean this is that frothy musicals done not so great with a TV star from the seventies or eighties like the guy who played Carmine on Laverne and Shirley.  It seems like Hanney is lining himself up to recreate something along the old straw hat circuit that Jim Mackenzie successfully produced for years on the east coast, but Hanney seems to not have the stars that Mackenzie had instead it seems more often or not it is someone who has done a show or two in NYC and is billed as a New York actor.

My question is do we really need more theatres like this?  Are there really enough audiences over 60 to fill these theatres.  Sure most people may think there isn’t much harm in this type of producing and certainly there is a place for it, but too much of it simply dumbs down theatre and turns off future audiences.

Related posts:

1. The remains of North Shore Music Theatre – what a mess, any one have a few million bucks and want to buy a theatre?
2. North Shore Music Theatre was disaster waiting to happen and the fall-out gives a bad name to theater everywhere.
3. Out of the ashes of a community, a love of theater rises…