Goodbye Princess of Whales

[castlestreet]

Posted: 10/1/12 at 12:44pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/170594-Princess-of-Wales-Theatre-To-Be-Razed-in-Toronto-New-Residential-and-Cultural-Buildings-Planned

Very sad news....

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/1/12 at 1:00pm

Updated On: 10/1/12 at 01:00 PM

[WayTooBroadway]

Posted: 10/1/12 at 1:05pm

Hold me, like the River Jordan...

Updated On: 10/1/12 at 01:05 PM

Posted: 10/1/12 at 1:24pm

They named a theater after Awesome Kong, "The Princess of Whales?"

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 12:50am

Aw it's a gorgeous building. Didn't Mirvish renovate it back for the Miss Saigon premier in Toronto?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 1:11am

No, it wasn't renovated for Miss Saigon, it was built for Miss Saigon, making it only 20 years old. Sad as it is to lose any theatre, at least it's not a historic theatre coming down.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 1:11am

[Justin D]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 11:24am

I'm sad by this though, but it did give me a chuckle in an interview when he said rather glibly, "if we find we need another theatre I will just build another one"

I love the theatre, I usually dont like modern venues but this one was very intimate for it's capacity.

But I think too it says alot more about theatre in Toronto. It just seems they can't really keep any sit-down productions anymore, and with one less theatre, that would be even more discouraging for any sit-downs as the people in charge would want to keep houses for tours.

The Pantages will not be solely for touring shows, and they sort of have the Elgin and Sony as backups, but the Elgin is quite small (but tours can go there) and the Sony is just so HUGE.

[finebydesign]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 11:48am

What a freaking waste.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 12:39pm

Sorry about the incorrect wales in the title- this is why you should disable auto correct on firefox...

As someone who has lived in Rochester NY all their life I can tell you that the difference in the exchange rate has a LOT to do with the fact that Toronto can't keep a sit-down production anymore.

In the early to mid-90's the exchange rate was VERY high in the American dollar's favor. Therefore it was so much more beneficial to be able to take the 3 1/2 hour drive up to Toronto, stay in a really nice hotel for very cheap and see a Broadway quality production of some of the biggest hits in NY for next to nothing! Trust me- those were the days!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/2/12 at 1:14pm

But I think too it says alot more about theatre in Toronto. It just seems they can't really keep any sit-down productions anymore, and with one less theatre, that would be even more discouraging for any sit-downs as the people in charge would want to keep houses for tours.

It does speak volumes about the health of the theatre industry in Toronto.

No big surprise. The era of the Mega-musical ran out. There are just not that many "must see" large-scale shows to attract large audiences.

MISS SAIGON - the first show to play the P.O.W. theatre was far less of a success than was hoped. It had a slightly forced run of about 2 years (with heavy discounting in the second year.) More recently, BILLY ELLIOT at the Pantages/Canon theatre had a much shorter run than expected. WAR HORSE - the current show at the P.O.W. has been offering heavy discounts to try and fill seats.

So, why was it so essential for Mirvish to gain control of the Pantages/Canon. At the time they insisted the needed the space to house touring shows while sit down productions were booked in the Royal Alex and P.O.W. Yet as Aubrey Dan discovered there is a limited number of quality road productions available. Even when good hows are available the willingness of local theatre goers to pay top dollar for tickets has been stretched past its limits. People simply cannot afford to see that many shows.

To partially address this the recently-announced "off-Mirvish" series of shows has several aces, most prominently the 5-show package prices of $99 and $199. They can't be making much money from this series but if it attracts a new audience and they become regular season subscribers it could be a shot in the arm for the ailing industry.

In fact, the biggest hit of the summer in the area has been Shaw Festival's staging of RAGTIME. The Festival announced last week that the show has grossed over $5 million (for 101 performances) and achieved 83% paid attendance. It closes on October 14 and the remaining performances are close to being sold out. (The original Toronto production ran 9 months and was struggling to sell tickets in the final months.)

It will be interesting to see how local audiences respond to SISTER ACT (opening this week at the Ed Mirvish theatre) and BLOODLESS (opening next week at the Panasonic.)