Carousel Closing Sparks Continued Drama, Just Not On Stage

The "drama" continues over the abrupt closing of the Carousel Dinner Theatre. Many loyal audience members were left with worthless tickets and no sign of relief states Ohio.com.

State Rep. John Otterman, D-Akron, said Wednesday that he plans to send a letter to the Ohio attorney general's office asking if there is any help the state agency can provide.

Otterman said he has received about a dozen complaints from ticket holders, some of whom claim they bought tickets in the days leading up to Christmas.

'People are just frying, they're upset,' Otterman said. 'It's not like it's a $10 or $20 gift card.

'I think [Carousel owners] had a general idea that things were going south, and they were going out of business, yet they were continuing to sell these gift certificates several days before Christmas.'

Joseph Palmer, owner of the Carousel in Akron, said the decision to close the theater after 35 years of operation, was made Dec. 30 after the 'reversal of certain stakeholders' written or verbal promises,' decreasing sales and rising expenses.

The official web site of Akron's Carousel Dinner Theatre had confirmed various published reports that the 35-year Summit County institution will go out of business on Sunday Jan. 4th after closing its current show, "All Shook Up," on Saturday night Jan 3rd.

Speculation about the closing was first reported Thursday night on the Web site of the Akron Beacon-Journal reports local news website Cleveland.com .

The news release on the Carousel's Web site explained the news of the closing as follows:

"The Carousel Dinner Theatre, LLC has cancelled its 2009 season and closed its doors effective January 4th, 2009.

For the past year, the economy has materially affected the theatre's attendance and its ability to make cost adjustments to keep pace with the decrease in attendance. The final tipping point became the reversal of certain stakeholders' written or verbal promises that would have had a major impact on the theatre's continuance for the 2009 season and beyond".

Mr. Joseph E. Palmer accepted full responsibility for this action and regrets the impact on one hundred fifty employees and their families and all others affected by this closure.

The Carousel, founded in Ravenna in 1973 and moved to a former nightclub in Akron in 1988, is Northeast Ohio's only continuously operating dinner theater that operates under contracts with the major theatrical unions: the American Federation of Musicians, Actors' Equity Association and Society of Directors and Choreographers.

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