Interview: OKC Broadway's Elizabeth Gray on Bringing Variety and World Class Entertainment to Civic Center Music Hall

If you caught the recent touring productions of Pippin or Motown: The Musical at Civic Center Music Hall, you've also been part of the first season for OKC Broadway presenting touring musical productions at the Music Hall. This young organization, formed through a partnership between the Civic Center Music Hall Foundation and the Nederlander Organization, is led by Elizabeth Gray, who is both the General Manager of OKC Broadway and Executive Director of the Civic Center Foundation. I spoke with Ms Gray about how OKC Broadway came to be, what audiences can expect in the near and long-term future, and how she sees OKC Broadway fitting into the arts community here in Oklahoma City.

What is the origin of OKC Broadway? How did it all come together?

OKC Broadway came about because of a strategic decision made by the city of Oklahoma City and the Civic Center Foundation to keep more profits in the building versus leaving the city of Oklahoma City, so it's better for the arts community here and better for the patrons who attend the Civic Center Music Hall on a regular basis. What happened was the Civic Center Foundation was made the Broadway presenter and us not having presented Broadway shows before, we did a national request for proposal to select a partner in that new venture...A nationwide request for proposals from various Broadway presenters, one of those being the Nederlander Organization, which we ultimately chose as our Broadway presenting partner. So, the Civic Center Foundation and the Nederlander Organization came together to form what we call OKC Broadway. We couldn't have selected a better partner. Nederlander has been in business for over a hundred years and they have often been termed "the royalty of the industry." They have vast experience. They invest millions each year to actually produce Broadway shows. That is part of what allows them to bring such great shows to all of the cities in the United States that they present in.

It's a very recognizable name to partner with.

It is. You often hear about the Nederlanders and The Shuberts, if you are a history buff, especially for Broadway. Nederlander has nine theaters on Broadway in New York, they own the Hollywood Pantages in Los Angeles. They have five theaters in Chicago, they own theaters in London as well. And they present in several other theaters across the country, in Tucson, San Jose, San Diego, Durham, and, most notably, Oklahoma City is the newest city.

In terms of how this all came to be, lets switch gears to how you came into this role. Prior to this, you were the Director of Corporate Operations for Walters Power International.

I was an engineer for an independent power company located here in Oklahoma City. How I got involved with the Civic Center Foundation is I was appointed by the Mayor of Oklahoma City to join the Board of Directors for the Foundation, back in late 2011, early 2012. I joined the Board and served for several years and really just fell in love with the organization, fell in love with the Civic Center Music Hall and saw the potential for what the Foundation could do. It previously was kind of a fundraising organization that operated in The Shadows of the Music Hall, so we are slowly taking on more of an operational role here in the building and hoping to create more revenue opportunities to reinvest back in the building and in the arts community here in Oklahoma City. Being on the Board, I naturally transitioned to the role of Executive Director when we started our Broadway operation and when we took over the food and beverage services of the building.

That transition from the corporate world, the engineering world, to the theater and the arts, how has that been?

The industry switch was a little bit of a shock to me, I will say, but it's a lot of fun. I think being in the corporate world and being on the engineering side, it very much gave me a good business structure or foundation, so to speak, that helped me kind of create the Civic Center Foundation into a new operating organization. It was kind of creating the organization from the ground up. What I did in my former life very much helped me in this new position and role.

In your former life, is there a little theater in there, a high school performance, maybe, back in the day?

No, I'm not a performer, and you don't want to see me perform, either. In my former life, I did dabble in visual arts, painting and drawing, stuff like that. I like to do that as a hobby. I don't have very much time for it anymore, unfortunately, but someday I'll get back to it.

For OKC Broadway, what's the selection process for bringing in shows?

I explain it to people as very much a Rubik's cube, it's matching the national touring schedules of the shows that are currently moving around the country, as well as matching that with the availability of the Civic Center Music Hall. It's very tricky to do both of those. Routing is very much the first qualifier for a show, then it's obviously the shows itself, if we think the audiences of Oklahoma City will enjoy it, what has been the show's success on the road, how has it been received by other audiences. We are very intent on doing a variety of shows. We want to do more adult themed shows, we want to do family oriented shows, middle of the road, fun for everyone, comedies, dramatic themes. As much variety as we can get.

What do you think is OKC Broadway's ability to take risks in bringing in a show that might or might not go over well? How much risk-taking can you do?

Our risk tolerance is pretty high. That's also very important in bringing a new Broadway presenter into the Civic Center Music Hall, to push the envelope. Theater, especially Broadway, is meant to push the envelope. It's not meant to be safe, the safe paly or the safe musical. That's important to us as well, and that's probably evidenced by us bringing in Pippin this season. The decision was very much a scheduling issue as well but the show had never played in Oklahoma City and it's been a Broadway musical for over 40 years. We knew the subject matter might be tough, some of the underlying themes might be tough, but we still made the decision to bring it in and we do think it was well received by the vast majority. It's one of those shows that's meant to push the envelope, to pique your curiosity, your creative thinking. Oklahoma City patrons will see more, not necessarily just like Pippin, but more pushing the envelope. The shows that might not have come around for several years, we are trying to bring them to Oklahoma City sooner rather than later.

Is there a show coming next season that you're especially excited about, excited to see or to bring to the city?

I'm really excited about all of them, they all have a unique attribute that is special in each of them. In particular, Finding Neverland has been a very underrated show. I was fortunate enough to catch quite a few coming up this season last year in New York and it was one that kind of blew me away. It's beautifully written, the storyline is right on point, the scenery, the music, it all perfectly comes together. That's one in particular that I'm very interested to see it playing on the road versus how it played on Broadway. An American in Paris is captivating because of the dance scenes and the music. Beautiful is captivating because of the songs and, even if you weren't a Carole King fan back in the day, you will appreciate the storyline behind her career. Even if you are not a Carole King fan, or part of a younger generation, you will recognize the music right off the bat.

Other than Hamilton, which everyone is excited about, is there a show that you really want to get here or you're really excited to bring it here some day?

Not particularly one that's never been here but it's going back to the blockbusters. We really try to cycle those in every five to seven years, it's been about seven years since The Lion King was here, so it's coming back. We'll want to cycle the big blockbusters back every five to seven years, that's a goal of ours. The number of national touring shows out there, there is just such high quality, we really can't go wrong with any of them. It's kind of back the variety thing and doing the stuff that has never been done in Oklahoma City, the variety of genres and stories and the variety of the audience that shows will bring into the Civic Center Musical Hall. Those things are all very important to us.

You're also bringing in Alton Brown and Julianne and Derek Hough for performances. Are you looking to do more of that kind of stuff in the future?

Yes, absolutely. We call those one-offs, they're single night events or maybe two or three performances. That is really important as well, to get away from the Broadway musical type show and to bring in a dancing show or Alton Brown, where it's kind of a mix of food and comedy and science. That's going to be a great show coming up. We'll try to bring in comedy and concerts and anything that we think will suit the Oklahoma City patrons best.

What is the role or niche for the Civic Center Music Hall and OKC Broadway in the Oklahoma City arts community or arts scene?

It's a question of quality of life in a community. When you've got a variety of arts and sports and attractions and tourist attractions and the restaurant scene and the nightlife scene, when you've got a good mix of that, quality of life in the community is going to be top notch. We're bringing in national touring Broadway shows, they are literally still on Broadway in New York, and someone doesn't have to spend thousands of dollars going to New York , they can drive twenty or thirty minutes or maybe even an hour to see that show. The impact on the quality of life is immeasurable. That is really important to us. Having a quality Broadway presenter and the quality Broadway series in the Civic Center Music Hall, along with a top notch ballet, a top notch philharmonic, the Canterbury Voices choir and having an organization like Lyric Theatre who takes the shows that were once on Broadway but customizes them and uses local actors and actresses and puts on the production again, it's a perfect puzzle. We all fit together to offer the patrons of Oklahoma City something that they may not get elsewhere. That is also going to be really important to attracting large corporations to come and put their headquarters here in Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas. You see what the Thunder did for Oklahoma City, there's no reason why the Civic Center Music Hall and OKC Broadway can't have that same effect.

For more information on everything OK Broadway has coming up, including their exciting next season, visit their website at www.okcbroadway.com.

 

---

Join Team BroadwayWorld

Are you an avid theatergoer? We're looking for people like you to share your thoughts and insights with our readers. Team BroadwayWorld members get access to shows to review, conduct interviews with artists, and the opportunity to meet and network with fellow theatre lovers and arts workers.

Interested? Learn more here.

---