American Musical Theatre of San Jose Ceases Operations

The American Musical Theatre of San Jose has announced that it is ceasing business operations, effective immediately.  The sudden action will  shutter the theatre's upcoming productions of Tarzan and 42nd Street. Both have been cancelled although the touring production of Chicago will be performed as scheduled and all tickets will be honored.  AMTSJ is currently in communication with the producers of Avenue Q, to achieve the same result as Chicago.

"We received a telephone call a few days ago from our co-producer for Tarzan, which was the Theater of the Stars in Atlanta, Georgia basically telling us that they  used  the funds that we had paid them towards the production for other things," stated Michael Miller, CEO and Executive Producer of AMTSJ.  "In essence, they cancelled the show without giving us any warning, and we discovered that the funds we had paid for Tarzan were spent on another production of theirs, which lost a significant amount of money," he continued.

Robert Nazarenus, AMTSJ's Chief Financial officer added, "The cancellation of Tarzan meant nearly a two million dollar loss to us.  The disappearance of the six figures that we paid to Atlanta's Theater of the Stars in good faith coupled with the huge loss of revenues we anticipated from Tarzan was just too much to overcome, particularly in these economic times."  Nazarenus went on to say "Despite the harsh economic times, we were operating prudently, and had a solid strategic plan in place.  We have always found a way to succeed, with quality productions, patron loyalty, and community support.  This season was no different.  But, when you in essence lose nearly two million dollars, it is impossible to recover.  What makes this even more frustrating is the fact that this is caused by the wanton actions of another theater company."

AMTSJ's local attorneys, coupled with strong legal representation hired in Atlanta have announced they are pursuing aggressive action against Atlanta's Theater of the Stars. "We are devastated for this community, our staff, and most of all for our loyal patrons," Miller said.  "It is especially frustrating because of how hard we have worked, how sound our plan going forward has been, and because of the history and heritage of the American Musical Theatre of San Jose.  This is a sad moment for all of us.  We will aggressively pursue our claim against the Theater of the Stars to recover whatever money we can to pay the City of San Jose, our vendors and our loyal patrons for their good faith investment in AMTSJ."   

It was reported that the final decision to cease operations was made at an emergency board meeting last Tuesday, and the employees were notified Wednesday. The theater delayed making a public announcement until Monday as it struggled to reach donors and supporters and community leaders over the long holiday weekend.
The blow came especially hard, as the theater had high hopes for its fresh take on "Tarzan." The first regional production of the Disney musical.
"It was an extremely exciting project for us, because Disney was going to take a look at it and maybe purchase it back from us, so it was a really huge opportunity to mount the beginnings of a national tour between the three companies," Miller said. "We were very excited about it."

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