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5/24/2007
The Lion lay down...
And then she was sated. Content and pleased as a kitten. As well she should be! Congratulations to the Performing Arts Center for selling out six solid weeks of The Lion King. Great work PAC, great work Appleton, great work Fox Cities, great work Wisconsin! Wow.
The numbers are something like 88,000 seats sold for total revenue of about $6 million. Revenue, that is, to Clear Channel and Disney Theatrical Productions. In addition, earlier this week a number of area Gannett papers reported significantly increased hospitality business from cast and theatre-goers alike – business that extends also to Gold’s Gym, auto leasers, music stores and dry cleaners. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of economic impact. Neat. Really neat.
And you don’t need numbers to talk about the show. Well, I guess you could. 120 cast members, two giraffes, 30 drums, hundreds of wildebeests. One big elephant. And even a 7-minute standing ovation.
As I’ve said before on these pages, I’m a fan of the Performing Arts Center. Our community shines through this gem. I’m a supporter. I love having the PAC in my backyard. Most importantly, the Performing Arts Center must continue to thrive as the center of our vibrant arts community in northeastern Wisconsin – it is just too valuable to our community to be allowed to fail.
So, while clouds of theatrical success hover over the PAC through the middle of June, it's time too, for a bit of the contrarian.... Let's still remember that very little of that $6 million stays here. The ticket sales head out of town with Disney/Clear Channel, and they leave behind an agreed-upon rental fee of sorts. Because the PAC is not in the position to take risk for unfilled seats, it also does not reap the full profits when those same seats are completely filled. And a similar Clear Channel contract, we learned in February, will be in place for another 10 years.
When I saw the 10-year contract renewal, my first thought was oh my gosh, with the PAC running operating deficits of at least $2 million annually, that’s $20 or $25 million in needed donations ponied up by this community over those ten years. A lot of cash headed out of the community every year, and on the other hand, more than two million bucks needed from the community every year to sustain PAC operations.
Yes, let’s relish and celebrate the successes of the PAC, both in ticket sales and in direct economic impact to community businesses. Then let’s also come to grips with the reality of over $2 million every single year that must be raised in this community. For the PAC alone.
That’s $2 million that’s not there for the other non-profits in our community. There’s no question – it hurts. And more and more of us must find more and more ways to give back to this great community of ours.
Previous FoxPolitics PAC articles
Fox Cities PAC – too precious to fail. Reports show $1M deficit
Fox Cities PAC - Salaries are high
Fox Cities PAC - $300K projected, $2 million needed
How much will this Vice President cost?
COMMENTS
Jo, Can you identify not only the revenue but also the expenses so that readers can understand the net vs. the gross for the PAC? And then might it be possible to provide an indicator of economic impact for the rest of Appleton? For example, the cast and crew need to eat and sleep somewhere. That's money into community that would not happen without the PAC. A portion of the room tax generated goes to the Convention and Visitor's Bureau to reinvest in capital projects for the community. Real numbers (or at least hard estimates) would be helpful.
Thanks for your good questions Jim. No, I can't detail gross revenues vs. expenses for the PAC because the information is not made public. As I've stated in the past, PAC financials are difficult to get to.
Economic impact is another story, though I've not read the studies. I'll send your questions to Maria Van Laanen, PAC VP of Communications and see how she might help. Studies have shown impacts of $1.59 to $3.25 per $1 of gross ticket sales. Then again, I believe the PAC has estimated a total of $8M annual economic impact from their Broadway series. Either way, it's a lot of economic impact on the Lion King's $6M in ticket sales. I'll try to narrow down the range. The CVB expects to have impact information based on room occupancy, in early July. JE
Jim Perry (Thu May 24 07:43:16 2007)
Well said. Thank you for "putting the other foot down" lest we forget reality. As you have proclaimed, Bravo to the Valley for fabulous support of a fabulous run of "Lion King." The other side of this success is to be remembered, however: The show will leave town next month and the PAC will still need funds - in great amounts. Not just ticket monies either. Memories of a great time do not pay the bills.
LKP (Thu May 24 11:09:51 2007)
I too am interested in more of these details on operations at the theater.
If other seasons are any example, once the run of LK ends the theater will be dark through most if not every last day of the summer. Then, I've seen the schedule posted for next year. It's doubtful I would patronize any of that any more than I would (or could) patronize LK. But Merchant Of Venice is tempting.
Yup, we've got tickets purchased for Merchant of Venice! JE
Lon Ponschock (Thu May 24 17:09:11 2007)
Perhaps the Lion King is just another example of infantilization (or Disneyfication) of culture (which is something widely approved of around here). Also, why is there no legitimate critic of these performances and whether they are good or bad?
Disneyfication of culture. Hmmm. Lon, can you expand on that? What do you mean? What are examples? JE
Lon Ponschock (Fri May 25 14:52:30 2007)
To keep this within the framework of Fox Politics, I have 2 brief examples by contrast. I can come back to the Disneyfication proper within another comment.
I have no children in the school system here and I have no children period. So the framework for the remarks that follow are not as a proud parent. That being said there are more examples of mature drama in the high school theater here than at the Performing Arts Center.
I cite Rhinoceros at the Appleton North and also Metamorphoses at the same school or maybe at FV Lutheran. Don't hold me to details which are now a year old or so. These productions-- especially the political nature of Rhinoceros was completely ignored so far as I know by the lifestyle/arts pages of the paper. Metamoprphoses was another production new to the theater and done by a high school group. It calls for a pool in which the audience can see itself (ala' Narcissus which is one of the tales told in the production.) Allied Pools built the pool for this production. It was a coming together of business and education in support of the theatrical art.
Contrast that with the circus going on at the Performing Arts Center. I know scant about the play Lion King except that Julie Taymor directed the broadway version and has since made an excellent film of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Also that the Lion King was stolen from a Japanese anime made in 1964 called Lord Of The Jungle which goes uncredited like so much of the source material for Disney content. A brief perusal of past and upcoming seasons shows little of value in serious drama (I don't include tripe like "The Graduate" in serious drama either.)
Though I may sound elitist, I believe that pandering to an audience by presenting things they could have easily heard about on "Seinfeld" shows no respect for the theater or the audience.
When Susan Stockton goes on her junket to New York for 40 days of follderol at the expense of local ticket prices I doubt that much of what is being shown on or off Broadway is for consideration to be brought here. The packages from Clearchannel are what is available.
Back to Disneyfication, I'll just leave you with a question to ponder:
Do you think The Lion King will ever appear at the new Disney Auditorium in Los Angeles designed by Frank Gehry and financed by the Disney family? I'll conjecture that the Lion King will go to Disneyland and not the Disney theater.
Disneyfication is the 'cleaned up' world Walt always wanted. It's the reason all his characters in the cartoons wear gloves.
It's a world that portends to be safe when what it winds up being for any kind of sensible adult is boring.
A trip to a Disneyfied theater assures the patron that he will not encounter anything that wants or needs thinking about. He or she can safely take the five year old and have an equally good time.
Lon Ponschock (Fri May 25 23:46:57 2007)
I am pleased that Lion King is sold out, or so they say. simple question: How much did it cost per week, they must send a check to Clear Channel, or
someone. NEVER MIND THE REVENUE TO OTHERS. That is wonderfully good news for those merchants. They will do their acounting. This question refers
to the PAC accountant.
Vivian Huth (Sun May 27 15:39:50 2007)
I'm a student from Appleton North who was a castmember in Metamorphoses. I completely agree with the above comment but I would like to make a few corrections. North never did Rhinoceros, our pool was built by American Pools and Spa, not allied. Also the anime lion king is often accused of copying is Kimba the White Lion.
(Fri Oct 19 20:18:48 2007)
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