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Milestones: Oakdale Theatre
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Business New Haven
11/24/2003
By: Priscilla Searles
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Oakdale Theatre
95 S. Turnpike Road
Wallingford, CT 06492
Tel: 203-269-8721
Fax: 203-294-6988
Web: www.oakdale.com
Ownership: Clear Channel Communications
Milestone: 50 years
Timeline: The Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford is about to celebrate its golden anniversary. Founded in 1954 by Ben Segal, Oakdale started as a summer-stock tent in the round.
Segal, who had previously managed the Shubert Theater in New Haven in the heyday of the Broadway try-outs, brought a string of scaled-down Broadway productions such as Oklahoma! to the Oakdale.
Theater in the round was a new way of seeing shows. But Segal wanted to keep the Oakdale moving forward and in the late 1950s began to make major inroads with Hollywood, convincing hot TV and film performers of the day to come to his canvas tent. The Oakdale was so popular that Segal was able to draw stars such as Danny Kaye, Van Johnson, James Garner and Jerry Lewis. All of a sudden Segal's theater in the round became a major venue for the foremost entertainers of the day.
World-renowned musical acts began to appear at the Oakdale Theatre. Tom Jones, the Monkees and Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme began the trend. Segal brought the Who, Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan to Connecticut for the first time.
In 1972 Segal, who had been assisted from the beginning by his wife, Charice, decided to make major improvements to the venue, adding (among other things) a permanent roof. Segal had a wood dome built, which today serves as the Oakdale lobby, and increased the theater's capacity from 1,600 to 3,200. Although the theater was still in the round, the solid roof provided better sound and protection from the elements.
In 1986 Segal turned over much of the management of the Oakdale to his son Beau, a drummer in the Los Angeles music scene. Beau took over booking aspect the theater, bringing a younger flavor to the offerings. Major country stars of the time, such as the Judds and John Denver made appearances at the Oakdale along with Peter, Paul and Mary, Jackson Browne and a host of rock 'n' roll performers.
The Segals' philosophy was to cater to the public's demand for acts, paying little or no attention to their own personal taste. It worked: Everyone who was anyone played the Oakdale, many coming back for repeat performances time after time.
Achievements and Accomplishments: In 1996 the new Oakdale opened. The tent and playhouse-in-the-round format was gone, replaced by a more conventional proscenium configuration. Open all year round, Oakdale now has 4,600 seats. Management points with pride to the fact that there is on-site parking, a rarity for theaters. And although the Oakdale Tavern was razed to make room for the new theater, there is still a restaurant.
In 1998 the Oakdale was sold to SFX Entertainment, a worldwide corporation that was busy buying up amphitheaters and promoters' businesses around the country. Now known as Clear Channel Communications, the corporation also operates approximately 1,213 radio and 19 television stations in the U.S., including local stations WKCI-FM and WELI-AM. Jim Koplik, president of Clear Channel Entertainment Connecticut, oversees the Oakdale operation, also running the Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford.
Looking Back on a Changing Industry: The feeling of the theater in the round with its revolving stage was intimate. Patrons saw the stars up close, often talking to them after the performance. People would make an evening out of the trip to the Oakdale, having dinner in the once-famous Oakdale Tavern before attending a performance. But it became harder and harder to get the biggest names in entertainment to play in the round. Many were unaccustomed or uncomfortable having their act observed from the rear.
Always looking for innovative ways of competing in the cutthroat show-business world, Oakdale was the first theatre in New England to have corporate suites, which are leased for 12 months at a time.
Ben Segal died in December 2002 but his dream lives on. Today the Oakdale presents full-blown Broadway shows, major musical acts and family shows such as Blue's Clues and David Copperfield. You don't have to travel far to see productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar, The Producers and The Full Monty.
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