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Shubert at the Crossroads
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Business New Haven
4/30/2001
By: BNH
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The time is nigh for clear-headed deliberation about the future of the Shubert theater and its role in downtown New Haven.
Last month the Shubert's directors announced that the theater was on target for a $1.5 million shortfall for the current season. In the wake of that announcement that its owner, the city, would seek a private operator for the venue, Shubert President Caroline Werth walked the plank. At the same time it was revealed that the remaining 40-odd Shubert employees would lose their jobs by the end of June.
City Hall and the corporate establishment seem to regard to Shubert's survival as a do-or-die, line-in-the-sand proposition. But is it - really?
The Shubert's financial woes are well documented. The building is too small to accommodate the largest (and financially most successful) Broadway touring shows. The darned state knifed New Haven in the back by subsidizing the larger Oakdale and Meadows theaters, which suck up attractions that previously came to New Haven. Just to keep its doors open, the Shubert has required nearly $3 million in public subsidies during the 1990s. Now it needs, at minimum, another $1.5 million.
It may be heresy, but a perhaps a facility that can no longer stand on its own financial feet ought to sit down and take a rest. Ought taxpayers from the Hill or Church Street South be compelled to subsidize entertainment for Guilford swells indefinitely?
The Shubert is a downtown entertainment anchor. The College Street theaters and the Crown Street clubs drive New Haven's nightlife, and without them New Haven becomes - what, Utica?
Maybe. Or maybe not. What makes New Haven special is the proximity of an audience thirsty for first-class entertainment without New York hassles. Maybe that the all-knowing public sector has so skewed the game that the 1,500-seat Shubert can't compete. If so - well, that's life.
Here's an irony: City Hall couldn't wait to get "control" of a Palace theater that recently has posted notable financial success by offering African-American-themed concerts and shows. Meanwhile, the Shubert can't attract enough ticket-buyers to pay its own way, so now we will be asked to foot the very substantial bill. What's up with that?
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