UApresents is getting out of the Broadway business, leaving Tucson with one group presenting Broadway and off-Broadway shows.
It will be the first time since the 1990s that the city has not had two organizations putting on Broadway seasons.
"It's taken us probably three years to make this decision," said Saundra Taylor, University of Arizona senior vice president of Campus Life, which oversees UApresents.
She admitted the organization was scared off from Broadway shows after losing $250,000 on its two-week run of the musical "Hairspray" in its 2004-05 season.
"The market is not big enough to sustain two Broadway series," UApresents Executive Director Natalie Bohnet said, referring to Broadway in Tucson/A Nederlander Presentation, which has been hosting Broadway shows since it arrived in Tucson in 2004.
The New York-based Nederlander, a giant in the world of Broadway presenters, came to the table with big-league contacts that helped it land such monster productions as the upcoming six-week run of Disney's "The Lion King," beginning Aug. 17.
It has staged two seasons and this week announced its third, which includes the new musical "All Shook Up" and Kathleen Turner and Tony-winner Bill Irwin in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (see accompanying story).
"These shows are really expensive to stage," said UApresents spokesman Jonathan Holden. "There hasn't been the audience to pay for it."
Taylor said UApresents, which is still trying to erase its year-old $807,000 deficit, can't muster the audience to support the multiple-week Broadway run that most shows require.
"Certainly that happened to us with 'Oklahoma!' and 'Little Shop of Horrors,' " Taylor said, reviewing the current season's Broadway lineup. "We did (well) with 'Oklahoma!' but we didn't meet our goals."
UApresents canceled "Little Shop of Horrors" in December after the show moved its run date from February to early January. Taylor and Bohnet agreed the market couldn't support the two-week run so soon after the holidays. Of 20,000 tickets available, only 3,700 had been sold by December, Bohnet reported.
UApresents, whose deficit likely will remain flat after the season ends, lost about $40,000 in marketing costs on the canceled show, Bohnet said.
Mark Rasdorf, general manager of Broadway in Tucson, called UApresents' decision to stop presenting Broadway shows unfortunate.
"Certainly, I respect the leadership decisions Natalie has to make for her organization," said Rasdorf, who worked for UApresents in the late 1990s. "I think the history up until now has been two entities presenting Broadway in this town . . . somebody at the Music Hall and somebody doing Broadway at Centennial Hall."
Taylor said UApresents found a happy medium this year when it rented Centennial Hall to other presenters, including the successful return engagement of the Broadway musical "Mamma Mia!" She said she and the UApresents board may even approach Nederlander about renting Centennial Hall during its 2007-08 season.
"If we can find other ways to partner and do the rentals in the interim, we can offer subscribers some Broadway products," she said. "But I think probably in the next four or five years, we aren't going to be able to afford it. Two-week runs at Centennial Hall just don't do it for us, and we cannot get the ones that could just do it."
For its upcoming season, UApresents is returning to its core mission of providing world music, dance and classical programs that no one else in Tucson is bringing in.
The organization's season includes 43 programs, compared to 35 this season. Among the shows are the Chilean band Inti-Illimani, Oct. 20; the pioneering jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, Nov. 17; "A Scottish Christmas" with Bonnie Rideout, Dec. 19; celebrated mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, Feb. 28, 2007; the Tucson premiere of the classical Chinese dance troupe Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, March 11, 2007; and violinist Joshua Bell with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, March 24, 2007.
UApresents also is putting its programs on stages other than Centennial Hall, including the intimate Crowder Hall in the UA Fine Arts Complex and the historic Fox Theatre, Downtown.
Bohnet said the season was a collaborative effort of her staff and members of the arts community. She also consulted the UA School of Dance on some programs and got input from other organizations on and off campus.
"I'm very proud that we've taken input from the community," she said.
uapresents ends host role
â Subscription renewals for UApresents 2006-07 season go on sale today through the Centennial Hall box office, 621-3341. New season subscriptions will be sold beginning May 15. Individual tickets go on sale June 12.
The season kicks off with Latin guitarist/vocalist JosÊ Feliciano and Sextet on Oct. 6 and includes the springtime spectacular Cirque Dreams "Jungle Fantasy" on April 21 and 22, 2007.
The season by category (all performances are at Centennial Hall unless otherwise noted):
Classical
âĸ The English Concert, featuring violinist Andrew Manze in his final season, Oct. 27
âĸ Interpreti Veneziani, Jan. 19, 2007, Crowder Hall
âĸ Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, Feb. 28, 2007
âĸ National Philharmonic of Russia, featuring pianist Olga Kern, March 7, 2007
âĸ The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with violinist Joshua Bell, March 24, 2007
Dance
âĸ Paul Taylor Dance Company, Oct. 14
âĸ Momix "Opus Cactus," Nov. 8
âĸ Moscow Festival Ballet "Swan Lake," Feb. 8, 2007
âĸ Pilobolus, Feb. 18, 2007
âĸ UA School of Dance Premium Blend, Feb. 22-24, 2007, at Stevie Eller Dance Theatre
âĸ Ballet Hispanico, March 3, 2007
âĸ Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, March 11, 2007
Jazz
âĸ Sonny Rollins, Nov. 17
âĸ Dianne Reeves, Dec. 2
âĸ Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Feb. 7, 2007
âĸ Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Feb. 16, 2007
âĸ San Francisco Jazz Collective, March 15, 2007
Special Events
âĸ Inspirational speaker Chris Gardner, Oct. 18
âĸ "A Scottish Christmas" with Bonnie Rideout, Dec. 19
Young Audiences
âĸ Fred Garbo Inflatable Theater Company, Oct. 29
âĸ Whoopi Goldberg's "Alice," March 25, 2007
Sabor Latino
âĸ Tango Fire, Oct. 10
âĸ Inti-Illimani, Oct. 20
âĸ Pianist Ivan Lins, Feb. 13, 2007
âĸ Lila Downs with special guest, March 4, 2007
âĸ Paco PeÃąa Flamenco Requiem "In Praise of the Earth," April 26, 2007
Spotlight
âĸ East Village Opera Company, Nov. 2
âĸ Arizona Percussive Arts Society Mass Steel Drum Band, March 30, 2007
âĸ "Phonk!" by Scrap Arts Music, March 31, 2007
âĸ Neil Berg's "100 Years of Broadway," April 28, 2007
âĸ The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour, April 29, 2007
UApresents at the Fox
âĸ L.A. Theatre Works "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," with David Selby and Eric Stoltz, Oct. 13
âĸ Olympia Dukakis as "Rose," Jan. 31, 2007
âĸ Israeli singer Chava Alberstein, Feb. 24, 2007
âĸ Tiempo Libre "Salsa Dance Party," May 4, 2007
World Stage
âĸ Putumayo presents "Acoustic Africa," Oct. 25
âĸ Mombasa Party featuring the Royal Drummers of Burundi, Nov. 15
âĸ The Chieftains, Jan. 24, 2007
âĸ Peking Acrobats, Jan. 30, 2007
âĸ Ethos Percussion Group and the Masters of Indian Music, Feb. 23, 2007, Crowder Hall
âĸ Soweto Gospel Choir, April 17, 2007
Gala Events
âĸ Annual dinner/dance, with Big Band Express, Nov. 4, Marriott University Park
âĸ Inaugural UNgala featuring Pink Martini, April 19, 2007
