WPCNR STAGE DOOR. By John F. Bailey April 20, 2009 UPDATED 3:45 P.M. E.D.T: Four days after announcing Hello, Dolly would be postponed exclusively to The New York Times, the news appearing in Saturday’s Times Westchester Section, and in the paper’s website, after telling WPCNR nothing had changed with the show or the theatre to WPCNR Friday afternoon, the White Plains Performing Arts Center issued a news release Monday announcing all performances of Hello, Dolly (April 29 to May 17)are cancelled due to financial reasons, without explaining what those financial reasons are, and announced a gala fundraiser for the theatre to be held June 1.
Persons who hold tickets to Hello, Dolly may receive full refund of their tickets or put their purchase of tickets as credit to the fall season, according to the news release, which the former Executive Producer, apparently without a contract will be putting together. No resigning of Jack W. Batman, the Executive Producer has been announced. The release does not explain how a refund may be obtained.
Calling the theater at 914-328-1600 and pressing Extension10, gets you the general manager of the Theater, Kathy Davison, who is heard in a taped message, telling the caller that “all ticketholders” will be receiving a letter “perhaps as soon as today (Monday) explaining the reasons for the postponement, where the White Plains Performing Arts Center goes from here, and what to do with your Hello, Dolly tickets. ” You are not told on the tape what to do with them.
Calling the box office, the caller receives a message making no reference to the Dolly situation.
WPCNR had learned through sources over a month ago that the show had been cancelled (musicians who had been released from the show), yet the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation would not confirm the show was in trouble and was supposedly still going on as of last Friday. Ticketholders were not notified, so imagine their surprise reading about the postponement in The Times Westchester Section Saturday.
The Chairman of the White Plains Performing Arts Center Foundation which still has four years to run on a contract to run the theatre with the City of White Plains, had not responded to WPCNR e-mail requests Saturday morning as to whether Jack Batman, the theatre’s Executive Producer through March 31 when his contract expired, was still being paid or acting pro buono by the foundation. His status continues unclear.
The Foundation also did not respond to WPCNR’s questions asked Saturday, and repeated today, whether Mr. Batman and Mr. Ioris, the Foundation chair were seeking to purchase the theatre from the city; whether, as Louis Cappelli spokesperson Geoffrey Thompson told WPCNR, Mr. Cappelli, the theatre’s number one financial “angel,” has informed the Foundation he will not support the theatre if the city withdrew its support; or whether Mr.Cappelli was seeking to purchase the theatre back from the city.
The city is currently attempting to close a reported $12.4 Million budget gap, and sale of the theatre would certain close some of that gap, observers on Cablevision and Verizon’s White Plains Week, the city news roundup show have noted.
In the news release issued today, Jack W. Batman, apparently is still running things from a production standpoint in some capacity, saying he would announce a fall season in late May or June and sell subscriptions then.
According to the news release, and WPCNR quotes:
In making the announcement, Mr. Batman said, “With the economy faltering and in my effort to be fiscally prudent, it is necessary to step back and re-evaluate our plans so that we may continue to produce the high-quality shows that our audiences have told me they want. We’ve built a lot of momentum over the last two seasons – a very short time by anyone’s reasoning. In order to keep on an upward course, while all around us the ground is shaking, we think it best to re-schedule our production of Hello, Dolly! I don’t want to cut corners and give our audiences a production that is less than it deserves to be or what they’ve come to expect. New playing dates for Hello, Dolly! will be announced at a later time.”
The not-for-profit White Plains Performing Arts Center will announce its 2009-2010 season in late May, or early June. Subscriptions go on sale at that time.
Refunds Offered — Plea to Apply to New Season
“Hello, Dolly! ticket holders will receive full value and may request a refund or apply the unused amount to a new or renewal subscription,” said Mr. Batman, “but it will certainly help our cash flow more if ticket holders apply the amount owed them to a subscription for the new season of Broadway Classics, which we intend to make more affordable than ever as part of our own economic stimulus package.”
Mr. Batman continued, “Over the past two seasons the White Plains Performing Arts Center has enjoyed extraordinary critical acclaim and audience support, with subscriptions growing with every show and our seven major musical productions on budget and selling well. But the wobbly economy has recently stepped into a leading role here and we find that our contributed income is not where it should be. As I tell our audiences before nearly every performance, ticket sales only cover 30-35% of our annual operating expenses. Every other dollar needs to be contributed.
To help us over this little bump in the road, we will be hosting a fundraising event, One Enchanted Evening, on Monday, June 1, 2009 as a benefit for the theatre. Part of the evening’s activities, which also features cocktails, dinner and a silent auction, will be an entertainment featuring some of the stars of the musicals that we’ve produced over the last two years, plus other celebrity appearances. Benefit tickets are on sale now at the box office.”
