The Dr. Phillips Society has done great good for Orlando and the arts, but a new development around the new Arts Center has me greatly worried. It seems that the folks at the Dr. Phillips Center may not be allowing the Broadway Series to bring touring shows to the new arena. Instead they are proposing to launch their own "self productions" which we all know are never as good as the professional touring shows. This seems to be being discussed in the contest of "philanthropy" but I"m not buying it. Sure smells like a power grab to me.
If it's not a power grab, the folks at Dr. Phillips need to know how this appears to us. It's certainly possible to have touring Broadway shows AND local productions in the same arts space, but only if we all cooperate. I suggest you please read the article in the Orlando Sentinel on 12-19-12 HERE, and also, here is my letter which I wrote to Jim Pugh, Chairman of Board at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Please consider letting them know how you feel about this! My letter:
December 19, 2012
To: Jim Pugh, Chairman of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Board of Directors
Dear Sir,
I’m writing in relation to an article in the Dec. 19 Orlando Sentinel (online) by Matthew Palm about plans by the Dr. Phillips Center’s executive board. I want to make clear that “self-produced” Broadway shows are in no way equal to the professional touring shows, and you would do Orlando’s art patrons a HUGE disservice to pursue this line of thinking.
I am 51 years old and have been a patron of the arts and Broadway shows, both professional and non-professional, my entire life. I have lived in Orlando the last 12 years and before that spent my life in Atlanta. During all of this time I have been a subscriber to the Broadway Across America touring series, but have also attended many “self-produced” shows and local theater productions. In Atlanta these two entities have found a way to live in harmony, with the Broadway Across America series presenting those shows while the self-produced shows run as a series in the summer.
I can tell you with authority that the self-produced shows in NO way compare to the professional touring productions. And I can also tell you that Orlando’s theater community will NOT settle for these lesser productions, nor will they buy tickets in equal numbers.
We have all been excited about the new arts center and appreciate the great contribution of the Dr. Phillips Center. As Orlando strives to grow its arts community I encourage you to work together and remove your ego from the equation. How tragic if this new beautiful arts center is held hostage and Orlando patrons are forced to still sit in a second rate theater just to see the first rate touring productions. Regardless of your stand on the “contribution to the community” issue, Orlando stands primed to leap forward as a more legitimate destination for these professional Broadway productions, and you now seem ready to shove us backwards to second rate self-produced shows.
As someone who has attended hundreds of shows over 40 years I can tell you that these self-produced shows in NO way compare, nor will they draw the attendance. This is about much more than the bottom line of dollars. Relegating Orlando’s theater patrons to second-class productions will just keep us a second class arts city. I know that everyone involved in this discussion does NOT want that. I hope you will re-think these positions and wake up to the reality of this situation. We must work together to share the grand new space.
Sincerely,
Tim Hinton
Cc: Ron Legler, Florida Theatrical Association
Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
