After a year of silence, investor Bill Hanney steps in and rescues the North Shore Music Theatre, returning song and dance to Beverly’s beloved theatre-in-the-round.
It started with a collective sigh and a wince. A fundraising campaign was announced in late 2008 with the goal of generating $4.5 million to help cover the operating costs and debt of the North Shore Music Theatre. It was a big number-too big, it seemed-and in the spring of 2009, the curtains closed, staff was laid off, and Beverly’s famous theatre-in-the-round was shut down.
Fast forward one year and oh, have times changed. Theatre fans and loyal patrons of the North Shore Music Theatre are getting a gift this year as the facility reopens under new ownership after financial devastation.
“I saw my first musical at the North Shore Music Theatre,” says Haverhill’s Jessica Damron. “My grandfather bought me a ticket to see Brigadoon when I was nine years old, and I was overwhelmed by the experience. Attending a musical quickly became a family treat, and we saw quite a few over the years.”
Founded in 1954, North Shore Music Theatre opened as a summer stock venue to present successful Broadway musical tours. In the 1960s, after Route 128 was constructed, the theatre became more of an established fixture in the region in its own right, with permanent walls and heating installed. Capacity increased from 1,000 to 1,750 and later to 1,800 seats. In 2005, however, a major fire caused by an electrical malfunction beneath the stage, devastated the venue. Although no one was injured, the damage kept it closed for several weeks that summer-and the debt piled up.
In 2009, NSMT’s debts totaled more than $10 million-including large mortgages on its property and buildings, as well as debts to vendors, the state of Massachusetts, and patrons who had paid in advance for the upcoming season. The theatre launched an intense fundraising effort to carry the 2009 season, but that effort fell short at little more than $500,000. So NSMT closed down and scheduled productions were canceled.
The theater was acquired by Citizens Bank later that year at auction for $3.6 million, and the search was on to find a buyer for the property who might lease it back. Then along came Bill Hanney, an investor and venue owner from the South Shore. Hanney owns Theatre By The Sea and Entertainment Cinemas, a chain of 10 movie theaters across New England. In late 2009, Hanney looked into purchasing NSMT and then agreed to reopen it in June 2010.
“I’m in the business, and I was looking for other venues to buy, and this one’s been on the radar for a while,” Hanney says. “I started following it, and after the auction came up, I went for it.” Hanney entered show business when he was 19 years old. He leased and developed movie theaters and later began booking other live performances, including rock shows, and eventually produced Broadway plays. He became president of Broadway Productions, presenting national tours throughout New England including Annie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Peter Pan and later opened the 800-seat South Shore Performing Arts Center.
Hanney has expanded his movie theater ownership over the years, and he has built, operated, and sold more than 30 cinemas. While he has maintained his enthusiasm for cinema, he has always had a passion for live theatre. “The movie theater business is easy, but this [live theatre] is a more exciting business, and there’s a lot more that goes into it,” Hanney says. In 2007, Hanney bought and reopened Theatre By The Sea in Matunuck, RI, a move which led him to NSMT.
Hanney says that NSMT will not follow the same path that led it to financial ruin before. He’s working out a new business model that will take effect in 2011 and will involve recreating the circuit theatre concept. Plays and musicals are very expensive to produce-shows at NSMT have cost up to $500,000, and more than half the cost of a production is spent before opening night. What Hanney plans to do is work with other regional theatres to have shows tour in multiple cities. That way, rather than NSMT spending money to produce a play, then strike the set while another theatre does the same, the theatres will share productions and increase their profits, even though ticket prices have gone down 10 percent since the theatre was last open.
“There is such hope for this theatre,” says Evans Haile, director of the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, the oldest summer theatre in the country. Haile is helping Hanney reopen NSMT, which will share productions with the Cape Playhouse as part of the new business model. “For many decades, this is how the circuit happened. My first gig was at North Shore Music Theatre. And now, if people really like a show, they can go to see it in another location.”
Haile is enthusiastic about the reopening of NSMT, its partnership with Cape Playhouse, and what it can do to bring NSMT to regional prominence. “I think it’s very exciting that we can reinvigorate it,” Haile says. “It’s important now and then to reinvent and remind people what’s out there.”
The theatre’s first Broadway performance of the season will be Gypsy, starting on July 6. There will be three productions after that, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with “American Idol” star Anthony Fedorov as Joseph.
“I want to pick titles that have done well and will do well in this area,” says Hanney, who held auditions in New York City for Gypsy. NSMT will also hold children’s shows and concerts. The building is undergoing renovations and the landscaping will get a major makeover. In addition, the theatre’s restaurant will reopen, but a new name for it hasn’t been picked out yet. Hanney is also looking for a big name in music for a gala opening to be held in June and is working rigorously to win back the theatre’s previous loyal patrons. As of April, about 65 percent of the 2009 subscribers were back. He feels his strong theatre expertise and focus on quality performances will give customers confidence in the theatre. He is also bringing back A Christmas Carol, which has drawn large crowds in the past but hasn’t been performed there for the past two years.
“The audience needs to trust that we’re not going to go out of business like last time,” Hanney says. “I’ve always liked show business, movies, whatever. It’s definitely better than selling bottled water or something.”
–By Bryan Mcgonigle, Photographs by Adam Detour