Crains New York - December 3, 2012 - (Page 6)

Nuts for Nutcracker audiences that might not choose to popularity packs houses large and see a ballet. And performing it in small, so theater and dance compa- Brooklyn might make it easier for nies of all sizes have been creating some to attend. It is the only ballet their own versions to bring in audi- the Manhattan-based company ences, in the hopes of raising rev- stages in Brooklyn. Tickets cost beenue that can help sustain them dur- tween $25 and $100 for its producing the year. tion, making them less expensive To lure ticket buyers, the compa- than those at New York City Ballet, nies employ a variety of twists to the where they range from $29 to $225. basic theme—with some more Ms. Moore doesn’t see the big kahutwisted than others.One of na as her competition.“The the new ones this year is New York City Ballet [proproduced by a small organ- SEATS FILLED for duction] is so huge, so esization called Pipe Dream New York City tablished,” she said. Theatre. In its interpreta- Ballet’s annual It’s not clear, however, tion, Clara, the heroine, is holiday that staging a version of The an abused tomboy who en- performances of Nutcracker can help fill seats The Nutcracker counters an army of misduring the rest of the year. creants created from broken dolls. Even though the City Ballet’s NutAnother company injects Duke cracker remains popular, the compaEllington and Glenn Miller tunes ny has had challenges attracting auinto the Tchaikovsky score. There’s diences to its other productions. also a colonial-era version and one Although the company fills 92% of where ballerinas leap and spin its seats during its Nutcracker peramong New York City landmarks. formances, only 74% of its seats are The hope among the companies sold during the rest of the year. is that those who buy tickets to The An abundance of new entertainNutcracker will return to see other ment options and people’s busier shows throughout the year. lives are among the reasons for the falloff, said Ms. Brown. AdditionalNew audience magnet ly, fewer people buy subscriptions to “A primary reason we’ve done it the ballet, instead opting to buy is that it lets us reach out to a new tickets to single performances. audience,” said Rachel Moore, chief And beyond The Nutcracker, executive officer of the American Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, there Ballet Theatre, which is in its third aren’t many ballets that are familiar to season of producing a version of The a wide audience. That’s part of the Nutcracker at the Brooklyn Acade- reason The Nutcracker endures as a my of Music. holiday-season staple. For the theMs. Moore said the family- aters, it’s an affordable gift. It doesn’t friendly production draws in require a playwright, there is no Continued from Page 1 charge for the score, and the sets can be as elaborate as a company wants. 92% Funding other shows New York Theatre Ballet has been staging a production geared to young children for more than 20 years, and the revenue it brings in helps underwrite other performances.Last year, The Nutcracker’s box office totaled more than $112,000, or 10% percent more than projected, and, as always, it was the company’s highest-earning show. “There is no risk in The Nutcracker,” said Ann Tuomey DePiro, the company’s executive director. “Everyone wants to bring their families to see The Nutcracker around the holidays.” Liz Muller is hoping some families have an especially expansive definition of The Nutcracker because her Pipe Dream Theatre production features a Frankenstein-like army created from broken dolls—and no sugarplum fairies. “This is not your grandmother’s Nutcracker,” said Ms. Muller, who produced the piece, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Yet she said that it’s useful for new theaters to create riffs on classics because audiences’ underlying knowledge of the show often makes them more comfortable with buying a ticket. Last year, the company staged a successful version of A Christmas Carol that helped keep the two-yearold organization afloat. It earned $5,000—not bad for a theater with a $40,000 budget. “With any luck, The Nutcracker will keep us funded through June,” said Ms. Muller. LISTEN to a discussion at CrainsNewYork.com/podcasts THE INSIDER by Andrew J. Hawkins L Dem candidates take center stage ast week, the four leading Democratic contenders for mayor sat for the first time before a large gathering of business leaders, a group trepid about the transition after Michael Bloomberg’s tenure ends. But the aspirants to Gracie Mansion (above) might have succeeded only in hardening preconceived notions about themselves, interviews with audience members suggested. At Crain’s Future of New York conference, the mayoral hopefuls spoke of reducing businesses’ burdens, keeping the city competitive and improving its infrastructure following Superstorm Sandy. All sought to create distance from their rivals while playing up their business credentials, in what amounted to an hourlong preview of the 2013 campaign. the lobbyist said. “He really understands that stuff better.” But Mr. Thompson sounded a bit stilted when he tried to connect with the crowd by declaring, “I’m a municipal finance professional. I work on Wall Street.” Mr. Liu talked of getting government out of the way of small business, but also lamented the widening wealth gap, calling it bad for the economy. That prompted one woman in the well-heeled audience to remark to a tablemate, “Liu is very brave to say that.” Mr. de Blasio, who kicked off his remarks by pushing back against the premise that businesses were looking for a continuation of the Bloomberg administration, didn’t win over many in the room.His proposal to raise taxes on high earners, for example, was coolly received. However, even some of the mayor’s fans are not necessarily looking for Bloomberg II from the winner of the 2013 election. “Everybody loves Bloomberg,” said Ken Dircks, managing director for business development for SVAM International Inc., a global information-technology service provider. “But everybody also is ready for change.” But Vanessa Van Brunt, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo Bank, said, “The panel confirmed that there’s a lot of uncertainty in the minds of business leaders. With an election pending and with an obvious shift, business leaders, until they know who’s in charge, are going to be in a holding pattern.” The audience saw Council Speaker Christine Quinn as adhering the closest to Mr. Bloomberg’s legacy.Public Advocate Bill de Blasio was viewed as tacking left. Former Comptroller Bill Thompson was said to be less substantive than the others, yet improved from his 2009 campaign. And Comptroller John Liu, though he surprised some observers, was still seen as too damaged by his fundraising scandal to be taken seriously. “They all managed—maybe de Blasio a little less—to let the business community know that if they get elected, it wasn’t all of a sudden going to be a 180-degree turn,”said Cliff Chenfeld, co-CEO of Razor & Tie and Kidz Bop. “But they want to distinguish themselves. They don’t want to seem like they were going to do exactly what Bloomberg did.” Ms. Quinn, who has courted the business community, received the highest marks, despite answering questions as if delivering a stump speech. One senior real estate executive said she cast herself as a competent manager, but that her public persona could use polishing. “She’s a bit of the star pupil trying to show off,” the executive said. “But that’s OK, because she did show she knew a lot.” Mr. Thompson, who has been criticized for his seemingly unmotivated campaign, nabbed some positive reactions as well. He stressed his finance experience, which one building trades lobbyist found reassuring.“He brings a soberness to it,” Crain’s Insider, our award-winning politics newsletter, is now a blog. Read it every day at www.crainsnewyork.com/insider 6 | Crain’s New York Business | December 3, 2012 newscom http://www.CrainsNewYork.com/podcasts http://www.empirecitycasino.com http://www.crainsnewyork.com/insider

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - December 3, 2012

Crains New York - December 3, 2012
In the Boroughs
In the Markets
The Insider
Business People
Opinion
Greg David
Report: Best Places to Work
Classifieds
For the Record
Small Business
Real Estate Deals
New York, New York
Source Lunch
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - December 3, 2012