I drove downtown the other day, and there is a sign on the corner of State and Broadway, by the new theater that says 'Valet Parking in front of Proctors'. So it must be door to door.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
On Oct. 21 I attended the Schenectady Symphony performance at Proctors. The procedure to purchase one ticket with cash was unbelievable. There was no “cash only” line, even though two popular productions were being presented at the same time. Everything had to go through the computer, which might be fine for the accountants, but terrible for the people waiting in line. The lines were endless. Some patrons left in disgust. When buying with a credit card, the wait should be less than ten seconds. Grocery stores manage only two to three seconds, not the endless time it takes at the box office. Two weeks ago I purchased four tickets for Bugs! 3-D, the IWERKS show. It took five minutes to go through the complicated procedure to merely use a credit card. Something must change! (The symphony was marvelous). ELEANOR ROWLAND Niskayuna
Slow box office Attendances is off at Proctors' shows, but CEO Philip Morris says not to worry because records indicate October is always box office slow.
Crosby and Nash, Sinbad and Clint Black all filled only about 1,600 of the theater's 2,700 seats. Gypsy averaged about 800 at each of three performances and a couple other shows drew fewer.
Come the first November weekend, the slump ended when Golden Oldies Spectacular was SRO. Morris, who used to schedule only five October shows, this year booked a dozen to help build downtown pedestrian traffic.
He said the gate wasn't hurt by competition from other venues including the Palace, Capital Rep, Troy Music Hall and The Egg.
"Tony n' Tina's Wedding," playing in the new adjoining GE Theatre, drew capacity crowds of 220 at all nine shows. The audience was treated as guests at the satirical wedding, including partaking of reception food and dance.
Nick Barber was a volunteer cast member. He's county Real Property Tax Agency director and a volunteer board member at Schenectady County Community College and Channel 16 public access TV.
"I went to nine weddings in a week," says Barber, who served as the groom's father. "It was a lot of hard work, but all had a ball."
Slow box office Attendances is off at Proctors' shows, but CEO Philip Morris says not to worry because records indicate October is always box office slow.
I think we need to update this headline. How's this sound???
Quoted Text
Slow box office Attendances is off at Proctors' shows, but CEO Philip Morris says not to worry because the county residents will keep our doors open.
I think your headlines are more in line with the truth there BK.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
SCHENECTADY Proctors keeps an eye on strike So far, touring companies not affected by stagehand walkout BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
As the Broadway stagehands’ strike enters its fifth day, local theatergoers are beginning to worry whether the strike might cancel “The Drowsy Chaperone” and “Spamalot,” the first shows in a series by Broadway touring companies scheduled to visit Proctors. In New York City, strikers have targeted “The Drowsy Chaperone” and “Spamalot.” For now, however, the Proctors shows will go on. Union officials have not asked touring stagehands to strike. “The Drowsy Chaperone” comes to Proctors on Nov. 20. “Spamalot” arrives on Jan. 8. Officials speaking for Local One, the Broadway chapter of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, have declined to comment on whether they will extend the strike to touring companies. But, on Monday they acknowledged to The Associated Press that the Broadway strike has not yet been effective enough to force their employers to offer a better contract. The Associated Press also quoted a labor attorney who said it would be hard to keep the strike from expanding to the touring companies. But Proctors officials are remaining optimistic. “We have not heard anything in regards to a strike [of the tours],” spokeswoman Kathy Jarvis said. “It does not affect us at all.” She said a number of patrons have called to ask if the shows will go on. Local One would have to get permission from its parent union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, before asking touring stagehands to strike. A spokeswoman for the union would say only that the strike was staying on Broadway “at the moment,” and referred calls to Local One. Local One met Tuesday and decided to keep Broadway dark for another day. Spokesman Bruce Cohen wouldn’t say whether a touring company strike was discussed during the meeting. “No comment. Today we can’t comment on that,” he said. “I’m sorry.” The League of American Theatres and Producers has been hit by triple-digit losses in ticket sales for each show over the past five days, but a touring company strike could cost them far more. The most popular tours regularly gross $1 million a week, according to the League. As of Tuesday, the League and the union were not speaking to each other. The League accused Local One of striking without warning, while strikers complained that the League was treating them with disrespect. Local One president James J. Claffey Jr. told the New York Times that he considers it insulting that the League will not remove its proposals from the bargaining table. The public debate has grown more contentious as the strike goes on, with League members now saying the stagehands are “featherbedding,” or padding payrolls. Strikers have, in turn, said the League is exaggerating their salaries and wants them to work in unsafe conditions.
Sayles film to premiere at Proctors Friday, December 21, 2007
SCHENECTADY — Schenectady native John Sayles will premiere his 16th feature film, "Honeydripper", at the Main Stage at Proctors on Jan. 18. The premiere will be preceded by an Arts and Blues Night reception, featuring light fare and a cash bar. The reception is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., and the movie begins at 7:45. Tickets for both the reception and film are $55, with junior tickets for those under age available for $35, and high school students can attend for $10 per person with valid high school identification. To purchase tickets to the event, call Stephanie Singleman at the Capital District YMCA at 869-3500, ext. 9923. The cost to only see the film is $10, and those tickets will be sold at the door. Proceeds from the premiere will benefit the Capital District YMCA’s Black & Latino Achievers Program, is a nationally recognized effort to provide minority youth with the challenge and opportunity to identify their interests, discover their potential and develop their personal confidence through mentoring programs, college and business visits and work programs in various fields. Set in the Jim Crow South of the 1950s, "Honeydripper" is about the transition of music from blues to rock 'n' roll. The movie won Best Screenplay at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in September, and the all-star cast includes Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen, Yaya DaCosta and Sean Patrick Thomas.
SCHENECTADY Green initiative heats Proctors Energy plant cutting emissions BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net
Proctors’ carbon footprint just got a bit smaller. The theater has cranked up four micro turbines producing 280 kilowatts of electricity, enough juice to power the minimum amount used at the theater complex. The effect of the turbines will help reduce Proctors’ carbon footprint by 260 pounds per hour, explained Philip Morris, the theater’s chief executive officer. “We’ll be able to take our base load and self-generate that,” he said during a tour of the facility this week. The turbines are fed by heat exhaust generated in the theater’s self-contained 26,000-square-foot district energy plant. Already, the facility uses three 250-horsepower boilers, two 250-ton steam absorption chillers and one screw chiller to heat and cool water for the adjacent Hampton Inn and the snowmelt system beneath the block’s sidewalks. “While we’re still fossil fuel dependent, this is about as effective a way to use fuel as imaginable,” Morris said. During the project’s planning stages, Proctors’ goal to reduce its energy dependence caught the attention and support of National Grid, which sent engineers to help develop the plant. This partnership prompted National Grid to award Proctors a $50,000 Main Street Development grant, which will go toward the cumulative $32 million renovation of the theater complex. The district energy plant cost Proctors an additional $8 million, but will eventually help heat and cool some of the block’s largest structures. Morris said the company is expecting to connect the plant to the future renovation of the 170,000-square-foot Center City complex across State Street. The Center City project was awarded a $2.5 million grant from the state’s Restore NY Communities Initiatives Program and is expected to receive another $2 million investment from the Galesi Group, its prospective owners. Morris said any renovation of the structure would be made more cost efficient by connecting to Proctors. “It’s highly likely,” he said. “They would save a fortune in equipment by using our plant.” If Center City does connect, Morris said the energy plant would add a boiler and a chiller. He said the addition would bring the plant to 100 percent usage in less than three years after it went online. National Grid spokesman Patrick Stella said the company is very supportive of efforts to promote energy efficiency among its customers. He said the utility company is urging communities to incorporate green elements. “This is the way people are doing business now,” he said. “It makes sense for us to help these types of projects because it spurs growth in the entire downtown area.”
This partnership prompted National Grid to award Proctors a $50,000 Main Street Development grant, which will go toward the cumulative $32 million renovation of the theater complex.
This is how businesses should be helping businesses. Finally, something NOT government paid helping out a business. I say go for it, Proctors.
Maybe they would like to assist Hamburg Street in the developement there of, with some new light posts---that is after our sewers, sidewalks etc are put in......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Thursday, January 24, 2008 SCHENECTADY - Proctors has another reason to "always look on the bright side" - this month's run of Monty Python's "Spamalot" broke records.
The theater's eight-run performance, from Jan. 8 to 13, was sold out. Ticket sales were higher than at any other time since Proctors reopened in 1979. The total number of tickets sold for the entire run of the show was 20,499,setting a record and filling 98.3 percent of the house. The remaining 1.7 percent consisted of the seats that could not be sold due to sight line issues in viewing the stage, due to the set design. Ticket sales hit $1,127,526, before the theater's expenses. Last year, Proctors set another record when Hairspray, which played eight shows last March, broke the national tour record in ticket sales with $813,600 and 16,724 tickets sold.
That is great....as much as I dont trust the Metroplex and question their 'choices'....I spend alot of $$ downtown....and yes, I believe that having a 'playground' for the masses is good 'people control'.....yup, food song and dance......sounds alot better than "I drink alone with nobody else."......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Proctors tuning up for musicals "Happy Days," "Avenue Q" among 5 shows planned for the 2008-2009 season
By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer First published: Friday, April 4, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- Proctors Theatre CEO Philip Morris drove a cherry-red Honda motorcycle into Proctors' GE Theatre Thursday morning to preview the show "Happy Days: A New Musical" and four other productions the theater's main stage will host for its 2008-2009 season.
Morris had to only drive the bike about 20 feet in front of a small crowd of Proctors supporters. But he had to do so ... carefully. "He had faith that I wouldn't crash into the (theater's) screen," said Morris of employee Ron Askew, who loaned the bike for the brief event. Morris uttered his best Fonzie "Ayyyyy," and was joined by other employees in costume to announce the coming season and the news that the Broadway blockbuster "Wicked" is locked down for a four-week run during the 2009-2010 season. In addition to "Happy Days," the 2008-2009 season will include the first traveling run of Broadway's "Legally Blonde: The Musical;" the Tony-award winning, mature-themed puppet musical "Avenue Q;" and the return of the ABBA-based Broadway musical "Mamma Mia!" The original London musical, "Rat Pack: Live at the Sands," will round out the Key Private Bank Broadway schedule that runs from late October to March. Season subscribers this year will get first dibs on seats for "Wicked," which is scheduled to run in fall 2009. Morris said his goal continues to be attracting more season subscribers in order to bring in more popular, big-ticket productions. The 2007-2008 season saw about 3,100 subscribers, which is good Morris said, but not great. January's record-breaking run of "Spamalot" helped boost those endeavors. "Getting 'Spamalot' was not easy," Morris said. "But when we sold it clean out, everyone noticed. That helps us get everything else." Proctors specifically chose lighter musicals for the coming season because of the worries surrounding today's economic and political climate, Morris said. The theater is taking a slight gamble on the racy exploits of "Avenue Q's" resident puppets, Morris said, but he believes the show's Broadway success will carry over to the Capital Region audience. The schedule also will be expanded next season from four shows to five. The current season concludes in May with the Billy Joel-themed Broadway musical "Movin' Out." The rest of the Proctors' 2008-2009 season of productions will be announced in May. Lauren Stanforth can be reached at 454-5697 or by e-mail at lstanforth@timesunion.com.
Proctors sees slide Proctors, an entertainment magnet that draws show-goers from all corners of the Capital Region, has been erratic at the gate ever since fall. Most recently, the "Sixties Spectacular" brought a full-house to the 2,700-seat theater. Within the following week "One Night of Queen" bombed with only about 800 fans and the next night Blood, Sweat & Tears played before just 900. I spoke with a dozen or so folks exiting after the three shows. They all raved about the performances, but some couldn't understand the sparse numbers for two of the events. Clearly, the chief culprits are soaring prices for most all necessities cutting luxury spending, coupled with competition from many other venues for the entertainment buck. "Jesus Christ Superstar," starting a three-day run today, should do well at the box office, but who knows?
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