The first question that is asked when producers tout the advent of a new Broadway show is, “Do they have a theater?” Until then, the announcement is not taken seriously. Those who control the real estate control Broadway, and that means producers must go hat-in-hand, in most cases, to the Shuberts with their seventeen theaters, or the Nederlanders with their nine, or Jujamcyn with their five. Sir Howard Panter and his wife Rosemary Squire of the British-based Ambassador Theatre Group, who recently announced that they would renovate the historic Hudson Theatre into Broadway’s 41st theater, have recently joined the poobahs that run these organizations.ATG is a powerhouse in England, where they manage 38 theaters. But they only recently established a beachhead in New York when in 2013 they took ownership of the Lyric Theatre, one of Broadway’s largest houses with nearly 2,000 seats. (Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games” is its current tenant with Cirque du Soleil’s “Paramour” coming in late spring.) Now, Sir Howard has added a badly needed second Broadway house to the ATG portfolio in a long-term lease negotiated with the Millennium Copthorne Hotels.The 950-seat Hudson, built in 1903, sits on 44th Street, east of Broadway and adjacent to the Millennium Hotel. In a statement, Panter said, “We are thrilled to restore and operate the iconic Hudson Theatre. It presents us with enormous opportunities to present and produce even more productions in New York and in North America and will be the perfect companion to our larger Broadway musical house, The Lyric.”While the renovation, which will be completed by next November, will cost millions, it will still be cheaper than creating a theater from scratch, which is the intent of the Shubert Organization with the lot they own on 8th Avenue between 45th and 46th Streets. The rumored cost of that will be $150 million. When that theater opens, it will be the first theater to be built since the Marquis was carved out of a space in the Marriott Hotel. The construction of the Marriott in the early ‘80s generated huge protests — colorfully covered in the new book “Razzle Dazzle” by Michael Riedel — since it meant the demolition of three Broadway theaters.At the time, Broadway producers were of mixed opinion since the business had yet to experience the boom that would follow and continue to this day. Some theater remained dark for months. In fact, the Times Square Church was able to lease and then purchase from the Nederlander Organization one of Broadway premier theaters, The Mark Hellinger. However, since the commercial turnaround of Broadway in the mid-90s, vacancies have been critically scarce, especially given the amount of new product being generated. The long runs of such smash hits as “Phantom of the Opera,” “The Lion King,” “Jersey Boys,” and “Mamma Mia!” (which just closed after 14 years) have created a theater shortage that has given the upper hand to the Shuberts, the Nederlanders, and Jujamcyn. Sir Howard’s newest acquisition makes him a little less dependent on those boys.
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