Sneak Attack on Stagebill
But even if Marcus finds a way around Stagebill’s contracts, some venues, such as the Theatre Building, aren’t inclined to make the break. “It’s not the way I do business,” says Ruth Higgins of the Theatre Building, which uses Stagebill and rents space to a number of small companies. Yet other major venues don’t have a formal Stagebill contract. One of these is the Ivanhoe Theater, though the three theaters in the Ivanhoe use Stagebill. Ivanhoe owner Doug Bragan says he liked what he heard when he met with the Marcus folks. But like other theater companies interested in making a switch, Bragan is concerned about breaking his ties with Stagebill before he’s convinced Marcus is committed to Chicago. “It wouldn’t be good to have to go crawling back to Stagebill,” Bragan says.
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However lacking in proper etiquette the anxious Barto may be, he clearly is boffo at the box office. The CSO filled approximately 3,500 seats at Medinah Temple for last Thursday’s performance with Barto and conductor Christoph Eschenbach. That’s 900 more seats than are usually available at Orchestra Hall when it’s filled to capacity.
Mandalay Live! vice-president of marketing and sales David Sass insists his company is committed to making That’s Christmas! an annual event. But some entertainment executives in the Chicago market believe Mandalay Live! is asking too much for tickets to a production no one will have seen until it debuts in November. Presumably those willing to fork over up to $60 a ticket to see the $5 million Christmas show can expect something a bit slicker and more deftly executed than last week’s preview.
