The Oriental Express
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
But despite the glowing stories in the newspapers and on television, there’s still one big unanswered question: Is Drabinsky’s Livent organization financially secure enough to handle the Oriental acquisition as well as the other projects it’s expected to undertake over the next few years? In addition to the $15 million Livent is putting into the Oriental, the publicly traded company is investing another $22.5 million in a similar project in New York City, where it plans to convert two run-down theaters into one 1,850-seat venue for musical productions. A Livent spokesman says the company is also considering constructing a new theater in Toronto, which could mean another $20 million in building costs over the next several years. All told, Livent could be looking at a $57 million price tag attached to its future plans.
Eventually Livent must begin paying off the debt it’s amassing from its various building projects. Since it was formed a mere six years ago, Livent’s principal source of revenue has come from its theater productions, including Canadian mountings of four Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals: The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Sunset Boulevard. Typical of the theater business, Livent’s productions have proved to be a mixed bag in terms of their financial returns. Two Livent musicals that played Chicago–Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Aspects of Love–fared very differently. Joseph, of course, was a huge hit, grossing almost $60 million during two visits here over nearly 20 months. But Aspects, a more sophisticated musical, lost money during its brief 1992 run at the Civic Theatre.
