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| Buffalo, NY - Mar. 23 - 28, 2010; Shea's Performing Arts Center | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 8 2009, 05:18 AM (1,674 Views) | |
| mouser | Apr 8 2009, 05:18 AM Post #1 |
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March 23 - 28, 2010 ![]() Shea's Performing Arts Center 646 Main St Buffalo, NY 14202 (716) 847-1410 TICKETS: SEATING CAPACITY: approx. 3700 SEATING CHART: ![]() THE VENUE: Shea's Performing Arts Center is a theater for touring Broadway musicals and special events in Buffalo, New York. Originally called Shea's Buffalo, it was opened in 1926 to show silent movies. It took one year to build the entire theatre. Shea's boasts one of the few theatre theater organs that are still in operation today in the country. The Mighty Wurlitzer is a typical theatre organ that has all the traditional stops as long as other sounds like a full percussion section. The organ has four manuals. courtesy of Jim BushShea's Buffalo, flagship of the theater chain, was designed by the noted firm of Rapp and Rapp of Chicago. Modeled in a combination of Spanish and French Baroque and Rococo styles, the theatre was designed to resemble opera houses and palaces of Europe of the 16th and 17th centuries. The interior was designed by world renowned designer/artist Louis Comfort Tiffany with most of the elements still in place today. Many of the furnishings and fixtures were supplied by Marshall Field in Chicago, and included immense Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers of the finest quality. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In 2006, to commemorate the theater's 80th birthday, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of the world-renowned JoAnn Falletta played a concert there with Anthony Neuman playing the organ. Highlights of the program included Camille Saint-Saëns "Organ" Symphony 3 in C minor, selections from The Phantom of the Opera, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, and Louis Vierne's Carillon de Westminster. The first impression [of the theater auditorium] is that of a harmonious mass of gold, pink and blue. There are eleven rows of loge seats in the front of the balcony. There are three mammoth arches at each side of the balcony, each of which has a large mirror at the top and a fire exit at the bottom. A large crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling in front of each arch mirror. At the center of the top of the auditorium is an immense dome, indirectly lighted. This dome is 56 feet north and south by 70 feet east and west. The total distance from the top of the dome to the orchestra floor is 89 feet, a distance equal to the height of the average seven-story office building. ![]() In front of this door is a smaller, rectangular-shaped dome, in which are concealed ten floodlights for the stage. The whole interior decoration of the theatre is French Renaissance [Ed. Note: Spanish Baroque Revival may be a more accurate] in character, approaching most nearly to the Louis XIV styles, but with a modern and American adaption. The ceiling is covered with an infinite variety of interlacing woodwork designs on curving panels, painted in the dominant golds, pinks and blues, with many variations of these shades. ![]() Ten great hanging lamps in variegated glass provide light at the sides, together with a number of lights of similar glass set in plaques on the walls. At the front the proscenium arch is set off by indirect lights all around. The orchestra is arranged on a special platform which can be lowered to the basement, and raised to the stage level at the time of the overture. The organ console, similarly arranged, is on a separate elevating unit. http://www.buffaloah.com/a/main/646/theater/index.htmlDIRECTIONS: wikipedia Article from the Buffalo News http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/644318.html Shea’s Performing Arts Center dubbed itself the “Wonder Theatre” when it opened in 1926, adding advertising luster to its movie-palace grandeur. There have been many ups and downs for Shea’s since, but it’s not hard to imagine producers using that title today, considering the theater’s recent programming and box-office success. It has been 10 years since a $16 million gamble to expand the stagehouse made it possible to present large-scale Broadway touring productions. The transformation –a promise made and kept in a community where grand predictions often fall by the wayside –is an accomplishmeft being touted both locally and(nationally. For the current season, Shea’s has a theater-high 11,013 season ticket holders. Sales for next year’s package of shows, including “Jersey Boys,” “In the Heights” and return engagements of “Chicago” and “Grease” are ahead of the pace set last year at a similar point, said Lisa Grisanti, the theater’s marketing director. “There was a time when [producers] would say, ‘Oh, you present shows in Buffalo,’ ” said Albert Nocciolino, Shea’s co-presenter of shows. “Now, they see the grosses that come out of Buffalo and they’re just astounded. “We’re almost certainly in the top three for one-week, subscriber-based engagements in the country, and if not –then in the top five,” said Nocciolino, who also chairs the Independent Presenters Network, an association of promoters, theater owners and performing arts centers. The boffo box-office returns for multiple-week engagements have also raised eyebrows, from the Shea’s-best six-week run of “Lion King” in 2005 that sold 129,832 seats, to the 90,000- plus seats sold both for the four-week engagement of “Wicked” and the 37 performances of “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” in 2008. “Shea’s reputation is excellent, and that’s probably mild,” said Mike Isaacson, a producer for Fox Theatricals, which brought “Legally Blonde: The Musical” to Shea’s last fall. “What those numbers point out to me is that the community is a lot more ‘sophisticated’ than bad conventional wisdom would have you believe.” Studies have also shown Shea’s has a significant economic impact on Buffalo. Celeste Lawson, executive director of the Arts Council in Buffalo & Erie County, said the city’s “downtown vitality” depends on the theater’s presence. “Shea’s certainly allows this community to have access to performances and productions where there is just nowhere else to put them. They’ve done a lot to really say we are a community that appreciates good entertainment. I just think we’re very lucky.” Storied history Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, the 13th and largest to take theatrical promoter Michael Shea’s name, was built for roughly $1.8 million. It opened in 1926 with motion pictures and live stage shows, and was partly financed and programmed by Paramount Studios into the 1940s, when Loew’s Corp. took over. By the mid-1970s, Shea’s fell on hard times and the city foreclosed on the property’s then-owner, Leon Sidell, for back taxes. When Loew’s, now leasing the theater, announced it was going to shut down, the volunteer group Friends of Buffalo Theatre got an injunction to stop the company from stripping it. The group operated Shea’s for six years—led by a 22-year-old chairman, L. Curt MangellIII— and is credited with saving Shea’s from likely demolition. Mangell, who now lives in Philadelphia, said Shea’s current success reaffirmed the efforts he and others put in to protect the theater. A different kind of uncertainty greeted Anthony C. Conte, the theater’s president, in March 2001 when he succeeded Patrick J. Fagan, who conceived the renovation and guided it to fruition. The theater was carrying $4.6 million debt, the subscription rate was 4,800, and the possibility of having to shut its doors, though not discussed publicly, was a real possibility, Conte now admits. The expanded stagehouse made successful shows like “Phantom of the Opera” and “Miss Saigon” possible, and financial support from local government, foundations and the public retired the debt five years after the reopening. That allowed revenues to cover the theater’s operating budget. A wider focus A key to Shea’s success was expanding the theater’s marketing reach beyond a near-exclusive focus on Erie County, where 73 percent of its audience now comes from, compared to 90 percent before. “Our market runs from Rochester to Toronto, and that’s somewhere between 15 [million] and 20 million people. That’s our primary market, and it’s not a secondary market,” said Conte, whose association with Shea’s began by volunteering in 1970 as an M&T Bank executive. Conte prides himself on watching over every penny and putting a premium on customer service while at the same time continuing the theater’s restoration, guided by consultant Doris Collins. Shea’s has boosted revenue from private events, and the 3,019-seat theater is rented out for about 15 concerts a year. However, that end of the business has been hurt by Niagara Falls casinos on both sides of the border. The possibility of a third casino put up by the Seneca Nation of Indians near the Cobblestone District, now in court, would make things even worse, Conte said. “If there’s another showroom a mile away from us, that could totally kill our concert business. That will throw us for a loop, because we maintain a very sensitive balance,” he said. The theater gets government support to help pay for educational programs that bring busloads of students to the performances, and for its ongoing restoration campaign. Even in these lean times, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, recently obtained $712,500 for ceiling and wall repairs, and the state Legislature approved $300,000 to replace the theater’s energy-wasting brass entrance doors. An inspiration Shea’s state-of-the-art renovation has become a model for other movie palaces making the transition to full-fledged performing arts centers. Backstage, the 24 spacious dressing rooms put principal stars next to wardrobe, provide offices for company managers and offer loading docks for two trucks to load-in at a time, off the street, with elevators leading directly into the stagehouse. Conte recalled a Fox Theatre employee in Detroit telling him a theater consultant said, “You don’t need me. All you need is to take a trip to Buffalo.’ ” The theater manager of the former Stanley Theatre in Utica, now the Stanley Center for the Arts, said a lot was learned for its own recent expansion by studying what Shea’s did. “Shea’s Buffalo is very similar to ours, the same kind of movie palace design and concept – opulent out front for the patrons, but minimal treatment backstage,” John Faust said. “Buffalo was visionary in getting the work done right. It really was the inspiration for us to get going.” msommer@buffnews.com HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS: http://travela.priceline.com/hotel/POI-Shea_s_Performing_Arts_Center_Buffalo_New_York_United_States-78417905.html Hotels http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2857422-buffalo_restaurants-i-nearoid-2857725-radius-10-sort-distance Restaurants Bijou Grille and Club Level - located across from the theatre. POINTS OF INTEREST: Buffalo Fire Historical Museum courtesy of www.buffalorising.com1850 William Stret Buffalo, NY 14206 1-716-892-8400 For decades, equipment used by firefighters from the early 1800s lay rusting away in musty rooms until it was decided in 1981 that these brave men should have more than dusty memories. So this fire historical museum was born. Included is an 1831 hand pumper, an 1893 parade carriage, and an early 20th-century street-corner fire alarm. One display honors a group of firefighters who lost their lives when a propane tank exploded. The museum is run by volunteers and there is no admission fee. Market Arcade Building courtesy of Wcities617 Main St Buffalo, NY 14203 +1 716 855 4663 / +1 800 283 3256 Open Hours9am-5pm Mon-Tue; 9am-6pm Wed-Fri; 10am-4pm Sat In the midst of the Buffalo Theater District , this impressively-styled building gets its name from the Washington Street Market which operated in the area for the first half of the 20th century. A type of mini-mall popular in Europe in the late 19th century, the arcade went bankrupt in 1979 and was acquired by the city. After extensive renovations which have left the facade and doorway untouched, the market houses several businesses, cafes, and the Buffalo Visitors' Center . Nearby attractions include Shea's Performing Arts Center , and the Irish Classical Theatre Company . MEDIA: 1. Medaille Perspective Shea's performance electrifies By Jackie Guglietta, Staff Writer http://www.medailleperspective.com/lifestyles/shea-s-performance-electrifies-1.1282902 | Published: Monday, March 29, 2010 The word Grease. It’s got groove, it’s got meaning. And that is exactly what the audience experienced on opening night of Grease the Musical at Shea’s Theater, downtown Buffalo. On Tuesday, March 23rd people filled the room while the bubbly radio personality character Vince Fontaine, played by Dominic Fortuna got the crowd up and moving with a hand-jiving dance party. We first meet Danny Zuko (Josh Franklin) and the new girl at school, Sandy Dumbrowski (Lauren Ashley Zakrin) on the first day of school at Rydell High. The two spent their “Summer Nights” together but when reunited, Danny is too embarrassed of Sandy’s good girl image since he runs with the T-Birds, a leather jacket wearing, cigarette smoking group of guys. The Pink Ladies, known as the “bad chicks” in high school, take Sandy under their wing even though Betty Rizzo, “Rizzo” (Laura D’Andre) thinks Sandy is “too pure to be pink”. One of the other ladies, Frenchy (Kate Morgan Chadwick), needs some advice about beauty school and that is when her teen angel, Taylor Hicks from American Idol, appears to sing “Beauty School Drop Out”. As tough as the Pink Ladies and T-Birds seem, we see their hearts pour heart with each song. Danny and Sandy offset each other perfectly and brought amazing solos to the scene. The music in the show kept me on the edge of my seat, giving me chills that were multiplying. It was electrifying. There was explosion of talent on stage that kept spirit resonating in the theater. The set and props were colorful, fun and kept my attention from start to finish. I walked out of the show singing and dancing and have had Grease songs in my head ever since. Growing up, I wanted to be a student at Rydell High and this musical made me feel that once again. SOUL PATROL MEMORIES: Taylor tweets the famous Grease Billboard 1. Nancy "Grease was awesome last night at Shea's Buffalo, and Taylor was phenomenal as always! I really didn't think that I would be able to get to talk to him or get my photo taken because we came on a charted bus and they leave right as soon as the play ends, But me niece Lauren managed to drag me up near the front of the line to see Taylor. courtesy of NancyP2. Tigger919: saw Grease at Shea's last night. Very good show. Had a GREAT TIME. Well worth seeing. Even Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel was good. 3. faithinlove99 After the show Taylor hicks sang a song from his new album.Boy can he go to town!! 4. According to Nancy , it seems that Bill Will was back at the merchandize table during part of Taylor's gig in Buffalo...... 5. MommaRosey: went to see grease tonight in Buffalo Taylor Hicks was great He took a picture with my grandaughter and gave her an autographed shirt 6. Criss Nunamaker Just saw Taylor in Grease at Shea's in Buffalo! Most awesome..... MEDIA BLITZ: MEDIA BLITZ MORE PICTURES AND THE DOWNLOADS AVAILABLE ON THE MEDIA BOARD Thursday March 25, 2010 1. 8:45 AM EST Live interview on WKSE-FM (#1 hits) with Janet & Nick in the Morning DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE http://www.kiss985.com/ Taylor with Nick http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/entercom/player/?id=WKSE To Listen Live http://blogs.kiss985.com/morningshowblog/2010/03/25/american-idol-paige-outtiger-woods-once-dated-leann-rimes/TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW Same information: Talked a little Idol past and present , Promoting Grease, talking about doing SMB after the show and thanking the audience for coming, Talked about Mr. Shea , the ghost ........Taylor told a ghost story !!!!!!!!!!!! EERIE Talked to Biography Channel about Celebrity Ghost Stories : In Atlanta . We have to watch out for that segment????? Taylor has done over 1000 shows since he started with Grease..... He tries to build on the character of Teen Angel ( more funnier and more over the top ) Brook Shields called him to congratulate him on getting the Grease role and wishing him luck. Who is most important person to her : Grandma Joni Favorite smell: Sharpie Who was last person to call you: tour manager Last text: tour manager Sibling: two brothers Love at first sight: Yes Favorite food: buffalo wings which he has never tried ( remember he is in Buffalo ) What word do you use the most: thank you and yes Simon was mean Favorite clothing item: jackets He lost about 35 lbs since leaving Idol. The studio wants him to try coconut water: low cal. He tasted it . Quite a bit of information on coconut water. Hopefully releasing a new record at the end of the year and going on tour starting the beginning of 2011 .. 2. 10:00 AM EST Live interview & performance on “AM Buffalo” WKBW-TV (ABC) with Linda Pelligrino DOWNLOAD OF MS. PELLIGRINO'S INTERVIEW AVAILABLE ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() WKBW Video Interview with Laura Gray rather than Ms. Pelligrino. DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() http://www.wkbw.com/about/whatson http://www.wkbw.com/ There does not seem to be a stream link http://www.wkbw.com/programming/ampmforms? 3. Taped interview with WGRZ-TV (NBC) Eve News DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE http://www.wgrz.com/ http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=75578&provider=gnews To Watch the Video ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 4. Taped interview with WKBW-TV (ABC) Eve News http://www.wkbw.com/ This is the same channel as Linda Pelligrino interview. REFER TO INTERVIEW # 2 ABOVE. http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/88856477.html TAYLOR'S CHOICE FOR GREAT BUFFALO WINGS IN ( WHERE ELSE ) BUFFALO, NY.
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2:38 AM Jul 11