There's a difference between the shows that tour larger cities and the ones that tour the smaller places...different "tiers". If Jersey Boys were to come to Macomb, it would be a smaller-scale production than the Jersey Boys that would play in Peoria. Fewer crew, smaller sets, still a good show, but much cheaper to tour with. Wicked, we'd probably never see in Macomb due to the large scale of sets and everything needed to do it justice.Western_101 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:46 pm Terre was right!
If it costs me $120 to go to Jersey Boys in Peoria, it would have to cost at least $240 to go to that show in Macomb (actually more,.... shows like Jersey Boys and Wicked sell out Peoria's 2,200 seat theater
).
Back in the early '00s, a show called Blast! was touring larger venues around the country, and I went to see it in Peoria. It was essentially the same production as was put on Broadway and London's West End, although many of the personnel had changed (I knew some people involved in a couple of the productions). It was full-sized, had nearly 70 performers, large crew, and filled up a large stage.
A few years later, it was touring around again, but this time made a stop in Macomb. It was a much smaller-scale production, with about half as many performers (~30 by my estimation) and with everything else scaled down accordingly. Still a very fun and entertaining show, but probably MUCH cheaper to get on the road.
So, no, it wouldn't cost that much to see a show in Macomb, because it wouldn't be the exact same show. Some shows just wouldn't work on as small of a stage (like I said...Wicked...probably things like the Lion King, Frozen, Hamilton, etc.), but there's plenty that could be adapted to a smaller-sized stage very effectively...Book of Mormon, Waitress...and I know shows like Jesus Christ Superstar and Rent can do it, I saw both of them in Western Hall.
For another example, let's take a look at Missouri S&T's Leach Theatre. Rolla (a town a little larger than Macomb) and Missouri S&T (a school a little larger than Western currently is) have a theater with a capacity of 650 (they don't even have any kind of theatre, music, or performing arts majors, just fyi). Obviously they haven't had much this last year, but acts they've had in the last 5 years include: Jersey Boys, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, the Texas Tenors, 42nd Street, STOMP, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Ballet Theatre, William Shatner's one-man show, and more. They've also hosted TEDx events there as well as a handful of locally-produced "community outreach" shows. These are the kinds of events/shows that I grew up going to at Western Hall, but have disappeared from the community due to the lack of a permanent theater.
Western, despite it's troubles, has a solid fine arts program...music and theatre especially...and to think that we don't have a performing arts center of some kind...and that the largest actual theater in town is the one at the high school...that's pretty sad.