Why Broadway shows are a big part of Smith Center’s first-season offerings

By Kristen Peterson

Saturday, March 10, 2012 | 2 a.m.

Broadway and the Las Vegas Strip don’t have the best relationship. For all the successes enjoyed by “Mamma Mia!,” “Phantom — the Las Vegas Spectacular,” “The Lion King” and “Jersey Boys,” there are the lackluster runs of “Hairspray,” “Avenue Q,” “The Producers,” “Spamalot” and “Starlight Express.”

But the Smith Center for the Performing Arts isn’t geared for tourists, and there is no question in the mind of the theater’s boosters that Las Vegas locals are ready for Broadway.

In fact, the outpouring of support, as seen in the sale of subscriptions, has surprised them.

“We thought if we opened the building with the same number of ticket sales as Dallas’ AT&T Performing Arts Center, we’d be good,” says Myron Martin, Smith Center president and CEO. “They opened at 6,000 subscriptions. Today, we have more than 10,000 sold.”

Job one in identifying the premiere season’s productions was to conduct marketing research, including focus groups, to find the answer to the most basic question of all: What was the thirst for Broadway in Las Vegas? Research concluded that every demographic wanted to experience Broadway.

Moreover, the research showed that Las Vegans are theater-savvy.

“People are moving here from communities with performing arts centers,” says Suzanne Chabre, Smith Center spokeswoman, “so they know what a subscription is. They know what programming is. I think they are just waiting for this to happen and already know what to expect.”

What kind of programming, then, should be planned? Now it gets tricky.

“Different segments of the population like different things,” she says. “A core member wants to see a little of everything.”

Martin said a decade of conversations with the community came into play when deciding on shows, as did the desire to bring in acts that haven’t played Las Vegas in the past because of the area’s lack of a touring Broadway roadhouse. In the first year, Smith Center audiences will be able to see “The Color Purple,” “Mary Poppins,” “Million Dollar Quartet,” “Memphis” and “Wicked,” which arrives in August for a six-week run. Martin, a fan of “The Book of Mormon,” is looking into the possibility of booking that musical during its second national tour (the first one is already scheduled without a stop in Las Vegas).

“It’s an extraordinary piece of work from guys who are known to be irreverent,” he says, adding that conversations with the community have resulted in the overwhelming response, “Please bring it. I’d like to see it.”

Martin also said Broadway shows that have had runs on the Strip could likely make a stop at Smith Center: “There are shows like ‘Mamma Mia!’ that played in Las Vegas, people loved, and it was successful here.”

As for the rest of the programming, the center has booked a little of everything, from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to Suzanne Vega; Lily Tomlin; Yo-Yo Ma; the Pink Floyd Experience; Sweet Honey in the Rock; David Sedaris; and Golda’s Balcony, a one-woman play on the life of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

(The Smith Center’s resident companies, including the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre, also will perform in the main hall.)

Martin credits Paul Beard, Smith’s vice president and COO who ran Bass Performance Hall and Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, for leaving no cultural stone unturned in the 2012 lineup.

“Part of our job is to get people to think, and we look for things that might excite or surprise them,” Martin says. “We feel diverse programming is part of our mission. But you try to balance it. On one hand, we don’t want the center to sit empty. On the other hand, we don’t want to overwhelm the community with too many (similar) shows.”

Audiences were also given a choice to create their own concert season at the Smith Center through the Design Your Own Series program that lets audiences bundle together shows based on their own interest rather than buying an entire season of shows determined by the center.

“Some are almost sold out,” Chabre says of the shows. “Others that aren’t brand names need that extra marketing push.

“We’re using this first season to see what plays well, and then we’ll fine-tune our offerings.”