Dodger Stages, a new multi-entertainment theatre complex located at Worldwide Plaza, 340 West 50th Street, will open in fall 2004, Dodger Stage Holding — known casually as "Dodgers" — announced March 10. No specific dates or shows have been publicly confirmed yet.
The 61,300-square-feet of space, owned by Equity Office, contains five performance venues in a former underground movie multiplex and will be completed at a cost of $20 million. Playbill On-Line previously reported the musical, The IT Girl, is likely to be an early tenant.
Michael David, a principal with Dodger Stage Holding said, "We wanted to create a small community of theatres in the heart of the city. A magnet convenient for artists and for audiences. A center for ongoing performance activity for theatre, and for dance, music, performance art, the circus. For anything that would love to be in the Broadway vicinity, but can't find the right-sized venue to do so."
Adapted from an existing structure "with the economic advantages of scale and centralization," Dodger Stages will "address the unique economic needs of the producer, the physical needs of the artist, and the social, aesthetic and comfort needs of today's audience."
The design team for Dodger Stages is comprised of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP, Richard L. Blinder, Erik Chu (Architect); Sachs Morgan Studio, Theatre Design Specialists, Ann Sachs and Roger Morgan (Stage Design); Klara Zieglerova (Principal Designer of Public Spaces); and 2x4, Inc. (Environmental Graphic Design). Included in the complex:
The complex includes a three-window box office, two male and two female restrooms on orchestra level and one male and one female restroom on mezzanine level, 10 dressing rooms at three locations.
Other amenities include automated ticketing, lumbar support seating, concessions, a galleries, café and bar and coat check.
Dodger Stage Holding, a theatrical producing partnership comprising Michael David, Robin de Levita, Des McAnuff, Rocco Landesman and Edward Strong, originated at BAM in 1978 and migrated to the New York Shakespeare Festival and then off and on Broadway where they have shared in Tony and Obie Awards. Currently on Broadway from the Dodgers is the 2001 Tony-winner 42nd Street at the Ford Center. Currently Off-Broadway is Fame on 42nd Street at the Little Shubert Theatre. Past Broadway credits include Urinetown, Into The Woods, The Music Man, Blast!, Titanic, Wrong Mountain, Footloose, Mandy Patinkin: Mamaloshen, High Society, 1776, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The King and I, The Who's Tommy, Ralph Fiennes' Hamlet, Guys and Dolls, Once Upon a Mattress, How to Succeed in Business..., Jelly's Last Jam, The Secret Garden, Into the Woods (original), Big River, Prelude to a Kiss, The Gospel at Colonus, Pump Boys and Dinettes.
Dodgers are expected to partner in the Broadway premiere of Frank Wildhorn's Dracula, the Musical, in 2004-05.
Dodger subsidiaries include D Tours, its touring arm; Dodger Costumes (Americas largest theatrical costume company); Dodger Management, Dodger Marketing, and Theater Stuff (theatre merchandise). Dodger is a partner in Stage Holding, an international group of live entertainment companies, assembled and founded by Joop van den Ende, whose head office is situated on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. Employing more than 4,500 people worldwide, Stage Holding activities range from theatrical productions and operating theatres to special events, ice shows, and concert presentations in Europe, the United States, South America and Great Britain.
Beyer Blinder Belle is world-renowned for projects such as the revitalization of Grand Central Terminal, Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, and the master plan and renovation of Rockefeller Center. In addition to Dodger Stages, the firm's theatre projects include the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Neil Simon Theatre, the Century Theater, the Apollo Theater, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and Mark Morris Dance Group, all in New York City, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Colorado.
Klara Zieglerova (principal designer of public spaces) works primarily as a theatre designer. Zieglerova has designed productions on Broadway (The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe) and Off Broadway in theatres such as Manhattan Theater Club, Irish Repertory Theater, New York Theater Workshop.
For information, visit www.dodgerstages.com.
