DuPont Theatre sale could mean more shows, less Broadway
DuPont Co.'s decision announced Monday to sell the DuPont Theatre business to The Grand Opera House is expected to draw more shows and higher-quality acts downtown, according to local arts leaders and supporters.
Having Wilmington's two largest and oldest theaters under one operator could lead to greater cost efficiencies, negotiating clout with producers and flexibility in booking sought-after performers. The theater will be renamed The Playhouse on Rodney Square, honoring its 102-year-old legacy. As a department of The Grand, it is expected to help triple the organization's annual ticket revenue.
However, The Grand will attempt to scale back on the DuPont Theatre's bread-and-butter — touring Broadway productions.
Stephen Bailey, the man now responsible for filling about 2,800 seats in Wilmington, expects to reduce the Broadway subscription series from five productions to three.
"We want to be much more active than DuPont was in the past with shows that live and breathe outside of the actual Broadway series," he said.
Options could include performances by Broadway names like Kristin Chenoweth and Bernadette Peters, who still appeal to the DuPont Theatre's core Broadway audience, along with speakers series and performances at both theaters by the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, First State Ballet Theatre and OperaDelaware.
Each theater will have its own subscriber series. Ticket prices could decline slightly as The Grand achieves greater economies of scale, said Bailey, a 30-year music industry veteran. The Grand also plans to offer discounts for patrons purchasing tickets to multiple shows at The Grand and The Playhouse.
Eventually, the Grand will look to develop a crossover audience, which Bailey said hasn't occurred so far. Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, who has appeared at The Grand, could perform at The Playhouse in the future if it works better with scheduling, said Bailey. He anticipates at least 20 percent more productions between both venues.
DuPont's sale of the theater business to The Grand is expected to close on Jan. 20. The current Broadway season will not be affected. Company officials declined to discuss the terms of the agreement Monday.
"This agreement represents a strategic and mutually beneficial business decision for DuPont and The Grand," DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman said in a statement. "And we are confident it will continue the Theatre's legacy and provide an even greater entertainment experience for the community."
Bailey said the takeover would result in some layoffs at the DuPont Theatre, particularly at the management level, but he could not be more specific. The DuPont Theatre hires unionized support personnel while The Grand does not. Bailey said he was committed to negotiating a new contract with the stagehands' union, but it would have to yield wages in line with what Grand workers receive.
The Grand will sign a renewable lease with DuPont for the 18,000-square-foot theater space in the DuPont Building, hugging the corner of 10th and Market Streets.
In July, that lease will be transferred to the Chemours Co., DuPont's performance chemicals business, which is scheduled to be spun off as an independent company. Chemours will own the DuPont Building, housing the theater, hotel and company offices, DuPont spokesman Dan Turner said. For now, DuPont will continue to operate the hotel business. DuPont company headquarters, however, will move to Chestnut Run Plaza near Greenville.
Downtown withdrawal
The recent changes at DuPont have occurred against the backdrop of a billionaire investor fighting to break up the company to maximize shareholder return.
Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP, one of DuPont's largest investors, has campaigned to split DuPont into one company focused on agriculture and nutrition and another on industrial materials operations. In September, Trian flagged DuPont's hospitality division, consisting of the theater, hotel and DuPont Country Club off Rockland Road, as a symbol of excessive corporate costs.
Last week, Peltz upped the ante by announcing that he would nominate himself and three other directors to DuPont's board.
Turner declined to comment directly on whether Peltz was responsible for the recent strategic shifts at DuPont. He also declined comment on whether DuPont was actively negotiating with operators for the hotel and country club. He reiterated DuPont's position that the company remains open to divesting the properties if "appropriate value can be received for shareholders."
Turner noted that DuPont has been headquartered in New Castle County for 212 years and remains committed to Delaware.
"Our heritage has been and our future will be in New Castle County," he said. "However, we will continue to be connected to the city of Wilmington through our longstanding support of numerous community organizations."
Meanwhile, Michael Harrington, whose Local 284 represents more than 100 DuPont Theatre workers, said employees are scared for the future and angry at Peltz for interfering.
"He has to play the corporate soap opera," said Harrington. "Thanks a lot, Nelson."
Arts philanthropist Tatiana Copeland, who was instrumental in helping to broker the deal between The Grand and DuPont, said discussions began with DuPont months before Peltz hammered DuPont's hospitality division in the media.
The assumption, she said, is that "DuPont was knuckling under Peltz and that is not true."
Copeland, a member of The Grand's executive board, said she first approached DuPont leaders in May about the possibility of providing subsidies for the Delaware Symphony Orchestra to perform at the DuPont Theatre. She liked the idea of symphony patrons being able to park their cars in the secure hotel lot and dine at the historic Green Room in the hotel before enjoying a concert.
Those discussions evolved into serious talks about The Grand taking over the DuPont Theatre business. In the end, it was a "very good deal" for The Grand, Copeland said, one that won't contribute to an operating deficit.
A Victorian gem, the DuPont Theatre is the oldest continuously operating theater for touring Broadway productions in the nation. Opened in 1913, the original Playhouse was conceived by three DuPont executives as a cutural jewel to help woo employees to Wilmington.
In the early 20th century, the Shubert Brothers, who were then running the Playhouse, threatened to shutter the theater because of poor ticket sales. Wilmingtonians rallied to purchase subscriptions.
In 1946, DuPont assumed control of the theater. And, in 2003, the name was changed to the DuPont Theatre to more closely align with the company brand.
More recently, the theater has struggled to attract a star-studded lineup. Once a dress rehearsal for New York Broadway shows, over time it became hamstrung by the size of its stage and its auditorium capacity (fewer than 1,300 seats) in the shadow of Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, The Grand, located three blocks away from the DuPont Theatre and with roughly the same number of seats, ended the last fiscal year with a $127,000 surplus on a $4.8 million budget, according to unaudited financial statements.
Bailey said The Grand, as a nonprofit, is able to achieve cost savings by recruiting volunteers to be ushers and hiring stagehands as independent contractors on an as-needed basis.
Copeland, who is married to du Pont family member Gerret Copeland, suggested that DuPont as a global company eventually shed its entire hospitality portfolio.
"As with the theater, I don't think the DuPont Company should have a hotel or country club," she said. "Their core product is something completely different."
"I just hope if they are considering [selling the hotel business], they get a five-star organization coming in," she added.
Both Copeland and Bailey hope the consolidation of The Grand and The Playhouse will inspire other arts groups to enter into cost-sharing arrangements to benefit their bottom lines.
Delaware Theatre Company executive director Bud Martin, who has praised Bailey's programming strengths, said he would be open to combining some efforts with the Grand if it meant reducing expenses.
But Hal Real, founder of World Café Live, said there is little overlap among the types of performances at The Grand, the DuPont Theatre and World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington.
"We're a very different creature than those two places," he said, noting that The Queen focuses more on emerging artists in a casual atmosphere.
Contact Margie Fishman at 302-324-2882 or mfishman@delawareonline.com.