Radio City Christmas show hitting the road

By Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Madison Square Garden Entertainment's plan to launch a touring arena version of its Radio City Christmas Spectacular is the latest move in an increasingly aggressive strategy that will see the company launch other tours in the next few years.

The Spectacular tour marks the most ambitious national project for MSGE, a division of Cablevision that owns and operates New York's Madison Square Garden, the WaMu Theatre at MSG, the Beacon Theatre and Radio City Music Hall -- and which recently completed a transaction to acquire the Chicago Theatre.

"We're big believers in the big spectacle. We like this business, we think there is a lot of opportunity for us to work in this space," MSGE president Jay Marciano says. "We are in pretty advanced stages of predevelopment on at least two productions now that are on this (Spectacular) scale."

If the Spectacular tour reaches projections north of $30 million, it is likely that MSGE will remain bullish in this market. In fact, a touring version of the MSGE/Cirque du Soleil production "Wintuk," which debuted in 2007 at the WaMu Theatre at MSG, will mount a national tour in 2010.

"We believe what our friends at Cirque du Soleil have done for the circus genre can be applied to other presentations," Marciano says. "All venues are always on the lookout for new content."

With more than $25 million in startup costs, not including marketing and promotion, the Spectacular tour certainly shows that MSGE is jumping in with both feet. "We're in it for the long haul," Marciano says. "And it's not like we're working with a show that's untested. We're working with one of the biggest live entertainment draws in the world -- we're just re-creating it for the arena space."

NOVEMBER KICKOFF

The Spectacular production will play 18 cities across the Midwest and South, beginning November 8-9 at the Brown County Arena in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The plan is to hit more than 60 markets in the next three years and then repeat the cycle. Marciano projects that between 650,000 and 700,000 tickets will be sold the first year.

The touring Spectacular will boast all the elements of the much-heralded 75th edition of the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City in 2007, when MSGE simultaneously launched "Wintuk." In a 10-week span, the two shows were attended by more than 2.4 million people and grossed more than $150 million.

The Spectacular has enjoyed theater residencies in some 30 markets since 1994 (including as many as nine in 2008), the upcoming tour is unique in that it is a multimillion-dollar production conceived specifically to travel to venues in the 7,000-12,000 capacity range.

"If we're successful in the U.S., we'll start to think about it in the context of international opportunities," Marciano says.

The arena tour has been in the works for two years, he says, with the 75th production serving as a springboard for the idea to take the Spectacular on the road. "The limitations of most theaters didn't allow for presenting the Christmas Spectacular on a scale that we do at Radio City," he says. "We turned to the arenas, which allowed us to provide a family show the size of which has never been seen outside of Radio City Music Hall."

The production is bigger than many major rock tours, involving 30 trucks and 16 buses, a massive LED screen, with a cast of 56, including the famous Rockettes.

The top ticket price will be $65-$75, with the average in the low $50s, according to Marciano. That ticket price is higher than most family shows, but well below Broadway show tickets, Marciano notes.

Reuters/Billboard