Lights, camera, inaction

Sydney is failing to win the shows that bring artistic verve and tourist money, writes Bryce Hallett in The Sydney Morning Herald.

The State Government is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year by failing to attract high-profile cultural events and theatre blockbusters.

A lack of infrastructure and long-term vision have been blamed for Sydney losing out on international conventions and exhibitions while money-spinning Broadway musicals such as Wicked and Jersey Boys have been snared by Melbourne.

The recently formed Events NSW is yet to exert the influence and wooing power of Victorian Major Events, a body set up by the Victorian Government, and has a battle on its hands playing catch-up.

Several Australian theatrical producers argue that the NSW Government has been slow to support the commercial sector, despite its value to the economy.

When Disney’s musical The Lion King ran at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre for two years from October 2003 it was seen by more than 1.4 million people and generated an estimated $194 million for the state’s economy.

The findings of the O’Neill report, a wide-ranging look at the future of tourism in NSW, are expected to address some of these concerns, with the three-part tourism review, by the head of the Australian Rugby Union, John O’Neill, expected to be released soon and has already recommended that convention and exhibition space at Darling Harbour be expanded in light of potential losses of more than $218 million a year owing to a lack of space.

Producers are also critical of Sydney’s lack of infrastructure and the difficulty in mounting big-budget shows. When the Victorian Minister for Innovation, Gavin Jennings, announced last week that Melbourne had scored the Australian premiere of Jersey Boys at the Princess Theatre next year it was seen to add insult to injury.

The veteran producer Jon Nicholls said the shortage of venues was only part of the problem and that the Victorian Government, through Victorian Major Events, showed a commitment and support that was almost non-existent elsewhere.

“They genuinely go out of their way to make producers feel comfortable and are extremely supportive of the industry,” said Nicholls, the producer of the annual Helpmann Awards. “They put money into advertising, create opportunities and go to great lengths to create awareness and generate excitement … How Sydney ever let Her Majesty’s [Theatre] or the Regent be demolished is disgusting and the city is paying the price. There are now only two lyric-mode theatres and they [the State Government] only have themselves to blame.

The bypassing of Sydney by theatre producers reflects Sydney’s lack of commercially viable spaces, lost opportunities and political tardiness.

Rodney Rigby, another producer, said Victorian Major Events had encouraged him to open Jersey Boys in Melbourne. “The production will have a long life in Australia and we aim to do a year at the Princess [Theatre] in Melbourne,” he said.

“Currently, there is no formal relationship between the NSW Government and the commercial theatre sector.”  “It needs to change and look to create the infrastructure to meet the demands for the next 20-30 years as well as develop education programs and build relationships across the entertainment board.”

“There’s no great incentive to do business here.”

The Oscar-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the worldwide hit musical Wicked – the Untold Story Of The Witches Of Oz, spent most of last week in Melbourne, dividing his time between the theatre and the Australian Open.  He didn’t mind where Wicked opened in Australia as long as there was a big enough theatre available.

The Jersey Boys announcement led to the State Opposition calling it an embarrassing defeat for major events in NSW.

The Premier, Morris lemma, responded that NSW had just hosted the popular Sydney Festival and Tamworth Music Festival and, moreover, that his Government had committed $85 million to attract high-profile attractions during the next three years.

To this end, Events NSW is aiming to become as active as its southern counterpart. It may do so, but it will have a hard task convincing entrepreneurs, convention bosses and producers given the shortage of venues.

During boom times in the theatre, the differences between the cities become starkly self-evident.

Sydney has two 2000-seaters, the Capitol, where Billy Elliot is playing, and the Lyric Theatre at Star City, where Phantom Of The Opera will open in May after seasons in Melbourne and Brisbane.

The Theatre Royal has only 1200 seats whereas Melbourne has several Broadway-style theatres dotting the city centre, including the Regent and Her Majesty’s theatres (both 2000 seats), the State (2100), the Princess (1500) and the Comedy Theatre (1000).

And the city’s commercial theatre sector is complemented by late-night supper clubs and live music venues in ways Sydney is not.

Business hasn’t all flowed south. The hugely successful Dirty Dancing and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which opens in London next year, were created and premiered in Sydney. Projected tourism figures for the Elton John musical Billy Elliot estimate that more than $100 million will be generated during its year-long run.

“What the State Opposition failed to mention was that Jersey Boys will come to Sydney in due course; it’s no big deal,” a source said. “What you want is strong and exciting product … Whenever a producer says a show is Sydney- or Melbourne-only, everyone knows that is crap.”

On the plus side, the impresario Cameron Mackintosh has chosen the Capitol for the Australian premiere of his and Disney’s big-budget Mary Poppins next year, while Guys & Dolls, starring Marina Prior and Magda Szubanski, opens at the Theatre Royal in October. As for the opulent State Theatre, its poor backstage facilities and cramped stage are a deterrent for the musical moguls.

A Report by The Mole from The Sydney Morning Herald