Quote:
Originally Posted by delts145
Old & New, I know Minneapolis is a good sized city. You said that without St. Paul, the greater Minneapolis Metro would be the same size as Salt Lake Metro. Did you mean just the Salt Lake Valley portion per se, or the entire Wasatch Front? I'm wondering because the Minneapolis portion is much larger than the St. Paul portion...right?
Also, what constitutes a large theatre as far as seating capacity. I ask out of curiosity, and you seem to be very familiar with the stats. Would we be including theaters such as the New Hale in Sandy, etc.? Particularly if we're talking the entire Wasatch Front, from Ogden to Provo.
There is nothing more exciting to me at this juncture, than to see the old Utah Theatre restored. I would be over the top excited if they would also open a film school on that block. Only a dream, but wouldn't it be great if the US Bank moved to another tower, and the film school took up the vacated space?
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The Wasatch front 4 counties are 2.4 million now. It's difficult to say if Minneapolis or St Paul is bigger when you take Stillwater MN into account, which is on the St Paul side. But if you split the metro in half, you get about 1.9 population.
In my mind, a large theater has more than a 1,000 Seats. St. Paul has two, soon to be three: the Ordway, (2,206) and the Fitzgerald (1,050). They are also refurbishing the palace theater (2,800):
http://www.startribune.com/take-a-look-i...e-a-major-concert-destination/369439772/. Additionally, they also have the stepping stone children's theater (430). For an equivalent to the New Hale in Sandy, Minneapolis also has Theater In The Round, which is also downtown:
http://www.theatreintheround.org And for an equivalent to the Off Broadway Theater, Minneapolis has their Brave New Workshop Comedy Theater downtown.
I'm also super excited to see the Pantages/Utah Theater restored!!! Minneapolis restored theirs about a decade ago. National Touring Comedy acts, book readings, those types of shows that don't require a lot of scenery go there because, just like the Pantages theater in Salt Lake City, the one in Minneapolis has a shallow stage. They were both built for Vaudeville performances which were a dozen one act variety shows, that didn't require elaborate scene changes. A film venue with an accompanying film school would also be a great fit IMO. Current talks are that the Pantages/Utah may become a dinner theater. But I don't think we'll hear much about it until June 2017.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Makid
The only way that the idea would work is if we move the Rose Wagner theater from 3rd South to this location.
I don't think that it is possible though. By this weekend, there will be 3 large options for performances all in roughly 1 block from the Convention Center:
Capitol, Rose Wagner, and Eccles. The Rose Wagner is the smallest of the 3 with just under 800 seats total across the main theater area and the smaller venue options inside.
Additionally, there is a "Thrust" stage in the main Rose Wagner theater, it isn't as large as some but it is there.
Also, it is used for smaller meetings for some conventions. Most conventions that have larger meetings need between 1,700 seats and 12,000 seats. In these cases, they have been using the Capitol, Internal seating options in the Convention Center as well as the arena (Delta, ESA, Vivint, etc).
I do like the idea of additional theaters in close proximity, we do have to remember that there are/shortly will be 3 operating in less than a 2 block radius of each other and a 4th when the Utah Theater is updated and running again.
The problem with the theater location shown is that it is also in the main Convention Center hotel district. To be viable in the location, we would need at least 2 large hotels near the theater. CCH and another 800+ hotel to attract larger conventions. The theater outlined would need to be marketed to conventions first until the population of both the Metro but primarily the City increases enough to support it as an arts venue first rather than a convention meeting venue.
That being said, I think that if a Developer wanted to develop the current Rose Wagner location, moving it to this location would work, provided a hotel was also attached due to the increase in size of the theater.
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I see the Rose Wagner theater taking on a similar role to the Cowles Center theater in downtown Minneapolis which is home to modern dance companies. Today, there are already dance companies, including Ririe Woodburry, who use the Rose Wagner quite a lot.
A thrust theater provides a very different experience than does a proscenium theater like the main Rose Wagner auditorium. In a thrust theater, the audience surrounds the action on three sides.
The new Eccles theater, though close enough in my opinion, does not meet the proximity requirements for a convention theater. They measure by feet, not by blocks. Salt Lake City blocks are huge. I think Capitol is close enough, but the Rose Wagner is not. But I believe a theater directly across the street can be included in the overall square footage count of the convention center itself.
Each theater can cater to different performing arts events. Different types have different requirements, from seating capacity to format to fly/stage space.
Your strategy of: "The theater outlined would need to be marketed to conventions first until the population of both the Metro but primarily the City increases enough to support it as an arts venue first rather than a convention meeting venue," could be a great strategy if somehow it's proven that Salt Lake City can't support additional performing arts. But I think we want to plan for the future, and get the infrastructure in there asap, while there is space.
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