THEATRE: Light the lights! 3 Broadway musical tours to open at PPAC this season

Providence is becoming a hot spot for the opening of national tours, the travelling version of popular Broadway musicals. Over the past several years, the Providence Performing Arts Centers (PPAC) has been the first stop for the national tours of “Legally Blonde,” “Young Frankenstein” and “Beauty and the Beast” among others. This season, “Once,” “Evita” and the new “Phantom of the Opera” tours will debut at PPAC.

PPAC’s Director of Marketing, PJ Prokop, said PPAC has become well-known among touring companies because of its physical structure and proximity to New York, since many shows hold their rehearsals and pre-production meetings there.

“We try to make things work smoothly,” said Prokop, who explained that a number of local technicians work on each show.

Not only are things great behind the scenes, but touring companies love what happens in the audience, too. Prokop said touring companies often remark on how welcoming and responsive the audiences at PPAC are.

Prokop said Providence theatre-goers have a greater appreciation of musical theater.

 “They love it, they understand it,” she said.  “They’re very warm and enthusiastic.”

As good as it is for the touring companies, hosting national tour openings is also great for the city. Each tour has a cast and crew of 30 to 50 people, said Prokop – that’s 30 to 50 people staying in local hotels, shopping at local retailers and eating in local restaurants. Plus, when tours open in a city, they tend to stay longer than they would in other towns along the way.

Booking a tour isn’t as cut and dried as having a good location and a top-notch facility. Prokop said booking arrangements can begin up to 18 months in advance, as can financial negotiations.

Prokop said it’s “extremely expensive” to bring live, touring shows to PPAC but said specific agreements vary from show to show.

“Fortunately we’ve mainly been on track with major shows consistently,” she said.

Prokop said it’s too early to tell if the new theater tax credit, which offers a tax break to Broadway-bound shows that open at PPAC or the Vets Auditorium, is a factor in the number of openings.

“It may be something that is part of the equation certainly,” she said. “But we don’t really know how it’s going to play out.”

For now, Prokop said PPAC is “very, very fortunate” to have the line-up they do this year.

 “We’re in a position to say wow…I was the first person to see this on tour,” said Prokop.  “You get kind of bragging rights here to providence

And theater aficionados, those bragging rights are priceless.

Of course, Prokop says people can go to New York and see the Broadway productions, but there’s the added cost of travel and lodging – plus the price of tickets themselves are sometimes triple what they are at PPAC.

In addition to the three openings, PPAC’s season includes the tours of “Book of Mormon,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Wicked” Peter and the Starcatcher,” “Flashdance,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Ghost: The Musical.”

“We do think it’s going to be a phenomenal season,” said Prokop. “Every title has something special to offer.”

For more information on the shows and ticketing, visit www.ppacri.org

Kim Kalunian An award-winning journalist and theater critic – and a performer at heart. Kim’s talents have taken her from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NY, to stages in Boston and Providence’s own Trinity Repertory.