Affordability + quality = value.
It's a pretty simple equation, really. And all four local theatre groups who talked to The Record about the state of local theatre agreed that equation is key to success in a competitive entertainment market.
"When times are tough, a really cheap way to cheer people up and give them a night out is great value," pointed out Elizabeth Elwood, president of the Vagabond Players.
And she really does mean "cheap" - in the best possible way. With ticket prices holding steady at $15 ($13 for seniors and students), Vagabond offers one of the most affordable nights at the theatre around.
Add in four-show flex passes that never expire and can be used indefinitely, and you've got show that's likely more affordable than your average night at the movies.
Royal City Musical Theatre, too, aims to keep its tickets friendly for families.
"People are having to choose between going to a movie, going to see a concert, going to see a production," pointed out John Davies, president of the RCMT board. "There's only so much disposable income you're trying to come after. You want to make sure you give them an offer that's too good to resist."
Davies pointed out the company isn't really competing with other community theatre groups. The only group doing comparable productions is Theatre Under The Stars in Stanley Park - and since that runs in the summertime, it's not in direct competition with RCMT's spring production.
But Davies noted that travelling Broadway productions are taking a big chunk of people's entertainment budget, and even Vancouver Opera has ventured into the realm of musical theatre in recent years with productions such as West Side Story and The Pirates of Penzance.
Where RCMT has them beat is price - whereas tickets to the big downtown Vancouver productions can easily run in the range of $100 to $150, Royal City ticket prices run from $29 to $45 or so.
That can make it enticing for local audiences looking to spend their limited entertainment dollars.
Patrick Street and City Stage, too, focus on ticket prices that are far more affordable than most professional theatre in Vancouver - Patrick Street, for instance, offered a two-show special price of $60 for this season, while City Stage's recent production went for as little as $10 and $13 for the preview show and $20 or $25 for a regular night.
Of course, it's not enough to just offer people something affordable. You have to offer them something that's worth seeing, or they won't bother coming back.
For the Vagabond Players, that means a consistent, enjoyable night of community theatre.
Elwood noted that most of its shows are comedies and mysteries - the most popular with audiences - but there's always at least one production programmed in a season that's the "actors' and director's challenge." This season, that's the upcoming production of Ann-Marie MacDonald's Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), which will be the company's Theatre B.C. festival entry this year.
"The standard is always good," she said.
At Royal City Musical Theatre, "quality" means going all-out with the annual spring musical - large cast, lavish sets and costumes, a full orchestra. And the Massey Theatre space, of course, is part of the appeal.
"This is a fantastic theatre," said Chelsea McPeake, who does administration for the company. "It's a beautiful, traditional, proscenium-style theatre."
The company's productions usually employ a couple of professional leads, with the rest of the cast featuring emerging talent. Professionals are involved in every phase of the musical's production, both backstage an onstage, which gives the performers and crew a chance to learn from the best - and create a quality product.
"It's a quality production all around," McPeake noted.
And they're not just saying that - Davies is quick to note that RCMT is consistently nominated for Ovation Awards (Vancouver's annual musical theatre awards) in just about every category across the board.
Quality is also a watchword for Patrick Street.
Ask her how Patrick Street Productions is succeeding in a tough market, and co-artistic producer Katey Wright will laugh. "I just never feel like in anything in life that we've succeeded," she said. "It's like, 'We're getting there.'"
But she says one of the keys to Patrick Street's success is simple: "a refusal to compromise on quality."
Her husband and fellow artistic producer, Peter Jorgensen, admitted their desire to stage less-familiar musicals doesn't always make it easy to sell tickets.
"There's lots more commercial things we could be doing," Jorgensen said, noting people will always find money in their entertainment budgets to go see the latest big Broadway show.
But for him, that's part of the Patrick Street mission. "There's so many fabulous, interesting musicals that people don't know, or won't know until we bring them to Vancouver."
Wright and Jorgensen make it a point of staying on top of all the latest in musical theatre. They read all the reviews and listen to all the cast recordings in their quest to find new, original works that challenge the understanding of what musical theatre can do - like works by Adam Guettel, composer of The Light in the Piazza and the upcoming Floyd Collins.
"We try to dig deep, and we respect musical theatre for the art form that it is," Jorgensen said.
And so far, they say, it's working.
"One of the things we love is when we hear from patrons, I thought I hated musical theatre, and then I saw your show," Jorgensen said.
For City Stage New West, quality means continuing to offer professional, thought-provoking performances - from staged readings, such as its Murder in the Cathedral and King Lear, to small but challenging productions such as Freud's Last Session.
"Big plays, little plays, they're all part of it," said artistic director Renee Bucciarelli.
Her focus is on finding productions that can help City Stage carry out its mission of bringing professional theatre to New Westminster audiences - productions that have something to say and that engage people's minds.
And, she noted, it seems to be working.
Its recent run of Freud's Last Session brought out many new audience members.
"People are coming out of the woodwork to see Freud's Last Session," she said. She noted that play's focus on the huge questions of life - centrally, Does God exist? - drawn people to it. "People are hungry for this discussion."
That will continue to be the group's focus moving forward.
"You won't see us doing the same material that other groups do," she said. "We really want to fill a niche that's not filled."
