Theaters woo North Shore's former patrons

Professional theaters north of Boston say they are saddened that the North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly is dark, but it is not as if the theater’s financial troubles were not well-known and the June 16 closing unexpected.

Now the race begins in earnest to capture at least a share of the 355,438 people who found their way to the Beverly theater in 2007, the last year for which the Massachusetts Cultural Council has full figures available. Those numbers made the theater the largest arts organization by far in the communities north of Boston, according to the council.

One of the quickest out of the starting gate to seek new patrons has been the 10-year-old, 360-seat Stoneham Theatre.

“We’ve always had an overlap with their audiences because of our location,’’ said Liz O’Meara-Goldberg, the theater’s marketing and public relations manager. The two theaters are about 15 miles apart.

She said that since January, when North Shore’s financial problems became widely known, some music theater subscribers have been inquiring about what Stoneham has to offer.

The theater is offering them a free ticket to the first Friday night show next fall, as well as discounts on season subscriptions.

O’Meara-Goldberg said the theater’s 2009-2010 season has some fortuitous choices, given the bent of the North Shore’s audiences toward musicals. Stoneham had already scheduled Studs Terkel’s World War II musical “The Good War,’’ “The Dinosaur Musical,’’ and “My Fair Lady’’ for this fall.

The Gloucester Stage Company is also about 15 miles from the Beverly theater, and its annual summer season is underway with “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.’’

Artistic director Eric Engel said that while he hasn’t seen a huge spike in business for the 175-seat theater - advance sales are up slightly - and doesn’t have the staff to research where new customers are coming from, he does have anecdotal evidence that at least some are former North Shore Music Theatre patrons.

“We had a school group that usually goes to a show at North Shore come to a matinee of ‘Charlie Brown,’ ’’ said Engel.

He noted the theaters usually serve different clienteles, although “Charlie Brown’’ is a family-friendly musical that could attract former North Shore theatergoers.

“It’s not the same audience,’’ he said. “There’s some overlap, but they’re different venues with different programming.’’

Tom Parrish is executive director of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, coming off a successful season that saw its productions being honored by the voters of the Eliot Norton Awards and the Independent Reviewers of New England Awards.

He said the 308-seat theater in downtown Lowell hopes to expand its audience base, both to the east and to the southwest, after the closing of both North Shore and the Foothills Theatre in Worcester.

“We think we’re in a position to expand our ticket base and we see ourselves as an alternative for both of those theaters’ audiences,’’ he said. “We don’t want to see people give up the habit of going out to a show.’’

He noted that North Shore audiences like to see shows lighter in tone than what he usually offers, but that good theater is good theater.

“I think we’re well-positioned, with opportunities to expand,’’ he said.

Another theater that may profit from North Shore’s demise is the 20-year-old Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, N.H.

The theater performs much the same type of fare as North Shore did, this summer doing the popular musicals “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’’ and “Gypsy’’ in repertory in its 234-seat theater on Bow Street.

Stacy Chilicki, director of marketing and publicity at Seacoast Repertory, said she was dismayed at North Shore’s closing and hopes its officials can find a way to restore theater at the site, but for now she is throwing out the welcome mat for the theater’s former patrons.

“We’re just an easy 30-minute drive up the coast, and we hope North Shore patrons give us a chance,’’ saying she hopes to offer discounts or special ticket deals to the music theater’s subscribers.

The nonprofit group Arts Boston has also announced it is putting together a plan that would see other area theaters offer free tickets to North Shore subscribers.

One hurdle all the theaters have to jump over is persuading North Shore patrons to fork over hundreds of dollars in advance, after a statement from the chairman of North Shore’s board of trustees that subscribers are unlikely to recoup deposits made for the 2009 season that never was.

“We had a good season that exceeded expectations in both audience and donations and we were solidly in the black,’’ said Merrimack’s Parrish.

“All we can do is reassure people by showing we are forging ahead with a full schedule of shows for next season,’’ said Stoneham’s Meara-Goldberg. “Our number of subscribers is up.’’

Rich Fahey can be reached at faheywrite@yahoo.com.