Ticket sales have plummeted for Sacramento’s Music Circus. ‘Cultural icon’ is asking for help

After the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted two seasons of Sacramento’s Broadway at Music Circus and an electrical fire threatened a third, Richard Lewis was happy to even have a season – what he termed an “artistically successful” one at that.

“All six shows from the last summer were absolutely terrific, wonderfully cast, beautifully done,” said Lewis, president and CEO for Broadway Sacramento, which puts on an annual series of musicals that wrapped Aug. 28 at UC Davis Health Pavilion.

But Lewis’s organization, like many in the artistic community, is also still being affected by the pandemic. Lewis said ticket sales for the most recent season of Music Circus fell roughly 17% of budgeted revenue. His group had expected about $6 million in ticket sales and instead came in just shy of $4.7 million.

This meant that this season of Music Circus closed both with performances of “The Color Purple” and a fundraising email on Aug. 26 that acknowledged, “We are again in crisis.”

An electrical fire the morning of July 1 affected the backstage area for Music Circus, leading performers to prepare for shows at city-owned facilities Memorial Auditorium and SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center.

The fundraising email noted that Music Circus’s box office team also relocated, with the venue’s courtyard and subscriber lounge closed and generators purchased and rented “until we could source parts for a permanent fix.”

The unexpected costs, the email noted, “combined with ticket sales far below our projections (something that many of our industry colleagues are also facing), mean we are at a significant deficit for this season.”

It’s caught the attention of Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who had helped get the $120 million performing arts center renovation completed in time for performances of “Hamilton” in 2021. Steinberg said Broadway Sacramento’s financial situation was “of great concern,” though he added that he wasn’t surprised given the pandemic.

“It’s gonna take some extra effort, significant extra effort to help them come back,” said Steinberg, who’s attended shows such as “Damn Yankees” at Music Circus. “I don’t want to lose any of these cultural icons and we have to fight to make sure that we don’t.”

Broadway Sacramento also hosts the Broadway On Tour series at the performing arts center, which kicks off its season in just a couple months on Nov. 2 with “The Book of Mormon.”

The city of Sacramento has made helping fund the arts during the pandemic a priority, devoting approximately $20 million of its CARES Act dollars to art-related causes and another roughly $10 million for the arts from funds it received through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, according to Steinberg.

Part of the city’s arts efforts in recent years has also included hiring Megan Van Voorhis as cultural and creative economy manager. Van Voorhis helps oversee grants to local artists and also recently attended her first Music Circus performance with “The Color Purple.”

“It was just so fascinating to see the energy of the people,” Van Voorhis said. “I mean, it really is a Sacramento tradition.”

Sacramento arts group received COVID help

Lewis said that his organization received just over half a million dollars from the city’s CARES Act dollars, with that being just one of four major funding streams for Broadway Sacramento.

The website federalpay.org shows that Broadway Sacramento received $861,400 through two U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Act loans, with Lewis saying most of this amount was forgiven. He also said his organization received $9.6 million through the SBA’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.

Lewis noted that the pandemic halted the 2019-20 Broadway on Tour series and led to cancellations of the 2020 and 2021 Music Circus seasons.

In general, arts organizations have needed whatever help they could get the past couple of years. Niva Flor, chief impact and strategy officer for the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, said she didn’t know the specifics of Broadway Sacramento’s situation but that she had heard from other organizations that arts was “one of the first sectors to really get hit by the pandemic and the last to really come back online.”

The Music Circus also staged performances this season of “The Secret Garden,” “Something Rotten!”, “Kiss Me, Kate,” “Carousel,” and “Kinky Boots.” Steve Kyriakis, chair of the Broadway Sacramento board of directors, said that “this was probably the best season that I can remember in all of my time serving on the board.”

Audience slow to come back

Broadway Sacramento has been trying to find ways to reach new audiences, with Sacramento City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela saying she attended a free dress rehearsal performance through a community program for “The Color Purple.” Valenzuela said that Music Circus “is definitely something that I don’t think many people know about or appreciate, which is why I think the community program was such a great idea.”

The challenge is also getting longtime supporters and donors like Hank and Cathy Feenstra back to shows. The Feenstras attended some of the Broadway series last year but didn’t go to any Music Circus performances this year due to some health issues for Cathy.

Hank Feenstra said they had sent money after receiving the recent fundraising email.

“It’s kind of out of their control with the COVID thing,” Feenstra said. “I think it’s pretty sad. I hope they can hang in there.”

More information about donating to Broadway Sacramento can be found here.