Dodgers Prepare New Theater Complex for Fall Opening
currently being transformed into the Dodger Stages complex
(Photo © Michael Portantiere)
The Dodgers, the producing organization behind Urinetown, 42nd Street, and many other shows, is expanding into the realm of theater ownership: It has officially announced that Dodger Stages, a new theater complex, will open in Fall 2004.
Located at Worldwide Plaza (340 West 50th Street) on the site formerly occupied by Worldwide Cinemas, the 61,300- square-foot complex will contain 1,917 seats in five theaters: two 499-seaters, two 360-seaters, and one 199-seater. It will be completed at a cost of $20 million.
According to Michael David of the Dodgers, “We wanted to create a small community of theaters in the heart of the city; a magnet convenient for artists and for audiences; a center for ongoing performance activity for theater and for dance, music, performance art, the circus — for anything that would love to be in the Broadway vicinity but can’t find the right-sized venue to do so.”
The design team for Dodger Stages is comprised of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP, Richard L. Blinder, Eric Chu (architect); Sachs Morgan Studio, Theatre Design Specialists, Ann Sachs and Roger Morgan (stage design); Klara Zieglerova (principal designer of public spaces); and 2×4, Inc. (environmental graphic design). To view a rendering of what the complex will look like when completed, click here.
