Cats: The Jellicle Ball has closed on Broadway. The show was grossing $1 million a week and had seen high attendance, but was still not making enough to cover expenses. Theater rent, utility charges, and wages have risen, and the show has not been able to raise ticket prices fast enough to cover those increases.
The AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Dallas Theater Center will merge in 2027. The centers are home to Broadway tours, the Dallas Opera, and the Texas Ballet Theater. The centers anticipate that eliminating redundancies will save 10 to 12 percent of their payrolls. The DTC lost $2.2 million last year, and the ATTPAC lost $1.5 million.
London West End performers have a new, three-year Equity contract. Wages will rise 13.5 percent over the three years. They will also receive scheduling guarantees, an additional two days of holiday leave, two extra weeks of paid maternity leave, and a doubling of paternity leave.
Broward Cultural Division Director Phillip Dunlap is departing after seven years in the position. Amanda Covach will serve as interim director as a national search is conducted.
The Kennedy Center has been ordered to pay Chuck Redd $252,000 in legal fees and costs. Redd had backed out of a Christmas Eve concert at the Center after the Center was renamed, and had been subsequently sued by the Center for breach of contract. The judge found that there was no signed contract to be breached.
The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park has received a $80,000 grant from the Elinor and T.W. Miller, jr. Foundation. The grant will support digital marketing and further fundraising initiatives. The Bach Festival has performed at Rollins College since 1935.
The Miami Music Project has received a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant will support its children’s orchestra program.
recording
The AFM has amended its lawsuit against Universal, Atlantic Records, and Warner. The AFM claims the labels licensed its recordings to AI companies Suno and Udio without compensating the musicians who performed on the recordings. The AI companies are using the recordings to train AI models, and the AFM claims that this constitutes a “new use” under their contracts with the labels.
Universal Music quarterly revenue grew 10.5 percent last quarter, to $3.8 billion. Recorded revenue grew 13 percent and publishing revenues grew eight percent.
Disney is selling its stake in A+E Global Media to Hearst. Disney previously had a 50 percent equity share alongside Hearst, and now brands including A&E, History, and Lifetime will be solely controlled by Hearst.
The box office had its largest weekend take ever, at $430 million. The revenue was led by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which brought in $355 million in its debut. The Odyssey also brought in $51 million in its third week at the box office, bringing its total worldwide revenue to $911 million after three weeks.
A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that a majority of Americans are concerned about the increase in use of AI in daily life. 52 percent are concerned over AI use, up from 37 percent in 2021. 71 percent now think that AI will ead to fewer jobs in the future.
An analysis by CVL Economics and the Department of Economic Opportunity predict that a Paramount-Warner merger could result in the loss of 4,500 film and TV jobs in Los Angeles County. The county currently supports 312,000 creative economy jobs, and the lost jobs would result in the loss of !.26 billion in wages and $547 million in tax revenue.
symphonic
San Francisco Opera has extended the contract of general director Matthew Shilvock. He will now lead the company through the 2030-31 season. Silvock has served as general director since 2016.
The San Antonio Philharmonic has agreed to pay $232,000 to settle several lawsuits. $215,000 will be paid to David Wood and Colette Holt, who sued the orchestra over failure to repay a loan that was used to secure the San Antonio Symphony’s instruments and music library. $7,000 will be paid to Peter Rubins, who sued the orchestra over employment discrimination claims.
The National Symphony will perform at six venues in Washington D.C. after the closing of the Kennedy Center. The Symphony will perform at George Washington’s Lisner Auditorium, Northern Virginia Community College, the University of Maryland, the Lincoln Theatre, the Music Center at Strathmore, and George Mason’s Center for the Arts. The Symphony will continue to rehears at the Kennedy Center, and the length of its season matches the length of its previous season at the Kennedy Center.
Boston Symphony musicians have a new three-year contract after their first vote to authorize a strike in the history of the orchestra. Musicians were blindsided and shocked when the board failed to renew music director Andris Nelson’s contract earlier this year. Their new contract gives musicians a critically enhanced role in offering input in the selection of music directors.