E.J. Thomas to cease producing shows

[bandzip]

OK so what big name acts were there that played in that time period? I got the shirts, the schedules, saw the ads plastered everywhere, and don't remember any big names on the order of those the place hosted 20-30 years ago. You don't have to go to the JAR to see there was nobody there to see.

I'm not sure what you are looking for here. People have already listed dozens. Almost all of the Broadway Shows, some Tuesday musical shows, speaking events like Colin Powell and Tyson among others, Pentatonix, Chevelle with Finger Eleven, Blue Man Group, "Rain" the Beatles Tribute, Mannheim Steamroller, Trans-siberian orchestra, Jackson Browne, every Tuba Christmas performance, The Cleveland Orchestra, Gospel Meets Symphony with the Akron Symphony, and the list goes on, all within the last few years. If those acts are selling out then anyone you hear on the radio is playing somewhere with a larger capacity.

Not sure what the JAR has to do with anything. Today any act worth seeing would book EJ or the Wolstein Center instead. The JAR seats 5,500. By the time you put the stage on the floor, take out the upper bleachers behind the stage and the seating immediately beside the stage (unless they have people sitting behind and above the band) you have significantly lowered the seating capacity. Throw in the awful acoustics and uncomfortable seating and there is no reason for any act to play there today.

What are some examples of things they should be booking?

[Dave in Green]

I've attended a few music concerts at EJTH in recent years and thoroughly enjoyed them. Others I wasn't so much interested in. But that's to be expected. One person's music is another's noise. So individual tastes dictate how "good" EJTH music acts have been in recent years.

It would make no sense to measure EJTH's success at attracting big dollar acts against big venues like Blossom or the Q. Big dollar acts don't play smaller venues due to pure economics. Some of the top acts charge $1 million or more per appearance and play only big venues that draw up to 20,000 or more paying customers at about $200 per ticket. EJTH seats less than 3,000 and typically charges less than $100 per ticket, which adds up to less than $300,000 max income from ticket sales.

[bandzip]

It would make no sense to measure EJTH's success at attracting big dollar acts against big venues like Blossom or the Q. Big dollar acts don't play smaller venues due to pure economics. Some of the top acts charge $1 million or more per appearance and play only big venues that draw up to 20,000 or more paying customers at about $200 per ticket. EJTH seats less than 3,000 and typically charges less than $100 per ticket, which adds up to less than $300,000 max income from ticket sales.

That's what I was getting at. Most of the people you hear on the radio are too popular (expensive) to play at EJ, and it makes no sense to play the JAR with the better surrounding venues.

[zippyfan34]

Went to the first Broadway in Akron show for the year last night (The Producers) and Mortimer stressed before the show they are committed to keeping traveling Broadway shows coming to Akron. Attendance was definately down vs the prior years probably do to all the media coverage and confusion whether the shows would go on. I would say it was probably at 60% capacity compared to typically 85-90% in prior years.

[Balsy]

Went to the first Broadway in Akron show for the year last night (The Producers) and Mortimer stressed before the show they are committed to keeping traveling Broadway shows coming to Akron. Attendance was definately down vs the prior years probably do to all the media coverage and confusion whether the shows would go on. I would say it was probably at 60% capacity compared to typically 85-90% in prior years.

Example of poor leadership failing to control the narrative. I'm really staring to become jaded about my alma mater.