Smith Center may have impact on UNLV’s performance venues

The opening of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts tonight worries me.

I don't fret as much about whether locals will support it. Talking to people from all walks of life who already bought tickets for shows convinced me the support is there.

Plus, I gained confidence after talking to performing arts folks in Dallas who were amazed that the Smith Center's first Broadway series subscription drew 10,400 people, when their center opened in 2009 with 6,700 subscribers and has yet to hit the 10,000 mark.

Actually, I worry about the impact the Smith Center may have on other performing arts venues, especially at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Then there is my favorite nearby theatrical destination -- the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah.

Will Las Vegans reconsider the 170-mile drive to Cedar City in favor of buying more tickets at the Smith Center?

David Ivers and Brian Vaughn, the co-artistic directors for the Shakespeare Festival, and Executive Director Scott Phillips happened to be in Las Vegas on Wednesday for a meet-and-greet at the Snell and Wilmer law firm in the Hughes Center, so I asked them.

They don't think the Smith Center will hurt their customer base. The festival is a destination trip, not just a one-nighter.

The festival is more interactive with behind-the-scene tours and discussions with the creative and technical staff. Did you know in the Randall L. Jones Theater every production includes a monkey of some kind as a prop?

People will still want to escape the smothering Las Vegas heat in the summertime and go to Utah to see plays, some Shakespearean, some not. The fall colors and the closeness to Utah's Bryce Canyon and Zion create more reasons to indulge in a mini-vacation.

Snell and Wilmer partner Leon Mead II, a well-regarded construction attorney, joined the festival's board of governors last year. That's why the law firm sponsored Wednesday's getting-to-know-you event for Las Vegans, attracting more than 100 people.

Starting in the fall of 2013, the festival is expanding with a new 900-seat Shakespeare theater, expected to be finished in 2015, so adding a construction attorney to the board was a smart move.

Vaughn said the season beginning in June is the festival's "most ambitious season" with eight productions.

"Les Miserables" will extend from the end of June to mid-October, crossing the summer and fall seasons. "To Kill A Mockingbird" presents one of the greatest characters of all time , Atticus Finch, and includes child actors. There's also Shakespeare's bloody "Titus Andronicus," which is rarely produced, and the often-produced "Hamlet." Meanwhile, "Mary Stuart" offers history and politics, and "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "Scapin" provide yucks.

Finally, "Stones in His Pockets" first ran in 2005 and is the most requested play by patrons. Vaughan and Ivers play 15 roles without changing costumes or the set, portraying two Irishmen working as extras on a movie.

I tend to agree that the Smith Center won't chip away at the Shakespeare festival.

But, and I regret this, I suspect it will change some productions formerly offered at UNLV as artists abandon the tired old lady for the up-to-date young chick.

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Michael Feinstein, Yo-Yo Ma and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have signed for the 2,050-seat Reynolds Hall at the Smith Center, when they used to perform at UNLV.

Larry Henley, UNLV's director of artistic programming and production, has already conceded UNLV will have to adapt. Let's hope the 1,832-seat Ham Hall, which opened in 1976 and lends itself well to large lecture series, will reinvent itself, with the Judy Bayley Theatre , without diminishing the university's commitment to the performing arts.

Unintended consequences are always a concern, but perhaps the Smith Center opening means new opportunities, especially for UNLV.

But I may still worry. It's my nature.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison