French trade association Prodiss has rebranded following a merger with the National Union of Private Theatres (SNDTP) and the Union of Cabarets and Music Halls (CAMULC).

The association will now be called Ekhoscenes, marking its expansion to all stages including music, theatre, comedy and cabaret.

Its membership comprises 600 companies and tens of thousands of employees including show producers, concert hall operators, theatre and cabaret directors, broadcasters and festival organisers.

Ekhoscenes says its objectives are representing the scenes in all its diversity, relaying the expectations and challenges of entertainment entrepreneurs, and developing an ever more daring and inclusive culture.

Ekhoscenes’ membership now comprises 600 companies and tens of thousands of employees

“From 2024, Ekhoscenes will be fully mobilised to meet the many current challenges that live performance actors, in all their diversity, are facing: the sequence of the Olympic and Paralympic Games which will greatly disrupt the activities of the live performance sector,” reads a statement from Ekhoscenes.

It continues: “The structuring of the National Music Center by contributing to an overhaul of aid and support programs in line with the evolution of the ecosystem; the strengthening of the Association for the Support of Private Theater (ASTP); the question of artificial intelligence and the need for recognition of the rights of show producers and the challenge of ecological transition with the transformation of models.”

Created in 1984, Prodiss was the first national union representing private performing arts. Its members in the live music industry include Accor Arena in Paris, the Bataclan in Paris, Live Nation France Festivals, Live Nation SAS and Mama.

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Sony Music Masterworks (SMM) has announced a new strategic venture with live entertainment company Roast Productions.

Founded by Bonnie Royal and Michael Stevens, London-based Roast Productions (RP) focuses on producing theatre, concerts and family entertainment events.

Royal and Stevens will continue to lead the company’s day-to-day operations and collaborate with Masterworks on the development of a range of new productions, working in partnership with both Masterworks president Mark Cavell and Ollie Rosenblatt, founder and CEO of SMM-backed UK concert promotion and production company Senbla.

“I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Bonnie and Michael to the Sony Music Masterworks family,” says Mark Cavell, president of Sony Music Masterworks. “Their creativity and expertise will further support our endeavours in securing and creating new quality and original live productions that will captivate and entertain audiences across the globe, and provide first-class content for our other partners to promote and market.”

Recent and current RP shows include Macbeth starring Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma, 2:22 A Ghost Story and variety show Christmas Actually, curated by Love Actually filmmaker Richard Curtis and produced in partnership with Senbla.

“The strength of its vision and values makes it the ideal partner for us as we develop a diverse body of work in the UK and internationally”

“It is an absolute honour to join Sony Music Masterworks and develop new work and new markets together,” add Royal and Stevens, producers and co-MDs of Roast. “The strength of its vision and values makes it the ideal partner for us as we develop a diverse body of work in the UK and internationally.”

SMM’s agreement with Roast Productions is the latest in a series of strategic partnerships and acquisitions advancing its growth as a multi-faceted worldwide entertainment business operating in more than 30 countries.

A division of Sony Music Entertainment, SMM has acquired stakes in live businesses such as Senbla, Barcelona-based Proactiv Entertainment last year. Other investments by the firm include Backyard Cinema; Holland-based GEA Live; Dubai-based concert promotion, talent management, events and production company MAC Global and Raymond Gubbay Ltd.

Its continued growth comes as another record label, BMG, has signalled that is stepping away from the live music industry after agreeing a deal which will see its two live companies, Undercover and Karo, transferred back to the minority shareholders.

• As part of ILMC 36, Touring Entertainment LIVE will bring together the world’s top show and exhibition producers, rights holders, venue operators and promoters on Friday 1 Match for a dedicated day on the multibillion-dollar sector.

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Entertainment agency Neil O’Brien Entertainment has hired two new agents and launched a new theatre division.

The London-based company has added Jamie Kelly and Ross Leslie to its existing team.

“I am excited to be able to welcome two new members to our team, both of whom I believe can work with us to deliver specialist and artist focused approaches to touring – something we have developed over the last 16 years in business,” says agency owner Neil O’Brien.

Kelly, who has worked with the likes of The Jesus & Mary Chain, Melanie C, Black Grape, Glasvegas, The Ordinary Boys and Jah Wobble, was previously owner of The Magnificent Agency and currently represents acts including Cast, Alabama 3, Soup Dragons, The View’s Kyle Falconer, Shambolics and Proud Mary.

He will also continue his management of The View and Shambolics, working with Alan McGee at Creation Management.

Leslie, meanwhile, was most recently at Consolidated Artists with clients including Ritchie Blackmore, Manfred Mann, Bernie Marsden and Steve Lukather. Both new appointments will be working on developing their own rosters over the coming months.

Based in Soho, Neil O’Brien Entertainment was formed in 2007 and represents over a hundred artists worldwide. It delivers more than 2,500 shows a year with its eight-strong team, with its current roster including Joe Bonamassa, UB40, Dionne Warwick, Ocean Colour Scene, Beth Hart, Fisherman’s Friends, Paul Young, Damian Lewis, Incognito, Brand New Heavies, Roachford, Aled Jones and The Alarm, among others.

O’Brien has worked in the live music sector since 1987 and was part of the programming team at Mean Fiddler, Break For The Border and Astoria London. He has programmed open air events including Reading Festival, Phoenix, Fleadh and Madstock and recently Kew The Music, Greenwich Music Time and A Boundless Summer.

“Having set up a music and film label during the pandemic to create business for our artists, it seemed the logical thing to create a home for them with a hugely creative and knowledgeable person such as Rhydian”

The specialist independent agency has also announced details of its new theatre division, Westway Talent, headed by singer, musical theatre actor and presenter Rhydian Roberts.

The former X Factor contestant will lead the new division, which will specialise in touring and staged concert business with more than 30 theatre actors including Elaine Paige, Bonnie Langford, Lee Mead, Kerry Ellis, Lucie Jones, Ramin Karimloo, Ruthie Henshall, John Barrowman, John Partridge, Jamie Muscato, Jason Manford and Samantha Barks.

The division is said to be the only designated roster of its kind in the UK with the aim of developing the growing business of live music activity for musicial theatre artists.

“I have worked closely with Rhydian for more than 10 years developing live touring opportunities for our theatre based music artists and over the last three years have identified an exciting area of activity where we have been able to develop some incredible live opportunities and relationships in the musical theatre space,” adds O’Brien.

Many of the roster are linked to the theatre music label Westway Music, formed in 2020 to deliver live recordings and events, including the regular concert series The Westway Sessions.

“Having set up a music and film label during the pandemic to create business for our artists, it seemed the logical thing to create a home for them with a hugely creative and knowledgeable person such as Rhydian,” adds O’Brien. “I am extremely excited to now represent some of the best theatre talent in the UK for their concert business.”

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The Touring Entertainment Report (TER) 2023, a new resource puts the global business of touring theatre, shows and exhibitions in focus, is out now.

From theatre productions and family entertainment shows to exhibitions, the new report is the first of its kind to delve into this multi-billion dollar sector of the live entertainment industry.

Available to subscribers of IQ, it explains the key things to consider when creating or promoting family entertainment, as well as introducing the producers of top shows and outlining what’s available to book through our invaluable directories.

“You’ll find in-depth looks at key segments of this booming sector of the live entertainment industry”

“You’ll find in-depth looks at key segments of this booming sector of the live entertainment industry, featuring interviews with top producers and promoters worldwide, plus a directory listing hundreds of shows and contacts for the people behind them,” says TER editor James Drury.

The inaugural Touring Entertainment Report includes:

• A comprehensive overview of touring product
• Business critical information about each sector
• Critical insight through interviews with top industry figures
• Q&As with leading producers and creatives
• A spotlight on the most successful and promising new productions
• Directory of producers

The Touring Entertainment Report 2023 is available exclusively to IQ subscribers in print, as a digital magazine or online at our dedicated minisite here. Subscribe now and view the full report.

A preview version of the Touring Entertainment Report 2023 is below.

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Live Nation is expanding its Australian venue portfolio with the addition of historic New South Wales venue Anita’s Theatre.

The company will operate the intimate, 1,000-cap theatre in Thirroul, approximately 60km south of Sydney, which has hosted artists including City of Colour, Eric Burdon, Suzi Quatro, Angus and Julia Stone, and John Butler Trio.

Australian rock band Midnight Oil included Anita’s Theatre as a special stop on their 2019 The Final Tour, which also included shows at Australia’s biggest arenas.

“Keeping venues, such as Anita’s Theatre, open is imperative to the ongoing growth of local Australian artists,” says Roger Field, president of Live Nation Asia Pacific. “As advocates for developing local Australian talent, we are aware of the cultural significance Anita’s Theatre holds within the Illawarra region, and we are looking forward to showcasing an array of amazing live entertainment and talent for local fans to enjoy.”

“Live Nation will be taking over theatre operations, working very hard to bring a high calibre of performers to our venue”

Initially opened in 1925 as the ‘King’s Theatre’, the venue was used for a variety of purposes throughout the decades until it was re-opened in its current guise in 2007.

The owners of Anita’s Theatre Thirroul add: “We are very excited to announce that we will be partnering with Live Nation to deliver the best of live entertainment that Australia and the world have to offer to the people of the Illawarra and outer Sydney. Live Nation will be taking over theatre operations, working very hard to bring a high calibre of performers to our venue for music fans.

“We would also like to thank everyone who has supported the theatre over the past decade, especially through the last two years which were particularly difficult. The magic of live brings people together like nothing else, and we look forward to the community’s ongoing support and patronage as we begin this new chapter of the theatre.”

Live Nation’s global portfolio of over 300 live entertainment venues includes Australia’s The Palais Theatre in Melbourne, the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane and the recently announced Hindley Street Music Hall in Adelaide.

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London’s historic Saville Theatre could be set to host live music once again after it was acquired by investment firm Yoo Capital.

The theatre, which was leased by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, hosted live performances by acts including the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, the Bee Gees, The Who and Jimi Hendrix in its 1960s heyday.

The Grade II-listed building opened as a theatre back in 1931 and is currently home to the Odeon Covent Garden cinema, but Yoo Capital now hopes to take the 1,500-capacity venue back to its roots.

We are excited to acquire one of London’s true hidden gems

“We are excited to acquire one of London’s true hidden gems. The Saville has been a very special home of live theatre and entertainment for 90 years,” says Yoo Capital managing partner Lloyd Lee. “On behalf of the firm and our investors, we consider ourselves privileged to be able to commit our resources to secure its long-term future.

“We look forward to working with existing stakeholders, the community, arts groups and the London Borough of Camden on our proposals for investment.”

Yoo Capital previously purchased Olympia London in 2017 for €330 million with Deutsche Finance International. Last year it was announced the £1.3 billion redevelopment of its 14-acre Olympia site will include a 4,400 capacity live music venue, to be operated by AEG Presents.

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Despite ongoing restrictions on large events in Germany, promoter DEAG was able to bring together more than 20,000 people in Potsdam on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 August for two evenings of French-themed live entertainment.

After a hiatus in 2020, Potsdamer Schlössernacht (Potsdam Palace Night) returned to the Sanssouci Palace Park with the theme Les Rendez-vous au Park Sanssouci, with guests including the actors Benjamin Sadler, Esther Schweins, Benno Fürmann, Dietmar Bär, Andrea Sawatzki and Christian Berkel, and the theatre companies Quidams and Sol’Air.

Other entertainment at the sold-out events included illuminations, projections, tightrope walking and a fire and light show.

Potsdamer Schlössernacht 2021 was able to go ahead as a result of a “comprehensive hygiene concept”, says organiser DEAG, which included halving the normal capacity of the event.

“More than 20,000 visitors found their way to this year’s Potsdam Palace Night despite difficult conditions and were rewarded”

Around 9,000 people attended the open-air show on Friday, while 12,500 were present on Saturday.

“More than 20,000 visitors found their way to this year’s Potsdam Palace Night despite difficult conditions and were rewarded: with, at last, fun walks and good humour, the most beautiful entertainment, and the best pleasure with culinary highlights,” comments DEAG CEO Peter Schwenkow. “We would like to sincerely thank everyone who was there and look forward to all those who want to come next year.”

Mike Schubert, the mayor of Potsdam, adds: “I am very happy about the success of this year’s Palace Night. The event has shown two aspects: a mature and responsible security concept on the part of the organisers, and responsible behaviour on the part of the visitors also, make large events possible. Our city needs formats like the Palace Night, for guests and residents alike.”

This article forms part of IQ’s Covid-19 recovery centre – a knowledge hub of essential guidance and updating resources for uncertain times.

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Sydney-based live entertainment group TEG has acquired a minority stake in West End theatre operator Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG).

ATG, which is majority owned by Providence Equity Partners (Superstruct Entertainment, Tait), owns or manages around 50 venues globally, including many of London’s best-known theatres. Its portfolio includes the Savoy and Lyceum theatres in London, the Lyric and Hudson in New York, and a growing stable of UK music venues, including the upcoming Stockton Globe and Swansea Arena.

In conjunction with Providence, which paid £350 million for ATG in 2013, TEG – itself owned by a private-equity firm, Silver Lake – will reportedly inject £160m in new equity into ATG as UK theatres tentatively reopen.

It is the first acquisition for TEG – a ticketing, touring and venues company with offices across the Asia-Pacific region – in the UK since its buy-out of the former MJR Group last year. The company hired a new director of M&A in May.

In addition to its venue portfolio, ATG operates the UK’s most visited theatre website, ATGtickets.com, selling around 11 million tickets a year pre-coronavirus. The London-based company, which employs around 4,000 people, laid off 1,200 casual staff earlier this month.

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Several musical theatre productions in Seoul, South Korea, have reported near-full attendance rates for the past few months, reports the Korea Herald.

Productions of shows including Rebecca, Dracula:The Musical and Phantom of the Opera have enjoyed successful runs, even during the height of the Covid-19 epidemic in the country, which caused the cancellation and postponement of many concerts and festivals.

The international touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, produced by the Really Useful Group, began its run in Seoul’s Blue Square Interpark on Saturday (14 March), after wrapping up a two-month run in Busan.

Posting on social media after the “first weekend of packed houses in Seoul”, Australian soprano Claire Lyon wrote: “Thank you in advance to our audience members who continue to support us and for being so diligent in wearing masks and washing hands at the theatre.”

“Thank you in advance to our audience members who continue to support us and for being so diligent in wearing masks and washing hands at the theatre.”

“We feel confident that life will continue to go back to normal over here in the coming weeks (it already seems to be!). Sending love to those around the world whose livelihoods or health has been affected. These are uncertain times but we are soldiering on.”

The number of new cases of the virus reported in Korea has dropped greatly in the past few weeks. However, even at the peak of the epidemic in January and February, theatregoers appeared undeterred.

According to EMK Musical Company, an average of 92% of 1,255 available seats were occupied for the whole season of Rebecca, which ran from November to February at Seoul’s Chungmu Art Centre.

The show is embarking on a nationwide tour on 27 March, visiting 12 cities throughout the country.

Dracula: The Musical, which is produced by OD Company, began its run on 11 February at Seoul’s Charlotte Theatre, recording an average admission rate of 95%. The show is set to continue until 7 June.

Earlier this week, almost 300 theatres in the UK temporarily closed their doors following government advice to “avoid” visiting them. Theatres on New York’s Broadway shut down the week before.

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Cuffe and Taylor has hired Sam Griffiths as a senior promoter in its theatre touring division, following a successful 12 months for the fledgling business unit.

Griffiths (pictured) joins the British concert and event promoter from Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), where he programmed several No1 musical theatre and play tours, as well as looking after music, comedy, tribute and variety one-nighters at ATG’s 21 theatres and concert halls.

“I am excited to be joining the theatre division of this growing company, at a time of exponential growth in the live entertainment industry in the UK and internationally,” he comments. “After working with large-scale touring productions, I’m looking forward to bringing this experience to the team, and to start developing new talent and productions to enhance Cuffe & Taylor’s fantastic portfolio of live concerts and theatre productions.”

Cuffe and Taylor’s theatre division, based at parent company Live Nation’s offices in Argyll Street, London, launched last summer and is headed up by director of theatre touring Ben Hatton. A year on, it has sold more than 180,000 tickets to shows including John Barrowman, Sarah Brightman, Lea Salonga, Britain’s Got Talent star Robert White and new Tina Turner musical What’s Love Got to Do with It?.

Upcoming projects include Whitney: Queen of the Night, which will tour the UK in 2020 following its debut at London’s Savoy Theatre in March, and new dance show Heartbeat of Home, from the producers of Riverdance.

“Stepping into theatre production has long been the aim”

“We’re approaching 400 shows for our first year, and are still taking bookings in 2019,” says Hatton, which is a great testament to how well these tours are doing – that venues are wanting to add us to their calendar at this stage in the year.

“We’ve got one of the most varied rosters out there; from comedians touring to small venues up and down the country, to tribute shows selling out in the West End and multiple productions being staged at iconic venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium.

“With Heartbeat of Home coming up in the autumn, we have our eyes on further West End opportunities, and are planning our debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for this summer.”

Working alongside Griffiths is senior promoter Cheryl Nicholls. She comments: “Cuffe and Taylor has been creating and promoting incredibly successful theatre tours alongside huge outdoor concerts for several years now, and it is exciting to see where we will go in the next year, with new projects constantly in discussion and development.

“Stepping into theatre production has long been the aim. We are producing and promoting shows for all ages and interests, and I can’t wait to bring our first residency to the West End with Heartbeat Of Home, while continuing to develop new and exciting productions into 2020 and beyond.”

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