Gosh... some context would be nice.
Around here, the North Shore Music Theater just went belly-up after over 50 years. What it was offering wasn't bad -- we were subscribers there for over five years. Rather, they were offering something that simply cost far more to provide than it was worth to the public-at-large. Such things, if they are deemed to represent cultural resources, are good candidates for public funding, I suppose, if you're inclined that way, but our society is simply not inclined that way these days, especially in the sharpest economic downturn in almost all of our lifetimes.
A lot of subscribers lost a lot of money in this failure, actually: Before they went under, they implored subscribers to resubscribe early so that they could pay the bills and keep the place open long enough to get more financial support. I don't remember the numbers exactly but I believe over ten thousand subscribers are now out millions of dollars. (The theater was a not-for-profit, and its assets are worth less than its liabilities, but a lot. There is no money for subscribers to attach or recover.)
We got out early, so we didn't lose anything. I'd like to say I was clairvoyant and saw the writing on the wall, but we actually haven't subscribed for a few years. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it wasn't that the theater was offering something bad -- it was a fantastic regional musical theater. From our standpoint, we found other entertainment options we preferred more, mostly recorded music and television. This is a matter of personal preference that manifested... but the point is that many people have moved in that direction. The number of people who find live theater more valuable than the alternative is decreasing, and if we're any indication, it isn't a matter of more people not knowing what live theater offers, but rather is a matter that we simply don't think what live theater offers is worth what it costs to provide it, even at a break-even level (which, as a not-for-profit, is all NSMT was going for) much less at a profitable level.
Musical theater in the US
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