The final curtain apparently has fallen at the Waco Hippodrome Theatre.

The facility has closed indefinitely as the latest in a series of budget shortfalls caused the cancellation of Thursday’s performance of “One Night of Queen,” the firing of the theater’s staff and the scrapping of plans for the 2010-11 season.

Waco Performing Arts Company Board President Christy Rolf said poor ticket sales for “The Wedding Singer” earlier this month, combined with equally poor “Queen” sales and the loss of a possible underwriter for an upcoming spring show, led the board to stop theater operations indefinitely.

Lewis Castlow, owner of L & G Sound, wheels a speaker from the Waco Hippodrome Theatre on Thursday morning after being informed the theater was closing indefinitely and could not pay him for rental of his equipment that night.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

“We had to make some pretty drastic changes,” she said. “We can’t continue the way we are now.

“I don’t mind saying none of us on the board were comfortable with signing checks that won’t be good.”

She and board member Dean Riley left the door open that the theater, 724 Austin Ave., might stage shows in the remainder of its 2009-10 season if donations and funds come in.

In addition to the $14,100 owed to “One Night of Queen,” WPAC is contractually obligated to pay $25,000 for “100 Years of Broadway,” $10,000 for “The Little Train That Could” and $10,000 for “Three Redneck Tenors: Broadway Bound.”

Former WPAC executive director Scott Baker, now development director of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, had been helping the board line up such shows as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Grease” and “Spamalot” for next season.

He said Thursday the Hippodrome would not be booking a future season at this time.

Rolf said the board intends to pay vendors and businesses for services provided and goods sold.

Riley said a decision on refunds for “Queen” tickets hadn’t been made.

That was cold comfort to Donna Fauque, who was holding $200 in tickets that she had bought her family as a Christmas present.

Fauque said a message left on her cell phone Thursday morning informed her the show was canceled, with no information about a possible refund.

“That is just so wrong. That was a horrible message,” she said. “Am I mad? That’s an understatement.”

The show’s cancellation, though, wasn’t as painful as firing a loyal Hippodrome staff, Rolf said.

“That was the most difficult part of all this, was letting go people who were committed to us and who served us well,” she said. “Our priority was to make one final payment to the staff.”

The Waco Hippodrome Theatre was built in 1913 as a vaudeville house, then became a movie theater from 1929 until its closure in 1978. It reopened as a performing arts center in 1987 after a $2.4 million restoration project.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

The indefinite closing occurred about three months after a plea for community help to meet a budget gap in the tens of thousands of dollars.

With January’s “Celtic Crossroads” show turning a marginal profit and a children’s show playing to packed houses, Rolf and her board had hopes the theater was turning a corner on its season with anticipated audience pleasers — and ticket sellers — “The Wedding Singer,” “One Night of Queen” and “100 Years of Broadway” ahead.

But ticket sales for “The Wedding Singer” and “Queen” were abysmal, Rolf said.

The Cooper Foundation awarded WPAC a $47,500 grant, part of which was to cover operating expenses.

But news this week of the Rapoport Foundation’s denial of a grant to underwrite “100 Years of Broadway” was a blow that precipitated the decision to close the facility, Rolf said.

Centennial approaches

The closing leaves the theater three years shy of its centennial.

Built in 1913 as a vaudeville house, the Waco Hippodrome Theatre showed movies to area audiences for much of its life, going under the name the Waco Theater since 1929.

It closed in 1978, but a $2.4 million restoration project, spearheaded by the Junior League of Waco, reopened it nine years later as a performing arts venue.

Financial boom-and-bust cycles, often triggered by slumping audience response or expensive building repairs, plagued the facility throughout its second life.

A double postponement and cancellation of the Texas comedy “Tuna Does Vegas,” coupled with a national economic recession, put the Hippodrome in a financial tailspin in its 2008-09 season from which it never recovered, despite a $310,000 loan from Alliance Bank of Central Texas.

WPAC has sued the show’s producers, but that lawsuit has not been resolved.

Former Hippodrome employees Brandon Burns (left) and Chad Pope help load up some rented sound equipment. Burns had been a technical director for three years, Pope has been there two years.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy said she was “very saddened” by news of the theater’s closing.

“The citizens hold a lot of memories of that building in their minds. We cannot take the closing easily,” she said.

DuPuy stopped short of suggesting any role for city government in the Hippodrome’s future or aftermath.

“This is new information, and we have to address it as a community,” she said. “I trust our citizens and leadership to do what needs to be done.”

Chris McGowan, director of urban development for the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, echoed DuPuy’s comments about the Hippodrome’s role in downtown Waco.

“There’s no doubt about it: The arts are important to what we’re trying to do downtown,” he said.

Baker, the former WPAC director, said the theater’s physical limitations constrain its future.

“Even at its best, it was not the ideal space for what we were using it for,” he said in a phone interview from Nashville.

But the Hippodrome’s closing “is a loss for Waco. Having professional performances is one of the things that separate cities from towns. This is a kick in the teeth for the city,” Baker said.

“I’m obviously heartbroken over the matter.”

choover@wacotrib.com

757-5749

RELATED SEARCHES

• One Night of Queen to rock Waco
• Waco Hippodrome Theatre's neighbors sad to see it go