Middletown may soon be home to operas, if President Bennet and Middletown Mayor Dominique Thornton are able to convince Goodspeed Opera House to relocate from East Haddam. Goodspeed, which is in its 41st season of producing Broadway-caliber musicals, is in need of more stage and seating space due to its usually sold-out performances, according to Dan McMahon, a member of the Goodspeed staff.
Goodspeed focuses on restoring older musicals, although it also produces new pieces. Goodspeed has sent 16 shows to Broadway, including “Annie,” “Man of La Mancha,” and “Shenandoah,” and it has won two Tony Awards as a regional theater.
“We think of ourselves as a home for musical theatre in America,” McMahon said.
For the past five years, Goodspeed has been researching new theater locations in East Haddam in search of a larger space. McMahon said Mayor Thornton approached the company with a proposal to move to Middletown, since part of the mayor’s master plan for the city includes a theater.
Bennet and his wife Midge have been actively involved in encouraging Goodspeed to come to Middletown. Both attended a proposal meeting recently with the Goodspeed Board of Trustees. Bennet also published an opinion piece in the Hartford Courant on Feb. 1, 2004 that praised the growth of the arts in Middletown and the partnerships between the University and the community.
“In short, Middletown is fast becoming a destination city. Adding Goodspeed could clinch that goal,” Bennet wrote.
The move of Goodspeed to Middletown could provide opportunities for interactions between Unversity students and the theater, including possible internships, according to McMahon.
“The synergy with Wesleyan and the possibilities are endless,” McMahon said.
Pamela Tatge, Director of the Center for the Arts, has also been involved in the process of trying to get Goodspeed to come to Middletown.
“It would greatly enhance the quality of life in Middletown,” Tatge said.
Tatge met with members of Goodspeed’s staff and discussed how the company could form partnerships with the University, particularly in working with students and bringing visiting artists to campus. She said that Goodspeed has a history of working with students, and that with Goodspeed there would be the opportunity to develop ties between the company and the Green Street Arts Center
“I think it would be an extraordinary asset for Wesleyan to have a major regional theater on Main Street, especially for students to participate and learn along side professionals,” Tatge said.
Goodspeed now offers a Student Rush discount for ten-dollar tickets one hour before a performance. Twenty-five dollar tickets are also available on Fridays for people who are under the age of 25.
“We’d love to have all of the students down here,” McMahon said.
Although no deadline is set for the decision, the committee will most likely make a choice within the next few months, said McMahon.
“If nothing else we do now have much more contact with Wesleyan,” McMahon said.
Two possible sites in Middletown for the new theater are the old Capital Theater on Main Street and a location on deKoven Drive that overlooks the Connecticut River.
Goodspeed began looking for a new site because of the need to expand. McMahon said that the company’s current location, a theater built in 1876 near the Conn. River, is now too small to hold the number of people that want to see the shows. Also, the stage is one-third the size of a Broadway stage, which McMahon says is too small.
“[Although] we’ve accomplished miracles on that,” McMahon said about the current stage.
Goodspeed’s season starts April 16 with “Call Me Madam,” a musical from the Golden Age of Broadway which coined the phrase “hostess with the mostess,” according to McMahon. Actors for a Goodspeed production are auditioned in New York City, but all rehearsals and set building are done in East Haddam. Goodspeed also runs the Norma Terris Theater in Chester.
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