Jordan Roth Sells Majority Stake in Five Jujamcyn Theaters
by Ashley Griffin, Stage Directions
A few days ago the New York Times broke the news that Jujamcyn Theaters, led by Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth’s son, Jordan, sold a ninety-three percent stake in five Broadway theaters to International Entertainment Holdings Limited, the parent company of Ambassador Theatre Group along with Rhode Island-based Providence Equity Partners.
The Ambassador Theatre Group is a force on London’s West End, Jujamcyn is a collection of Broadway theaters which, until now, had been owned and operated by impresario Jordan Roth. Roth will continue to sit on the board as the largest individual shareholder of the combined group and serve as its creative director (and, allegedly, be the one making the producing decisions regarding what shows to put up). Mark Cornell, who currently heads Ambassador Theatre Group, will serve as CEO of the combined companies. The transaction is expected to complete in 2023.
The Ambassador Theatre Group currently runs more than fifty venues in Britain, Germany and the U.S. Its current two Broadway locations are the Lyric and the Hudson. Jujamcyn runs five Broadway venues: the Al Hirschfeld, the St. James, the August Wilson, the Walter Kerr and the Eugene O’Neill.
Financial terms of the merger have not been disclosed.
The Real Deal reported that the merger allowed Jujamcyn to have $203 million in debt paid down making the merger a double benefit – helping Jujamcyn’s debts, and giving Jujamcyn/Ambassador a bigger footprint on Broadway – they will now have seven theaters as opposed to five, bringing them closer to the other two primary theater owners on Broadway. Jujamcyn has been and, even after the merger will remain, the smallest of the big three, though they have had their share of notable productions – currently represented on Broadway by “The Book of Mormon” and “Hadestown”.
But the merger is raising long-time concerns about the gatekeeping of real estate and producing on Broadway.
Historically there have only been three primary companies, each principally headed by a singular person. These three companies own about 99% of Broadway theaters. They are the Shuberts, the Nederlanders and Jujamcyn (so named after the founder’s children: Judy, (I believe) James, and Cindy. Ju – Jam – Cyn (or Cin)). These companies scout shows or have shows brought to them by Broadway producers. They keep a list of shows they’re interested in and, when one of their theaters becomes available, they go down their list and offer the space to shows who are ready to come in. They then function as a producer themselves on the show. This basically means that if the three guys who run Nederlander, Shubert, and Jujamcyn don’t like your show, you’re not going to Broadway.
Having additional theater owners meant that there was room for more opinions on what shows should come in, and there was more healthy competition between theater owners. By merging Jujamcyn and Ambassador that’s technically one less theater owner on Broadway, and one less person deciding what belongs there. It’s a rare thing for Broadway theaters to change ownership and there is concern that, if for some reason this continues with the merging or selling of other companies, we may end up with an unwelcome monopoly situation on Broadway.
The strong European connection may also mean that Jujamcyn will now place more emphasis on transferring British or German shows to Broadway at the risk of further minimizing development and production of original American work.
In the past ten years, the combination of Hollywood movie studios pushing their properties into musical adaptations (with massive amounts of money behind them) that haven’t always fared well, and the brilliant new work coming out of Britain (partially aided by Government subsidy and the much lower costs of producing theater in Europe) have left few options for American musical theater writers and playwrights to gain development and traction for their work.
Watch this space for more information on the merger.