Is Wonder Woman worth $55 or $16?

A deal creates a double booking with a huge price difference.

By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Times staff writer
Published August 17, 2007

If you want to see a show by former Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter and comic John Byner, you can plunk down $55 or $70, plus tax, to see them at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre the evening of Feb. 4.

Or you can wait until the next day, hop an hour down the road to Ruth Eckerd Hall and see Carter and Byner for $16, plus $7.75 for an optional box lunch in the Margarete Heye Great Room.

What gives?

Nearly a year ago, the two venues made a handshake deal in which Eckerd would send certain name acts up to the Show Palace - acts that Eckerd entertainment director Bob Rossi said he couldn't fit into his theater's schedule or space.

But Rossi said this week that nothing in that agreement precludes the same act from appearing in both places - and for different prices.

"I never said we wouldn't have them down here, too," Rossi said. When he booked Carter and Byner at the Show Palace, Rossi said he "absolutely" told the theater's co-owners that the duo would appear at Eckerd, too.

Show Palace co-owner Nick Sessa acknowledged no one ever said that the shows sent to his theater would not play at Eckerd. However, he said that Rossi "absolutely (did) not" tell him about double booking Carter and Byner.

The possibility of shows playing both venues didn't even come up when the talent-sharing partnership was cemented a year ago.

"We have a 2,200-seat theater and a 180-seat studio (theater), and they don't allow us to do these types of shows," Rossi said then. The Show Palace seats around 400, which would be just the right size for some acts, Rossi said.

In addition, more prominent performers would be sent up to Hudson when a performer wanted to pick up an additional date but Eckerd didn't have a theater available, Rossi said.

"We get visibility in Pasco (and we're) keeping our history with the artists," Rossi said back then. "It's sort of like having another space."

That's how the Show Palace got people like Debbie Reynolds, Joe Piscopo and Sha Na Na, who have played Eckerd and might play there again.

The arrangement appeared to be a win-win for both venues.

"We don't have the buying power that Ruth Eckerd Hall does," Sessa said back then. The Show Palace might make little, if any, profit on some of the shows, but the prestige of having famous stars could only add to the luster of the theater, he said.

Now the Show Palace and Eckerd appear to be competing head-to-head for the same audience.

Sessa is concerned about how the price differential may appear to his customers, but he didn't criticize Rossi's actions. After all, several other shows that Eckerd is sending to Hudson - Tony Orlando and The Village People, for example - are selling well and are not going to play at Eckerd this season.

Rossi doesn't see a problem.

"If Nick sells out and we sell out, everyone is happy," Rossi said.

Eckerd has already sold 1,000 tickets to the Carter/Byner show as part of its Adults-at-Leisure series, Rossi said. "We need to sell 1,000 more," he said.

The Show Palace didn't have a firm sales count for the show, but does have some tentative reservations by tour groups and individuals, Sessa said.

Rossi said the disparity in ticket price is explainable.

"It's an entirely different environment," Rossi said. "The Show Palace is an intimate environment, in the evening, with a hot dinner. We have a matinee with no meal," except the sandwich, potato salad, chocolate chip cookies and drink in the box lunch.

Until last year's handshake agreement, such back-to-back shows were not possible because Eckerd's performers were required to sign a contract saying they would not play another venue within 60 miles during a stated period of time, usually a year.

Under the partnership between the two venues, Rossi now considers the Show Palace a "satellite" location, so it doesn't fall under the no-compete clause.

Rossi said the economics of bringing Carter and Byner to the area required that he have them do more than one show.

"We're eating the lion's share of expenses" on the show, he said. "This wouldn't be playing the Show Palace unless we absorbed two-thirds of the cost."

Rossi said his theater wants to see if tickets sales are affected if a show plays both at the Show Palace and Eckerd.

"It's an experiment," Rossi said. "We're still trying to find out what works up there."

[Last modified August 16, 2007, 21:58:17]