🔒National productions put Goodspeed Musicals in spotlight as theater industry returns to business

Two high-profile national entertainment events in December will put a spotlight on, and potentially give a financial bump to Goodspeed Musicals.

On Dec. 2, NBC will present “Annie Live!,” a televised musical production of “Annie,” which originated at the Goodspeed Opera House in 1976, before moving onto Broadway the following year where it became a box-office sensation, spinning off tours, films and television specials.

Goodspeed still collects royalty payments from “Annie,” and will receive a financial reward from the NBC production.

“Cyrano,” a new lavish movie musical starring “Game of Thrones” actor Peter Dinklage, was commissioned by Goodspeed and will be released at the end of the month. Early reviews from the Telluride Film Festival were positive, especially for four-time Emmy winner Dinklage, who is being mentioned in early Oscar talks.

Goodspeed invited “Cyrano” director-adapter Erica Schmidt to develop the production at its Mercer Grove artists’ winter retreat in 2016. The show then received a workshop production the following year at Goodspeed’s 200-seat Norma Terris Theatre in Chester. The musical moved off-Broadway in 2019, produced by the not-for-profit theater company, The New Group. Filming for the MGM movie began last fall in Sicily, directed by Joe Wright.

But Goodspeed will only benefit from “Cyrano” in bragging rights, not in dollars, according to David Byrd, the theater’s new managing director. Goodspeed will only receive a payday from future stage productions of that musical.

The “Annie” contract

Any dollars that might come back to Goodspeed from new stage productions of the “Cyrano”’ musical will pale in comparison to what the theater gained from its unique arrangement for its world premiere of “Annie” nearly 50 years ago.

That 1970s royalty deal — which became known in the industry as the “Annie” contract — came when it was still a rarity for regional theaters to develop pre-Broadway musicals. The theater received a much larger percentage of financial participation, and for a longer period of time over a variety of platforms, than what is common in the industry today.

Because of that unique contract, “Annie” has spun off royalties that created Goodspeed’s multimillion-dollar endowment, which supports new work and helps supplement the theater’s general operating expenses — especially during deficit seasons.

“Every bit of development that we do has been made possible in part because of that gift of ‘Annie,’ ” says Donna Lynn Hilton, Goodspeed’s new artistic director.

“We wouldn’t be able to do our level of commitment to new work without that.”

It is also the theater’s financial lifeline. Following a string of deficits — totaling more than $5.5 million over a four-year period ending in 2019 — the endowment has fallen to around $19 million, from $23 million a few years back.

While the actual dollars to Goodspeed from the NBC broadcast will be modest — Byrd says that figure is not known — past annual returns for all versions of “Annie” have been “in the six figures, but not in the recent past.”

Still, the national network show is expected to provide a financial bump and stir interest for community, regional and school productions. Royalties won’t be significant unless there’s a Broadway or touring production, says Hilton.

Hilton is non-committal about plans four years from now for a 50th anniversary revival of “Annie.” But in the past, Goodspeed has rarely let an occasion go by where it didn’t capitalize on its greatest success.

Goodspeed’s royalty streams go back to 1965 with the premiere of “Man of La Mancha” and “Shenandoah” in 1974, both of which moved to Broadway and other venues.

But nothing in recent years has come close to “Annie”s staying power — and dollars — with its sui generis deal.

Hartford Stage’s royalties

Goodspeed is not the only Connecticut theater that has seen royalty returns for its work.

“You only get royalties now for a limited amount of time, usually five years, not in perpetuity like with ‘Annie,’ ” says Hartford Stage’s Managing Director Cynthia Rider. “The royalties from works we commissioned or premiered that [moved on to other theaters] might be in a normal year, anywhere from $500 to $5,000.”

But two Broadway transfers have supersized the payback, at least for a few years.

Hartford Stage’s production of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” went to Broadway, where it won a Tony Award for best new musical in 2014. The musical ran for more than two years, then toured. It also received an Australian production.

“Anastasia,” which premiered in 2016, before moving to Broadway the following year for a two-year run, was followed by tours in North America and around the world. (One of the tours recently played the Shubert in New Haven and the Palace in Waterbury.)

Together, royalties have brought back more than $700,000 to the theater, money it desperately needed to cover shortfalls in other areas.

It’s all in the negotiations, whether you get international rights, or touring rights and where and for how long, says Rider.

Hartford Stage no longer receives royalties for “Anastasia” because that agreement was limited to the Broadway production, which is now closed.

Hartford Stage has a $5.5 million endowment.