Despite night after night of empty houses, WestCoast Entertainment CEO Justin Kobluk and his staff had never worked so hard as they did during the pandemic. Nearly two years' worth of shows — a total of 109 performances — ended up having to be moved or canceled before the official resumption of live performances with Cats last October.
And even now, with their doors fully reopened and a successful three-week run of Wicked recently wrapped up, the toil isn't over. Sure, 70 performances have managed to be rescheduled, and Hamilton is about to kick off a blockbuster 2022–23 Best of Broadway season, but there's still plenty to keep them much busier than usual.
"We're back, but it's a tremendous amount of work. Hamilton is a perfect example of that. This was originally a 2020 show. Trying to re-create it, to re-cover it, to recommunicate it, to redo everything just takes an awful lot of effort and an awful lot of people," Kobluk says.
Lots of effort by lots of people is the story of Best of Broadway in a nutshell. The series launched in 1987 (with the very same show that marked its post-pandemic return — Cats) as a way of bringing top-tier entertainment to the Inland Northwest. Its initial funding came from a group of local hoteliers with the hope that it would provide a reliable and regular boost to business.
Three-and-a-half decades later, that educated wager has paid off.
"Visit Spokane tracks all the drivers of tourism in the city," Kobluk says. "And by far, year in and year out, Broadway events are the single largest driver of room stays in this whole region. That's including Hoopfest, Bloomsday and all the others. Those are monster events, but they're over in a weekend. Broadway brings in weeklong or multiple-week runs throughout the year."
The economic impact of Best of Broadway isn't limited to hotels and restaurants. Based on historic tallies up to the 2018–19 season, WestCoast Entertainment estimates that it's generated somewhere in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars for the wider regional economy. Using industry metrics and ticket-sale multipliers, Kobluk is predicting that an individual show like Hamilton will bring an economic boost of $16 to $20 million because of all the ancillary spending associated with it.
Just the Hamilton admissions tax alone will total around $300,000. That money is channeled back into the Public Facilities District, the organization that manages the Spokane Arena and the First Interstate Center for the Arts. It's also used to fund local arts-related activities.
But, as Kobluk notes, "It's not just a dollars-and-cents thing. It's a community thing. And that's important.
"As I'm dealing with agents out of New York, looking to negotiate shows and bring them to Spokane, I don't have to spend a lot of time explaining who we are. Every agent in New York knows us. We punch above our weight because we have a wonderful facility that can attract the biggest productions out there and a 35-year history of selling these shows because we're so supported by the community. We're on the radar almost as a primary stop even though we're a secondary market. That's a great place to be in."
Along with Hamilton, upcoming shows like Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown are proof of that outsized influence. Originally anticipated to reach Spokane "a couple years after it was touring," the award-winning musical is now coming to town this July — even as it's still running on Broadway.
"I've got five titles that we can put on in any given season, but I've got much more than five titles fighting for those spaces," says Kobluk. "As an event promoter, it's a good problem to have." ♦
HOW TO GO!
Hamilton runs Tue, May 3-Sun, May 22, for 24 performances total thanks to weekend matinees. Tickets range from $39-$249, and are available at broadwayspokane.com or ticketswest.com. Performances run two hours and 25 minutes, including intermission.There will also be 40 $10 tickets available via lottery for all 24 performances, with winners selected each week for the following week's performances. Download the Hamilton app (hamiltonmusical.com/app) and enter a new lottery each Friday of the run. Winners will be able to buy two tickets for $10 each. Only one entry allowed per person.
