CLO WANTS YOU BACK
Free child care, family pricing oered to woo audiences this summer
Pittsburgh’s Civic Light Opera is flipping the script this summer, moving into different venues and offering perks like child care and steep discounts for families to entice attendees back into the theater.
Due to financial pressures and evolving audience trends, the CLO will not perform its six summer musicals at the Benedum Center. Instead, there will be three shows at the Benedum, two at the Greer Cabaret Theater, and one show at the Byham Theater.
The changes, which were announced Tuesday along with the summer season, come as a result of extensive audience surveying and focus group studies. Those reports also indicated “overwhelmingly” that attendees were interested in bringing their children to the theater, convenient child care options, and easier parking.
The CLO has not escaped the lasting effects of the pandemic, which continues to impact arts organizations around the country. The organization is currently operating on a budget of just over $11 million, compared to about $13 million prior to the pandemic.
Last summer, about 70,000 people attended the CLO’s summer programming, a 20% drop — in both single tickets and subscriptions — compared to pre-pandemic seasons.
“We’ve lost some audience members that just didn’t come back, just like everybody,” said Mark Fleischer, the CLO’s executive producer.
“These changes are about bringing people back and getting some new folks as well.”
In February, the Richard King Mellon Foundation announced $2.6 million in funding for arts groups including the CLO, the symphony, the ballet and others to help “revitalize attendance, engage new audiences and improve financial operations,” according to a statement. Each organization is using the funds in different ways to experiment with new programs to help bring attendees back to the theaters.
The CLO is using this funding to launch three pilot programs this summer:
1. PCLO Show Shuttle
The CLO is working with Molly’s Trolleys to transport ticket holders to Downtown from four suburban locations with free parking, generally shopping malls. It will cost $10 to reserve a spot on the shuttle, which also will drop attendees off after the show. 2. Family Pass
For every adult ticket purchased, up to four child tickets (ages 3-18) can be purchased for $10 each this summer. Child tickets can be purchased anywhere in the theaters to ensure they are adjacent to the adult tickets purchased.
3. Show Care
Parents can register children (ages 3-12) who are fully potty trained in “PCLO Show Care,” during which CLO Academy of Musical Theatre faculty will teach a craft, song or dance while their parents watch a show. Shows with the child care option are “West Side Story,” “The Color Purple,” and “The Music Man.”
“Babysitting is a lot more expensive than the $5 an hour I used to get paid,” said Sharon Goldstein, the CLO’s director of sales and marketing. “These initiatives are pilots being tested on a limited basis for now,”
The CLO is one of two main options for seeing Broadway shows in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust programs Broadway touring shows during the year, with casts traveling from city to city to perform the same show.
The CLO generally hires local performers to stage its shows, and the bulk of its programming takes place during the summer.
Subscriptions and tickets for the summer season are on sale now at pittsburghclo.org. Here is the lineup of shows:
May 17-June 30: “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” Greer Cabaret Theater. In 1959, Billie Holiday gave one of her last performances in a bar in Philadelphia.
June 11-16: “West Side Story,” Benedum Center. It’s “Romeo and Juliet” in modern-day New York City as two lovers are caught between warring street gangs.
June 25-30: “The Color Purple,” Benedum Center. Based on a novel by Alice Walker, the musical follows a woman’s journey of personal awakening.
July 9-14: “The Music Man,” Benedum Center. A fast-talking salesman cons a city into buying band instruments and uniforms, but he’s transformed by curtain’s fall.
July 19-Sept. 1: “Young Frankenstein,” Greer Cabaret Theater. Mel Brooks’ famous comedy in which Frankenstein’s grandson inherits the family estate adapted for the stage.
July 30-Aug. 4: “Seussical,” Byham Theater. A musical celebrating Dr. Seuss’ 120th birthday transports the audience from the Jungle of Nool to the Circus McGurkus and the invisible world of the Whos.