The Genesee Part Deux

Swami has sensed in the ether world vibes that the city’s contract with SMG to operate the Genesee is coming up for reconsideration soon. If the words of Hizzoner in Waukegan ring true, the city is tickled pink with the way things are going there.

Oh, really?

We think it's more a tragedy. Think of all the things that have never happened in that theater since its rebirth and are unlikely to happen without a change in direction.

We’d love to see a giant Christmas concert with the Waukegan Symphony and local lyric opera folks. You, too? Sorry, SMG gets its 20 percent up front and no community group could guarantee in advance what it takes to open the theater.

So, the answer to innovative programming at the theater is always “no” in advance. The local arts community is pre-trained not even to ask. So, we get Marie Osmond instead.

We also like to see innovation. Remember innovation?

How about inviting “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” of NPR fame to town, or Michael Feldman’s hilarious weekend “Whad’ya Know?” Comic festivals? Shakespeare weeks?

Is there a better theater in the Midwest to lure Garrison Keeler and a weekend of “Prairie Home Companion” than this one?

And great old movies? Don’t even get us started.

The “how much it takes to open the theater” is a calculation SMG has imposed on the joint’s operation. And that figure all but guarantees there never will be any locally inspired music, dance or theater at the big hall. If you control the rules of the game, you control who can win and who must lose.

We’d love to see the theater opened to dozens of local events. But they will never be any play time in the big house unless the philosophy changes.

The barrier seems to be profit, which is not a matter of total indifference. We all like to make money, even the Swami.

On the other hand, how much profit does Waukegan make on its parks? On its recreation sports leagues? On its own city-funded downtown concerts? We’d guess nothing, nada. That’s ’cause most civic enterprises are meant to be just that - for the good of the local citizens. If you make ends meet, that’s great. And certainly try to avoid losing much.

It was well known within the Genesee family that now-gone house manager David Rovine did not wish to market to any local audiences or their particular tastes. He was shooting for Chicagoans with fat wallets.

True, Rovine was only a henchman in the SMG arsenal. That current management of the theater seems so wedded to commerce and traditional commercial limits that it is never likely to take a risk that might bloom into a remarkable event or trend. SMG is not an art institution. It's a business.

Rovine kept his mind in the trade publications and could rate the probabilities of any act's success based on how artists did in other venues. He was a calculator. That's how he did his job because that's how SMG paid him to do his job. But he did not seem particularly creative or entrepreneurial. No payoff for that.

Combine the need for a fat profit and general lack of enthusiasm for local arts. You get a big lovely theater that sits empty most of the time. You can hear the crickets chirping most nights when you walk past the place.

One of the ironies in the misdirected nature of the Genesee’s marketing programs is that downtown Waukegan may be on the brink of actually generating it owns attractions. If, as Hizzoner repeats, there are 13 restaurants downtown, consider the difference between nights downtown when an event is staged at the Genesee and those nights when it’s dark.

A pity, that.

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