Canceled Concerts May Be Fatal Blow for Starlight Theater

An entertainment firm hired by the Burbank City Council to operate the troubled Starlight Amphitheatre has abandoned plans to present concerts or shows at the hillside facility, city officials said this week.

The decision by representatives of Santa Monica-based World Entertainment Services comes several weeks after the city demanded that the company limit the number of performances and the size of the audiences.

City Council members said they were responding to the fears of nearby residents who did not want heavy traffic and rowdy audiences passing through their neighborhoods.

The move is the latest--and perhaps fatal--blow to the hopes of Burbank officials to turn the city-owned Starlight into a popular concert arena that would rival the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park and the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City.

Frustrated with the continuing bad luck, some officials are wondering whether it would be better to tear the Starlight down.

‘Dead at This Point’

“I think the Starlight is dead at this point,” City Councilman Tim Murphy said. “The only choice is to tear it down or put small jazz or classical concerts up there.”

Despite the legal and financial difficulties that have plagued the Starlight for nearly two decades, some city officials had hoped that this summer might be different and that several popular shows would be staged.

World Entertainment Services, loosely affiliated with the high-powered Weintraub Entertainment Group, had intended to stage 12 concerts this summer, including three with top-name artists.

Some city officials said they were told that WES was planning to present Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers at the 6,000-capacity outdoor theater.

City Atty. Douglas C. Holland declined to name the artists. He said WES had renegotiated the contracts with the performers and pulled them out of the Starlight.

‘Made Business Decision’

“They made a business decision,” he said. “We gave them the opportunity to present the shows where they had made firm commitments to the artists. But they . . . put those artists in other facilities.”

Michael Seemann, president of World Entertainment Services, and other representatives of the firm did not return phone calls.

The city first entered into an agreement with WES in early March. Under the agreement, the firm was allowed to stage an unlimited number of shows and was given a free hand to book performers. The firm was also allowed to sell out each show.

But Holland said the agreement was never formalized because the city was in the process of severing its arrangements with the Starlight’s previous operator, Tim Pinch.

A few weeks later, Pinch was fired by the council because members were displeased with his inability to book what they called “broad and varied” entertainment that would appeal to the Burbank community.

Residents Complain

Meanwhile, residents began to protest terms of the agreement with WES, complaining that their neighborhoods would be inundated with concert-goers. Bowing to community pressure, the council voted to withdraw from the WES agreement in late March.

Holland attempted to renegotiate the agreement to restrict the number of shows and the size of the crowds. But WES executives did not agree to the new restrictions.

Attorneys for WES have said they are considering legal action against Burbank for trying to change terms of the agreement.

City officials speculated that WES has scrapped the Starlight’s concert schedule largely because of the intense neighborhood opposition.

The facility in the Verdugo Mountains can only be reached by driving along two roads that cut through neighborhoods dominated by single-family homes.

Report in Works

The city’s parks and recreation director, Richard Inga, said he was preparing a report on the Starlight’s future to present to the City Council next month.

“There may be a place for limited commercialization of the Starlight,” he said. “We could have commercial events up there, but it would have to be on the criteria that there be no impacts on the surrounding neighborhoods. For instance, there would have to be a limit on crowd size.”

The city is also considering a master plan for the entire Stough Park area where the Starlight is located. Those plans include construction of a sports center.

Councilman Michael R. Hastings lamented the absence of shows at the Starlight this year. “It’s really too bad we don’t have anything up there,” he said. “But until we know what the environmental impacts are, maybe it’s best to hold off.”

Homeowners in the area were pleased with the withdrawal of WES.

Only Community Events

“We’re delighted,” said Gene Walsh, who has lived near the Starlight for 12 years. “There should be nothing but community events up there, like the Burbank Symphony.”

The Starlight, which officials have sometimes referred to as the city’s “white elephant,” has been troubled ever since the 1970s when the city first tried to transform it from a community stage to a major concert showplace.

But each attempt by various operators failed. The city blamed them for not aggressively promoting the Starlight in the entertainment community. The operators in turn blamed the city, saying council members were uncomfortable with turning the Starlight into a commercial facility.

In 1986, the city paid a $3.8-million settlement to a previous Starlight operator, Jack Berwick, who sued the city for breach of contract in 1979. Berwick claimed that the city prevented him from presenting rock concerts at the Starlight.

Whatever the council decides to do with the Starlight, the problems that the city has had with it are not expected to end.

Pinch has said he intends to sue Burbank over his firing.