Musical Theatre Troupe Retrenches

The financially ailing Musical Theatre Company has pulled out of residency at Grove Theater Center to focus on erasing a $60,000 debt and scaling back its budget.

The 2-year-old troupe, which opened its second season at GTC in December with “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” plans to stage “Sunday in the Park With George” at Laguna Beach’s Forum Theatre during the Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters in August and September, executive director George Quick said Wednesday. Meanwhile, it will seek other venues for the season’s two remaining productions.

The company raised only $15,000 in contributions this season--down from $75,000 last year--and sold only 220 subscriptions, far below its target of 1,000, Quick said.

The troupe’s long-term goal is to find a new, permanent site smaller than GTC’s 170-seat Gem Theatre. Royalties it had to pay for rights to stage musicals, which are determined by audience size, were “astronomical” and put a major strain on the company’s $250,000 budget, Quick said. The company will continue to handle business from an office in Costa Mesa.