Free Shows Lure Crowds to Kennedy Center

Every evening, 250 folding metal chairs are set out in the vast Grand Foyer of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Sixty-foot-tall windows with glass doors open to a landscaped terrace fronting the Potomac River. A few hundred people perch on steps; others stand or sit on the floor.

Then the music begins. Frank Sinatra Jr. one night. The Howard University jazz band another. There’s Gen. Colin Powell in the audience. Over there, Washington Mayor Marion Barry.

And it’s all free. For the last 10 months, the hourlong nightly concerts at the center, where people pay $230 to hear Placido Domingo belt out “I Pagliacci,” have been trying to attract some of the same crowds that jam the Smithsonian museums and national monuments at no cost.

The younger Sinatra brought about 5,000 tourists and Washingtonians to the center.

“That was one of our two biggest nights,” recalled Lawrence J. Wilker, president of the center. The other was the free opening March 1, which featured guitarist Charlie Byrd and the Billy Taylor Trio.

The Millennium Stage prints no tickets. The audience just walks in for the show, usually at 6 p.m.

The concerts have taken a place among Washington’s complex of freebies. The 15 museums of the Smithsonian Institution charge no admission, nor does the National Gallery of Art. Located near the National Mall’s capital monuments, they also offer free films and music. The Kennedy Center, on the other hand, is across town and doesn’t benefit from heavy tourist foot traffic.

Elsewhere in the nation’s capital, the armed services give free concerts. The U.S. Marine Band is borrowing director Leonard Slatkin from the National Symphony Orchestra for one on Jan. 26 to celebrate its 200th birthday. The Library of Congress also does not charge for exhibits or musical recitals.

Around the Capitol, visitors wandering through the half-dozen congressional office buildings can often crash one of the many functions for lawmakers’ favorite causes--and sometimes get a free lunch.

Kennedy Center President Wilker said he is proud that with a budget of $350,000 for the free concerts he has entertained about 100,000 people so far. He expects some sizable donations soon from businesses that will allow him to pay higher fees to performers and make other improvements.

He’s not thinking of bringing the free shows into one of the center’s six theaters, however--they’re too busy with paying customers. But he muses about building an additional theater.

Asked if that would be practical, he said, “Nothing we do here is practical.”

Few of the performers have the reputation of the younger Sinatra. Many belong to little-known groups from the Washington area. For some musical artists, the top $350 fee matters less than the chance to put a performance at the Kennedy Center on their resumes.

Charles Anderson, 65, who has been coming to the Kennedy Center since it opened in 1971, recently attended his first free concert. He brought his 6-year-old grandson, Zachary, on a visit from Austin, Tex. “Get ‘em while they’re young,” Anderson said. “They’re the future audience.”