‘Selena’ Producers Upbeat Despite Losses

“Selena, A Celebration of Life” plays on at the Doolittle Theatre.

The musical about the slain tejano singing sensation was recently extended through July 8, and its producers and promoters are talking about keeping it going all summer.

But they also acknowledge that attendance at the 1,000-seat house has been hovering at around 50% and their losses already have topped $1 million.

“Selena” has assumed a symbolic importance greater than most commercial theatrical productions in Los Angeles, for it is the first production at the Doolittle since the Ricardo Montalban Nosotros Foundation bought the theater last year with the intent of converting it into a Latino-oriented performing arts center.

The foundation gave the show’s producers a rental discount of about one-third off what it hopes will be the eventual rate of $18,000 a week. In return, Nosotros received about $15,000 from a March 28 gala preview performance and plenty of free tickets to distribute to theatergoers and friends of the foundation. Nosotros is also guaranteed proceeds from the closing performance and a small percentage of the profit--if one were to materialize.

Jerry Velasco, chairman of the executive committee of the foundation (and president of Nosotros, the organization that will eventually be the theater’s resident company), cited several reasons why the extension was granted.

The show is “uplifting and fun,” he said, and the free or discounted tickets are bringing in “kids who just go crazy over it, kids who might not sit still through a drama.” The show is providing employment for the 22-member, largely Latino cast--a primary goal of Nosotros. “Selena” also is introducing audiences to the idea of seeing such shows at the Doolittle.

“I want audiences to be so happy that they’ll come see the next production,” Velasco said. And he wants to be able to tell other producers that the Doolittle “is not only a great theater at a great location, but it also has a great mailing list.”

The producers of “Selena,” Tom Quinn and Joe Bradberry--otherwise known as Luna Theatrical Productions--express a similar confidence in the show and its value to young theatergoers, as well as a belief in its still unproven ability to reach a large, mostly middle-class and mostly Latino audience.

Still, the production has been “a tough ordeal,” Quinn said. In separate interviews two weeks apart, he used the word “hemorrhaging” to describe Luna’s financial losses.

Broadway bombs can lose a lot more than “Selena” has--the recent “Seussical” reportedly lost $11 million. But big commercial flops are rare in L.A., where most big productions have a built-in subscription audience or are already established hits like one of “Selena’s” neighbors, “The Lion King.” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”--at another theater close to the Doolittle, the Henry Fonda--lost $600,000 in late 1999, prompting bitter remarks from its producer about the shortcomings of local audiences.

Even with the Doolittle at about 50% of capacity, many of the customers--perhaps more than half at some performances--received deeply discounted or free tickets.

Margarita Martinez-Cannon, the production’s general manager, said the show was “overproduced to begin with, and there wasn’t much money left for advertising.” The producers “thought that if you build it, they will come. Well, they’ll come, but they have to know about it.”

At the insistence of the foundation, the production--an earlier incarnation of which had been a nonunion show in Texas--negotiated union contracts, in keeping with the history of the Doolittle as a professional theater. Quinn, the primary producer, also set up a Broadway-style schedule--full weeks of eight performances, Tuesdays through Sundays.

Only about $60,000 was left for advertising for the production, which was originally slated to run two months. By contrast, several local theater marketers said the rule of thumb is to spend at least 10% of the potential gross on advertising--which, in the case of “Selena,” would amount to $32,000 a week.

Quinn said he was counting on a promotional deal he had struck with Coca-Cola. According to figures supplied by the soft drink company, about 120,000 to 150,000 promotional messages were distributed in March, attached to Coke bottles in about 175 stores in the Southland--mostly smaller, independent supermarkets. The promotion offered savings of $10 a ticket when four tickets were purchased. Additionally, coupons offering two-for-one ticket deals for “Selena” on performances Tuesday through Thursday were mounted near Coke displays in 25 to 30 Vons stores from the end of March through mid-April, and the show received some Coke-related promotion in direct mail advertising.

However, the first official reviewed performance was April 19--after the Coke promotion had ended. The campaign--which had been scheduled when the show was planning to open earlier--had little apparent effect.

In May, the performance schedule was cut back to five per week. Tuesday and Wednesday performances and Saturday matinees were dropped. However, the size of the audiences at the remaining performances increased, stoking morale in the production.

Also in May, cast members performed at Fiesta Broadway and Cinco de Mayo events, where thousands of “Selena” fliers were distributed.

In recent weeks, the ad campaign has become more active. Although ads initially ran on only one Spanish-language radio station, they now have aired on three, with two other stations running ticket giveaways, said marketing director Robert Trevin~o. “Selena” ads are slated to appear on 100 billboards by the end of June. Print advertising is also increasing, and negotiations are underway for an infusion of advertising money--in exchange for sponsorship publicity--from the Albertson’s supermarket chain, which provided some support last month.