Cirque Du Soleil Scopes Gleason

The Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach, Fla., may see a new exclusive tenant in its future if a proposal for a Cirque du Soleil venue gets approved by city officials, according to venue GM Doug Tober.

With the $412 million, three-theatre Miami Performing Arts Center scheduled for a fall 2006 opening, Tober says three of Jackie Gleason Theater’s prime tenants – the Miami City Ballet, the Broadway in Miami Beach series, and the concert association of Florida – are slated to move to the new digs. That has forced the 2,700-seat Gleason to explore new opportunities.

“In the last couple years, those groups have accounted for 45 percent of our business,” Tober told Pollstar. “It’s left us searching for alternatives as to what the theatre would still encompass.”

The city-owned Jackie Gleason was approached by Cirque du Soleil and partner Clear Channel with a concept of renovating the theatre for a permanent Cirque installation, similar to that of Las Vegas and Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Since that offer, Tober says there have been several meetings with strong interest from both sides.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for Miami Beach as a fixed, world-class touring attraction,” he said, adding that the theatre is located adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center, which could be a great selling point for sales and corporate conventions.

If the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil moves in as the exclusive tenant, there will be no more concerts or special events at Gleason, Tober pointed out. It’s not known whether the theatre’s well-known moniker would stay.

Cirque performances would typically run anywhere from 40 to 47 weeks a year, five days a week, with two shows a night, and the reconfiguration of the venue would reduce its capacity to approximately 1,700 seats.

The renovation project would cost between $90 million and $100 million, officials from Cirque and Miami Beach said, according to The Miami Herald.

Before any of this can happen though, Miami Beach officials must give their seal of approval.

A formal proposal was scheduled to land in the hands of the city commission for a referral to committee during the last week of July. Once there, Tober expects an endorsement from the commission, which will allow further discussions on the project.

“To say that it’s in the early stages is a very true statement at this point,” he said. “But there’s certainly strong interest on both sides.”

— Mitchell Peters