A National Treasure

The venture “represents the most vigorous challenge in decades to the primacy of the Kennedy Center as the region’s dominant shelter for shows fresh (and not so fresh) from New York,” the paper said.

Jam and SMG formed the National Theatre Group, which will bring four major Broadway shows to the 1,670-capacity National, once Washington’s premier venue for performance entertainment. The four-show subscription series is the world premiere of “If/Then,” “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” “American Idiot” and “West Side Story.”

The National Theatre was the place to be seen at in Washington before Kennedy Center opened in 1971. “Show Boat” premiered there in 1927, as did “West Side Story,” “Hello Dolly!” and “Pippin.”  Shows either launched at the National as trial balloons for Broadway or kicked off their touring productions at the Washington venue.

The Kennedy eventually sucked the talent away, leaving the National with a paltry five weeks of programming in 2012, according to the Post.

National Theatre Group, though, expects to bring in concerts as well as rich theatrical programming.

“It’s a theatre, and anything can happen in a theatre,” SMG’s Bob Papke told the paper. Papke will run the theatre alongside Jam’s Steve Traxler. “If you look at all the iconic American theatres … the National has equal or more history than all of those venues.”

Meanwhile, the Kennedy’s next season is a “mixed bag” according to the Post.