What are the limitations of the Auditorium Theatre?
Nocciolino: Let’s start with the capacity, which seems to be something everybody’s focused on. We don’t have to go very far from Rochester to look at what is the norm: Buffalo – 3,000 seats; Schenectady – 2,800 and change; Landmark in Syracuse – 2,900 seats. These are the three theaters in New York State that do full-week engagements or more. So let’s take this theater. You have 500 seats less than the average size here in New York State. The legit week, as we call it, is Tuesday through Sunday: eight performances. If you multiply eight times 400 or 500 – the difference between the other capacities – you’re talking about two extra performances in all of those other theaters. We’re paying the same price for the show here as we do there. The same number of trucks show up there as show up here. So what does that mean? It means that we don’t have the ability to generate the grosses that the other theaters do. When you’re looking at big shows – by big shows, I mean the blockbusters, the sho
