The Pinnacle Dinner Theatre is undergoing a reorganization that producing artistic director David Pritchard said he fully believes will allow the massive but cash-strapped new operation to continue to function.
“We’re doing everything we can to get our overhead down and cut costs, and we continue to be pretty successful with the food side of the operation,” Pritchard said.
But Pinnacle chief financial officer Ben Burk, a longtime Pritchard friend and associate, and chef Daniel Albert have departed. Thomas Blunt has replaced Albert, and Pritchard said Thursday he planned to have a new business manager onboard by the next day.
In recent weeks, Pinnacle has had difficulty meeting payroll, but Pritchard says a $275,000 infusion in newly invested capital will put an end to the problem.
The children performing in “The Sound of Music” are due $20 per performance, but one claims to now be due $600 in back pay. An adult actor claims to be due more than $1,000.
Pritchard said his reorganization actually has created temporary, transitional cash-flow problems that will be resolved within a week.
“We have had problems, but whenever any person has come to me, I’ve covered them,” said Pritchard. “We are taking care of every single person as fast as we can, and new money is coming in every day.”
But “The Sound of Music,” which Pritchard had hoped would bring Pinnacle its first large-scale audiences, could support only three performances last week, when the original business plan called for eight.
The Pinnacle is a 520-seat, 33,000-square-foot theater in southwest Jefferson County that opened in November but has yet to produce a hit. The former Ascot Theatre is owned by Michael Phillips, who is affiliated with University of the Family, a worldwide ministry in 90 countries. As an investor, he is currently allowing Pritchard to operate rent-free. Pritchard is primarily funded by a group of Arizona investors.
On July 21, Pritchard issued a letter to his entire staff apologizing for the payroll problems, which he blamed on “past bills and losses from ‘The Rocky Horror Show.’
“You don’t know how many sleepless nights I am having,” Pritchard wrote, “but we will prevail!”
Victorian return set
Wade Wood’s Denver Victorian Playhouse will return from a four-year dormancy Sept. 9 with John Olive’s “Voice of the Prairie.” The romantic drama, about childhood lovers reunited in the early 1920s by the power of radio, will be directed by Terry Dodd at the 75-seat theater, which is carved out of the basement of a home built in 1911 at 4201 Hooker St. (303-433-4343).
Fox gets N.Y. preview
Pre-New York workshop performances of “Uncle Jed’s Barbershop” will be staged at 7 p.m. Wednesday through Aug. 7 at the Aurora Fox.
The musical, created by Denver writer and lyricist Kenneth Grimes with David B. Wohl and Susan Einhorn, will be performed as part of the 2005 New York Musical Theater Festival, Sept. 12-Oct. 2.
The story, based on the award-winning children’s book by Margaree King-Mitchell, is about a 7-year-old girl and the only black barber in a Southern county in 1928, a time “when black folks weren’t supposed to have dreams like that.” (303-321-7436).
Briefly …
On Friday, Next Stage is staging “Miscast,” a fun fundraiser modeled after an annual New York City event in which Broadway stars perform songs they would never get to perform otherwise because they are completely wrong for the role. A star-studded list of 22 guest performers includes John Ashton, Nick Sugar, Chris Whyde, Scott McLean, Elizabeth Welch, CJ Hosier and Next Stage’s Gene Kato, Janelle Kato and Jenny Hecht. Tickets $25 (720-209-4105). …
Work has begun on Curious’ highly anticipated “War Anthology,” an original collaboration, including three Pulitzer winners slated for March 11. Director Bonnie Metzgar conducted the first workshop July 19 with contributing writer Elaine Romero. Denver actors Tyee Tilghman, Stephen Pearce, Erik Sandvold, Lyndsay Okasaki, GerRee Hinshaw and Karen Slack make up the team workshoping pieces during the first few weeks. …
Sara Rutstein, who served as Curious’ first managing director in a two-year period when its annual budget grew from $170,722 to $575,000, has resigned to pursue other opportunities. She will not be replaced, but Curious will hire two full-timers in new positions – associate producer and development director.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
