New York: Broadway
The term Broadway is applied to about 38 theatres in Manhattan, New York, which are either on the street Broadway itself or in the surrounding streets. Broadway refers more to commercial orientation and to the size of theatre than to location. Broadway theatres usually have over 1000 seats and operate for profit. Most Broadway theatres are not on the street but in the Times Square area. The Broadway area including Times Square has had a reputation in the past as being rather seedy though Mayor Giuliani’s clean-up campaigns have changed that. Broadway is commercial, for-profit, theatre whereas the not-for-profit theatre is off-Broadway. There is commercial theatre off-Broadway but it is small compared with either Broadway itself or the not-for-profit sector. There is a particular concentration of off-Broadway theatres in the Greenwich Village area. Off-Broadway theatres are associated with newer, avant-garde productions and new American productions are more likely to be found here than on Broadway. Some productions do though move from off-Broadway to Broadway.
New York’s dominance of theatre in the USA has reduced as regional theatre, especially in Chicago and Los Angeles, has become more important in the development of new productions. Many of these then go on to Broadway.
Attendances at Broadway theatres were nearly 12 million in 1998–99 compared with 7 million in 1984–85 but this has not been an uninterrupted growth. There was, for instance, a decline in numbers for most of the 1980s. Playing weeks have risen from 1078 in 1984–85 to 1441 in 1998–99 with a low of 905 in 1991–92. The composition of Broadway audiences is similar to that in many other places. Two-thirds are aged 35 or older, three-quarters are Caucasian and over half (compared with 14 per cent of the US population) have an annual income of $75,000 or more. There has, however, been a doubling, between 1991 and 1997, of the number of Broadway theatre-goers under the age of 18 partly due to the number of ‘youth-friendly’ productions. Whilst personal recommendation is the single most important reason for choosing to see a show, one in five of audiences indicated that newspaper reviews were important.
As in London’s West End, new openings and existing playing weeks on Broadway have been dominated by musicals. Broadway is associated with large musical and drama productions. The name Broadway has become closely associated with a particular type of production such as the older musicals ‘A Chorus Line’ and ‘42nd Street’, which ran for many years. As with many theatrical districts, there is a view that the nature of productions has changed compared with the early part of the twentieth century. Whereas New York was regarded as a place where many new productions occurred each year, Broadway theatres now concentrate on long-running plays and musicals in particular. Other productions do not get the opportunity to be seen; this criticism is levelled at London’s West End also. By producing classic plays and musicals, risk is reduced especially as it is believed that many people desire the technological spectacle and diversion of musicals in particular. Broadway has become increasingly a place for ‘a special event’ complete with merchandising. Often productions rely on famous name film or television stars to increase ticket sales. The name Broadway has been used as a term of abuse by critics. A review, in the British Sunday Times (April 2000), of the London West End production of ‘The Graduate’ included the comment ‘the show is like the worst of Broadway, shallow and celebrity-driven, with ghastly merchandise being sold in the foyer’.
New York is a major tourist destination including some of the most famous landmarks in the world such as the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. In 1999, there were over 34 million visitors to New York city and, of these, nearly 6 million were international, mostly from Canada (0.9 million) and the UK (0.8 million). Broadway is regarded as a tourist attraction of the city and the name has become universally recognized as being ‘theatre in New York’. It was seen in Chapters 6 and 7 just how significant theatre is in drawing visitors to the city. To facilitate booking, there is a charge-free information and booking ‘hot-line’ and the Broadway Ticket Center located in the busy visitor area of Times Square.
Despite this, as seen in Chapter 6, the proportion of audiences who are visitors from the rest of the USA continues to fall though there has been a slight increase in the proportion of international visitors (to one in ten of audiences). An increasing proportion of audiences are resident in New York city or the surrounding suburbs. The suburban element has shown the greatest growth. About 17% of ‘locals’ go to a Broadway show at least once a year and there is a core of regular theatregoers (6%) who account for over 30% of all tickets sold.
There are shows such as ‘Cats’ (running since 1982 making it the longest running musical in Broadway history), ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Chicago’, ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Fosse’ which are being performed in New York and London (and other cities) at the same time. In recent years there has been a large number of ‘imports’ of productions from abroad especially from Britain. These have included a new production of ‘Cabaret’ (1998) by Sam Mendes, later the Oscar-winning director of the film ‘American Beauty’ as well as, in 1999, plays such as Eugene O’Neill’s ‘The Iceman Cometh’ and David Hare’s ‘Via Dolorosa’. This is partly a matter of economics, being cheaper to bring in an established play or musical instead of starting the production process from the beginning. Some originated in the more heavily subsidized theatre of Europe and, in a sense, the USA is capitalizing on that investment of public funds. The risk of new and ‘straight’ plays is reduced by buying-in from elsewhere. There is an argument too that American ‘classics’ are limited in number compared with those from Europe. There is however, also a reverse transfer with productions such as ‘Chicago’ and ‘Rent’ originating in the USA and then being produced in London.
The economic impact of Broadway on New York city was estimated at $2724 million in 1996–97 and, as seen in Chapter 8, $1719 million of this was due to visitor spending. The total impact was calculated by adding the initial visitor spending other than on tickets to the set-up and operating costs of Broadway companies and the spending on capital improvements to theatres. This was subject to a multiplier effect. Compared with 1991–92, there was a 37 per cent increase in impact (after allowing for inflation). The spending of locals was not included as such. In the case of visitors from outside the city, the only spending that was included was that of people who indicated that Broadway was the main reason for the visit. In addition, a part of the spending of visitors who extended their visit in order to go to Broadway theatre was included. The proportions of visitors for whom Broadway was the main reason, or was a reason for extending the visit, were not estimated at the same time as the audience surveys were undertaken (1996–97) but from the earlier Port Authority surveys in 1992.
These Port Authority surveys also estimated economic impact and included commercial off-Broadway theatre and also ‘Road productions’. These are Broadway shows that are performed elsewhere but which have an economic impact in New York in the form, for instance, of royalty payments. This impact has been declining partly because of local financing, because of touring productions originating elsewhere including the rest of the USA and the influx of productions from the UK.
Sources: the League of American Theatres and Producers; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Sunday Times ‘Culture’ 9 April 2000; the Guardian 10 April 1999; the Observer 15 November 1998; New York Convention and Visitor’s Bureau
London: West End
London, apart from being the centre of government in the UK and a major international commercial and financial centre, is also the most important tourist destination in the country. Total tourist visits to London are over 20 million and over half of these are international. The attractions of London are mostly ‘heritage’ though ‘pop’ culture, clubs, fashion, restaurants and lifestyle are claimed to be of increasing importance. London also has a large number of theatres which act as a tourist attraction. Over a quarter of all professional theatres in the UK are in London and there is a particular concentration within London’s West End. Many of the more significant theatres in London are members of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) known, until 1994, as the Society of West End Theatre (SWET). SOLT is a trade association with a membership of about 50 of London’s theatres most of which are ‘West End’ theatres. They are located in central London with several distinct, but close, theatre clusters contributing to the leisure zone of the city. The concentration is itself considered to have a positive influence on attracting visitors to the city. SOLT theatres range in size from the relatively small at 250 capacity through to a few larger theatres at over 2000 seats. Most are operated as commercial concerns and few are subsidized. Attendances at SOLT theatres during 1997 were about 11.5 million compared with 10.5 million on Broadway the previous year though Broadway does include fewer theatres.
It was seen in Chapter 6 how important the West End is in attracting tourists to London and how the proportion of tourists in audiences has fluctuated. The share of international tourists in audiences is currently much less than it has been during the 1980s.
One of the most noticeable recent features of the West End is the increased importance of musicals and the reduced importance of plays and this has been linked with the tourist market (domestic and international). Nearly two-thirds of all attendances in West End theatres in 1997 were at ‘modern musicals’. This is markedly different from the situation outside London. It was seen in Chapter 6 that tourists are a higher proportion of musical audiences than they are for other productions. For many observers, the tourist audiences are believed not to be particularly discerning and want little more than a ‘glitzy night out’. One theatre critic was disappointed, in 1997, that the stage version of Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at the Dominion theatre was welcomed as favourable for West End jobs and tourism, and not seen as a threat to national heritage. Another critic condemned as undesirable and a sell-out to ‘West End’ values, the programming (in 1998) of the musical ‘Oklahoma!’ at the National Theatre. This had been created as ‘a radical alternative to a complacent commercial theatre’.
Not only are musicals denigrated but also their impact on the rest of theatre is considered undesirable. Musicals and other ‘tourist’ productions have long-runs (‘the Mousetrap’ since 1952, ‘Cats’ since 1981 and ‘Les Miserables’ since 1985) and, as discussed in Chapter 8, so-called serious plays are squeezed out and the turnover of new plays is restricted. It is not just musicals that are seen as the problem but also revivals of popular plays and associated long-runs of many of these. Access to theatres and to finance and artistic talent is restricted for the non-musical and the new play. There are several reported instances of productions, such as the award-winning ‘the Late Middle Classes’, being unable to find a West End venue because of the desire to produce musicals, in that case a musical about a boy band which closed after a few weeks (1999). The actor and playwright Steven Berkoff complained, after his controversial new play ‘Messiah’ was turned down by the National Theatre in 2000, that theatres were too safe and were unwilling to take risks. It is obviously less risky for large commercial theatres to produce blockbuster musicals or plays than it is to put on experimental, innovative or controversial productions that may not sell on a large scale. The tourist market is one that is large and continually turning over and renewing itself every few days or weeks, an ideal scenario for investment in large-scale spectaculars. Corporations are able to absorb early losses and to subsidize the early days of one production from the revenue of another until the break-even point is reached.
There are, however, some West End theatres, usually subsidized, which are some of the most adventurous and prestigious theatres in the country: the Donmar Warehouse, the Royal Court, the Royal National Theatre and the Barbican until recently a London base for the Royal Shakespeare Company. There have been a number of successful transfers, such as ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘the Herbal Bed’, from the subsidized sector to the commercial sector. In addition to these theatres many of the more innovative and limited interest productions take place off-West End in smaller theatres or in regional theatre. It is claimed that a ‘significant proportion’ of West End productions have originated in regional or non-SOLT theatre before transfer.
West End productions also transfer to regional theatres often as a national tour and also to other countries. In 1997, ‘Phantom of the Opera’ was performed in Australia, New Zealand and 17 cities in the USA and ‘Buddy’ in Japan, Germany, Canada, South Africa and USA. Earnings from international performances such as these were estimated at between £40 to £60 million in 1997.
The concentration of theatre ownership and of influence over productions is likely to have had a direct impact on the pattern of programming. Ownership of the commercial theatres is diverse but certain organizations and individuals appear dominant. By early 2000, there were two large corporations dominating ownership of London theatres. The Ambassador Theatre Group, which is part owned by the US corporation SFX, owned eleven after purchasing nine smaller theatres in February and the Really Useful Group owned thirteen having purchased ten from Stoll Moss the previous month. As seen in Chapter 2, SFX had already purchased the large national Apollo group in 1999, four of whose theatres are in London. The Really Useful Group is owned by the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cats, Starlight Express, Phantom of the Opera and many others). The producer Cameron Mackintosh bought two theatres in 1999 to join the three that his company currently co-owned. The impresario Bill Kenwright has also been responsible for a large number of West End productions in recent years. Theatre ownership is therefore being combined in the same organization with composition, production, play and concert promotion. There is, in addition, a concentration of influence into fewer hands including, for instance, through joint Mackintosh-Webber productions. All of this could lead to significant control and influence over the programming of theatres in the West End. For the firms concerned, such integration yields economies and spreads risks.
Sources: Casey et al., 1996; Lipman, 1996; Gardiner and Dickety, 1996; Billington, 1998; the Guardian 6 December 1999; the Observer 13 February 2000; the Guardian 10 February 2000; MORI 1998; Travers 1998; Sunday Times ‘Culture’ 9 April 2000
Las Vegas (Nevada, USA) is perhaps the best-known instance of a tourist centre with an ‘entertainment-core’. The main attraction of Las Vegas is gaming and until recently Nevada was the only state to legalize casino gaming in the USA (legalized 1931). Las Vegas receives over 30 million visitors a year (1998) of whom 70 per cent were there for vacation, pleasure or gambling. It is also a major centre for conventions. It claims to have more hotel and motel rooms (at 109,000) than any other resort destination in the world and 19 of the 20 largest hotels in the world. The MGM Grand, for instance, has over 5000 rooms. At Atlantic City most gamblers are day-trippers but Las Vegas is more a destination for the staying tourist. Most visitors do not have children with them and the average age is late forties. A high proportion (three-quarters) are repeat visitors and nearly all gamble during their stay. The average stay is short at just over three nights but nearly a third of visitors are from neighbouring California, half from the Western states and one in ten is international. The city has its own international airport with direct flights from countries such as the UK and Japan.
The key attraction of Vegas has been gambling but it has always been associated with live entertainment. Casinos are usually based in hotels that also provide a variety of live entertainment in order to attract and retain gaming customers. Most Las Vegas entertainment is associated with hotels rather than with separate theatres or concert halls. The musical ‘Starlight Express’ was, for instance, staged at the Las Vegas Hilton. The entertainment ranges from musicians in bar and lounge settings through circus and illusionists to national and international stars in large purpose-built theatres and concert arenas. Some of these operations are so huge that effectively they operate as separate enterprises. Caesar’s Palace (1500 rooms) has a 4500 seat indoor theatre and a 15,300 seat outdoor events stadium and MGM Grand has a similar size events centre as well as its own 33 acre theme park. At Circus Circus there is free circus in addition to a 5 acre indoor theme park.
There is a style of show, the glitzy spectacular floor-show with dancers and singers, that is referred to universally as a ‘Las Vegas-type show’. The ‘Official Visitors Guide’ to Las Vegas refers to ‘other parts of the casinos (where) entertainers adorned in glittering costumes join forces in lavish stage spectaculars … Extravaganzas costing millions to produce surround visitors in a fantasy of shapely dancers, intricate choreography and special effects’. Las Vegas is also a centre for many associated spectacular events including boxing.
Just under half of Las Vegas visitors attend a show during their visit though spending on shows only accounts for about 8% of expenditure per visitor compared, for instance, with 38% on food and drink and 22% on shopping. Entertainment has been regarded as an incidental attraction and has been justified by its ability to attract people to gamble. It was initially regarded as a loss-leader in order to attract high-spending gamblers. There is now, however, more emphasis on entertainment as a profit centre. This, in conjunction with rising costs, has resulted in a shift from the star-centred shows towards smaller-scale variety (or revue) shows and musicals.
The city has long had a reputation for being an adult destination with gaming associated not only with adult entertainment but also organized crime and prostitution. It has in recent years sought to re-position itself as a tourist destination. Casino gaming is now legal in more places in the USA, including Atlantic City and many Native American reservations, and Las Vegas can no longer rely on its virtual monopoly to attract visitors. It is therefore developing as a family holiday destination. In order to do this, more family-oriented entertainment has been offered in the form of virtual reality experiences, theme parks and free open-air events such as an erupting volcano outside the Mirage hotel and a pirate battle performed outside the Treasure Island hotel. The emphasis on Las Vegas as a gaming centre has been reduced but it is still the hotels that maintain a connection with entertainment, albeit in a different form.
These developments have had mixed fortunes and, whilst such entertainment has undoubtedly broadened the appeal of Las Vegas, some gaming operators have found that certain forms of entertainment compete with, rather than complement, gaming. There are several other concerns associated with this re-positioning, such as the increased number of ‘non-gamblers’ and ‘low-roller’ gamblers in the city and the loss of its distinctive character. In addition some casino executives are not skilled in providing these types of experience and there have been some noticeable failures. There has been a concern that the city has gone too far along the route of a family-friendly destination and some business people have been anxious to maintain the reputation as an adult destination. This is partly due to the lower gaming spend of tourists with children. Nonetheless some of the more recent developments, such as the New York, New York with its own rollercoaster and the Venetian Casino Resort complete with upscale shopping mall and Grand Canal, have continued the wider appeal.
Las Vegas is very much a one-industry city with just over half of the labour force in southern Nevada being employed in the city’s tourist and gaming sector. It has been pointed out that this means low-skill, low-wage and un-unionized employment for many and also an excessive influence of the gaming and hotel corporations on the political and development process. Since the 1950s there are now fewer individuals and more corporations owning and operating casinos in the city. The needs of the industry may have been prioritized over the social community and welfare needs of the local population and the sustainability of the local natural environment. There would appear to be a coalition of interests between local hotel-casino operators, other business people, development agencies, the visitor bureau, airlines and local government that exerts a powerful influence in encouraging free-enterprise and growth.
Sources: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; Christiansen and Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, 1995; Thompson, Pinney and Scibrowsky, 1996; Parker, 1999
British seaside resorts: early developments
There are features of the seaside resort in Britain in the past that have been unique features of the entertainment industry. The significance of this lies in the fact that their influence lingers on to the present-day. As seaside resorts became more popular during the latter part of the nineteenth century there was considerable investment in theatres, pavilions, concert halls and ‘pleasure palaces’. Some of these, such as the Winter Gardens in Blackpool (1878), initially represented a more serious purpose by including gardens and library. The Winter Gardens in Rhyl (North Wales) built in 1876 included a zoo, theatre, seal pond and skating rink. At this time music hall was flourishing and halls were built in resorts, firmly establishing the tradition of the variety show at the seaside.
As the seaside began to attract the working classes there was a need to change what was on offer and from the end of the nineteenth century investment in entertainment rose dramatically. Theatres and halls existed in many resorts offering variety, melodrama and farce and more ‘serious’ plays, drama and musicals during the season to a predominantly middle class audience alongside a more informal, often out-door and beach entertainment. These included circuses, fairgrounds, ‘black-face’ minstrels, Pierrots and Punch and Judy shows geared to a more working class audience. The Punch and Judy Show has been synonymous with the seaside though it had originated at inland fairs. The ‘black-face’ minstrels were a prominent feature of English seaside resorts, dominating popular entertainment until the ‘more refined’ Pierrots, originating in France, appeared. Entertainment became increasingly commercial.
Some of the attractions became more bizarre and included waxworks and freak shows as well as an assortment of fortune-tellers and healers and talks, lectures and lantern slides by dubious ‘experts’. A major attraction in several resorts during the 1930s was the ‘Rector of Stiffkey’ who had been dismissed from the church for sexual misconduct. He earned a living in a sideshow in Blackpool which included him living in a barrel and also being ‘devoured by the flames of hell’. He later appeared in a show in Skegness only to be killed by one of the lions in 1938.
Piers were also particularly associated with entertainment. Although most were originally intended for the arrival and departure of ships, they soon became geared towards entertainment. Holiday-makers were able to extend their walking and display from the promenade itself to a promenade over the sea. Piers often included money-generating facilities such as pavilions and concert halls, refreshment rooms, machines and mechanical devices, booths and kiosks. There was often an ‘end-of-the-pier show’ performed by concert parties of small groups of artists all of whom sang, danced, told jokes and performed short sketches. They were particularly popular from the 1920s through to the late 1930s.
Military and brass bands also played in open-air bandstands and in pier pavilions. Most resorts also had an orchestra, however small, which invariably played in pavilions on piers. Most resorts had an orchestra at some time during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the continuing existence of orchestras owes a great deal to the holiday-maker. The conductors, musicians and singers were among the most able and famous of the day. They included (Sir) Malcolm Sargent at the seaside town of Llandudno (Wales) who was later conductor of many famous orchestras and chief conductor of the annual BBC Proms festival 1948–66 and Granville Bantock (at New Brighton, a resort near Liverpool) who was later Professor of Music at Birmingham University. As employment in such orchestras was usually seasonal, musicians from non-tourist area orchestras were able to find year-round employment. In the early part of the twentieth century the Pier Orchestra at Llandudno was made up largely of members of the Halle Orchestra (Manchester), which is Britain’s longest established professional symphony orchestra (founded 1858). The seaside resort of Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, had the distinction of having the first year-round permanent orchestra in England (1893) and it has since become an important touring symphony orchestra. Musical programmes were usually short and light for background or promenading, but most orchestras endeavoured to provide symphony concerts in addition and to work the ‘more serious’ works into their programmes.
The ‘holiday camp’ is also of particular significance in the history of holidays and entertainment. All-inclusive centres for a holiday had existed for some time. Some originated in the early twentieth century as a form of self-help, self-improvement movement where a sense of community in a healthy environment could be fostered. These holidays, often in tents, included organized games and entertainments that were often self-entertainment. Commercial camps emerged during the 1930s and of particular significance were the holiday camps established by Billy Butlin (initially in Skegness in 1937 for 1000 campers and in Clacton in 1939). Holiday-makers did not need to leave the holiday camps during their stay as, apart from the chalet-type accommodation, there were catering halls, swimming pools, games and sports areas, theatres and dance halls. Access to all of these was without further charge. In the seaside tradition, entertainment followed the variety revue pattern and also dance bands and children’s entertainers. There was also an emphasis on holiday-makers making their own entertainment. Organizers variously known as Red Coats (Butlins) or Blue Coats (Pontins) organized games and competitions for campers and entertainment by campers as well putting on shows themselves. The holiday camp was particularly popular during the 1950s. They were major providers of seaside entertainment and were a significant ‘breeding-ground’ for new performing talent.
Sources: Ward and Hardy, 1986; Walton, 1983a; Walvin, 1978; Bainbridge, 1986; Young, 1968
Blackpool
Blackpool is the largest seaside resort in the UK and Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach (an amusement park complex) is currently the most popular of all English visitor attractions. The holiday season that is usual in UK seaside towns is longer in Blackpool because of the ‘Illuminations’. These are illuminated tableaux (usually from late August through to early November) that stretch the length of the seafront. Blackpool is a resort that has an image of liveliness and vitality and has been described as working class and vulgar. Its reputation has always been slightly down-market with entertainment that often verged on the ‘bizarre’. Blackpool is not typical of the UK seaside resort but it has a long tradition of live shows and end-of-pier entertainment and there is currently a large entertainment industry in the resort. There are also numerous bars and clubs where some form of entertainment is offered as well as considerable in-hotel provision. Much of the entertainment industry in Blackpool is in the hands of commercial providers and local government has had little role in the provision of entertainment.
Venues include two large ‘conventional’ theatres, the Grand Theatre (1200 seats) and the Opera House (2980 seats). The former was built in 1894 and is now owned by a non-profit-making trust the Grand Theatre Trust Ltd. Until relatively recently most of the older venues were owned by ‘local’ companies. The Opera House is part of a larger leisure, conference and exhibition complex (the Winter Gardens) and was, until 1998, owned by the public company First Leisure. This company also owned the three piers each with their own theatres (North, Central and South which have theatres between 300 and 1500 seats) and the Blackpool Tower complex. This contains a number of ‘family activities’ including play centres, aquarium, a circus (1800 seats) and ballroom. These were all disposed of in 1998 to a private purchaser, Trevor Hemmings. The remaining major entertainment facility is at the Pleasure Beach (the amusement park complex) owned by a private, family company. There are several venues, between 450 and 2300 seats, here including the Arena.
All summer show productions run for a season from either late May or early July through to early November. Many can be categorized as ‘traditional variety’, a succession of light entertainment acts with headline minor star(s) who have usually had some television exposure. There is an emphasis on the family audience, though some of the shows do have slightly different formats and content in the later performances. (There are often two performances of some shows: afternoon and evening or early and mid evening performances.) In part, this strategy is designed to catch the day-tripper market. Performances are usually either Monday through Saturday or Tuesday through Sunday so there are no ‘dead’ nights in the town during the week. There are also separate Sunday shows at some of the theatres.
The nature of the Blackpool variety shows has changed and there is a consensus that they are not as lavish or glamorous as they were, for instance, in the 1950s and 1960s. The Pleasure Beach however continues to offer lavish shows with special effects and lighting. The Ice Show, a spectacular, Las Vegas-style, variety show, maintains elements of old style glamour especially in the glitzy costumes. It is one element of the live entertainment product in Blackpool that has remained since its establishment in 1937. The company deems these aspects important enough to invest heavily in and employs in-house designers, pattern cutters and beaders. These shows started as a peripheral activity but are now important profit generators. The strategy had been designed to attract visitors, particularly day-trippers, to stay later. The Pleasure Beach is the only major ‘producing’ venue in Blackpool as the others contract out to producers. It has become an established production company operating under the name ‘Stageworks Worldwide Productions’ and shows are sold to venues in Europe and Asia. During 1997, nearly 700,000 tickets were sold for shows in the Pleasure Beach’s five venues.
New products are evident however. The Opera House has had a recent policy of offering a different type of entertainment and has hosted established and popular musicals such as ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ or ‘Cats’ for the season. These are not the usual seaside fare and are also presented at theatres across the country especially in urban centres. The Grand Theatre is a ‘local’ theatre. It was threatened with demolition in the 1970s but rescued by the action of a local pressure group. Its policy is to offer a year-round programme that includes ballet, opera, plays and classical and jazz concerts. Its survival though is very much dependent on the summer show. Some of the big shows at other theatres are pointedly aimed at a ‘non-family’ audience such as an ‘adult’ stand-up comedian targeted at a weekend and day-visitor market of young single males.
Sources: Hughes and Benn, 1998; Blackpool Borough Tourism Services
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey, is one the earliest seaside holiday destinations in the USA. It was developed as a purpose built resort in the mid-nineteenth century with the building of the railway. It has an eight mile beach and the earliest boardwalk. It became a popular destination for holiday-makers from the heavily populated north-east of the USA, especially Philadelphia (60 miles away) and New York (100 miles). It has had several piers including the Steel Pier (1898), which offered 16 hours of entertainment for one admission. It included famous name bands, vaudeville and television stars.
Atlantic City’s popularity waned however during the mid twentieth century as alternative destinations became available and air travel made it possible for people to travel quickly and cheaply to Florida and the west coast for their holidays. By 1975 it had lost a quarter of its population and was the poorest city in the state.
Its renewed prosperity is based on casinos which include names familiar from Las Vegas such as Hilton and Caesars, Harrahs and Sands and also several Trump casinos. New Jersey was the second state (after Nevada) to legalize casino gambling, which was introduced from 1976 onwards. By 1994, the industry provided over 60 per cent of all jobs in the city and average income per head had risen from being below the national average to considerably above. There has been rather closer regulation of gaming than has been the case in several other places and all licensed establishments have had to provide a full range of services including hotel services, restaurants, bars and entertainment. As in Vegas, each of the 12 casinos has considerable and lavish entertainment provision. They usually include international singing and cabaret stars as headliners as well casino revue shows. There are far fewer casinos in Atlantic City than in Las Vegas and casino hotels are generally smaller with the largest being Bally’s at 1265 rooms and Trump Taj Mahal at 1250 and most of the others between 500 and 800 rooms. Theatres vary in size from 5500 seats at the Trump Taj Mahal to under 500 seats at Bally’s, Showboat and Trump Castle.
Most visitors to Atlantic City continue to be from the region and the near-by markets of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. A significant factor in the early growth was the ‘bus program’, which offered transport to day-trippers from the region. Most of the participants were middle aged or retired and were offered a free buffet and show as part of the program. Atlantic City is currently the most popular resort destination in the USA, ahead of Las Vegas and Orlando, with over 34 million visitors a year. It has a high number of day visitors but the casinos are the major attraction of Atlantic City for the vast majority of both staying and day visitors. The night-life, including entertainment, is an important factor in the popularity for staying visitors.
Sources: Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority; Braunlich, 1996; Schrank, 1987
Coney Island
Coney Island is in the south part of the borough of Brooklyn (New York) and is a one-hour subway ride from midtown Manhattan. It is a pleasure ground of sideshows, fun fairs and theme parks. It was connected to the mainland by road in 1823 and, by the late nineteenth century, was attracting long-stay visitors. The proximity to New York along with the completion of the subway in the 1920s were sufficient to increase its popularity rapidly and it experienced an influx of cheaper boarding houses, vaudeville theatres, brothels and gambling houses.
It is currently a day-tripper destination rather than a long-stay tourist town but it retains the flavour of its origins as one of the earliest ‘mass’ tourist destinations in the USA. Its main market has been, and remains, the lower income New Yorker. It is a relatively poor area itself and has a rather run-down air with derelict buildings and attractions remaining. The first roller-coaster in the country was built here in 1884 and it retains the world’s oldest working Ferris wheel (1918). The two large amusement parks have about 30 rides each including the Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone roller-coaster (1927), both of which are designated as national landmarks. The rides in all of the several funfairs tend to be traditional and there is little of a high-tech nature even now. One of its most well-known and oldest attractions (dating from 1902–03) is Luna Park. This was an ‘electric city by the sea’ with a number of themed areas including parts purporting to represent Venice and Japan. In addition there was live entertainment that included re-enactments of disasters arising from floods, volcano eruptions and fires.
Coney Island is also characterized by its wooden boardwalk, which extends along the seafront with a range of stalls selling such items as hot dogs, pizzas, ice cream, candy and beer.
Despite its decline as a ‘staying’ tourist destination, its live entertainment is reminiscent of the older, down-market, seaside destination. Its claim to fame is ‘Sideshows by the Seaside’ promoted as ‘the last place in the USA where you can experience the thrill of a traditional ten-in-one circus sideshow’ (entry $5). The emphasis is on the bizarre and what are termed ‘freaks’ including a ‘killer clown’, a ‘bearded woman’, a fire-eater, sword-swallower, an ‘elastic lady’ and a ‘snake enchantress’. The same organization promotes the annual Mermaid Parade of mermaids and neptunes to celebrate the beginning of the summer.
Sources: Daily Telegraph 29 May 1999; the Observer 12 March 2000; Brooklyn Tourism Council
Cromer and Bexhill
Cromer, on the north Norfolk coast, is a small, relatively quiet, seaside resort (population 5000) that has attracted a different type of holidaymaker from those who go to Blackpool. The building of railway links in the late nineteenth century led to its popularity with the upper and middle classes. King Edward VII was a frequent visitor before and after becoming king in 1901 and there was a determination on the part of the local council to keep the town as a resort for the well-to-do. Its pier was opened in 1901, complete with bandstand, which was later transformed into the Pavilion Theatre. Military bands and concert parties performed here in the early years of the twentieth century. The concert parties were revived in the 1970s so that Cromer now claims to hold the only remaining authentic end-of-pier show. It has attracted a cult following as well as being popular with elderly day-trippers. The small theatre has 440 seats and an average cast size of 15, each of whom performs any of comedy, dance, singing and playing music.
Bexhill-on-Sea is a similar small, quiet seaside resort on the coast of Sussex, about 70 miles from London. Its De La Warr pavilion was opened in 1935 as an entertainments pavilion, or ‘people’s palace’, on the seafront. The building was the outcome of an international design competition won by a German architect, Erich Mendelsohn. The architectural significance of the building is recognized by its protection as a Grade 1 listed building. It is owned by the local council but has been run by the Pavilion Trust since 1989 and has been subject, in recent years, to renovation and restoration in an endeavour to capture its original glory. It is being developed as an arts and social centre with an art gallery, bars, restaurant, cafe and meeting rooms. The art gallery shows exhibitions of twentieth century art, architecture and design. A summer entertainments season is held in the original 1000-seat theatre. The programme is a mixed one of music, plays, dance and comedy, which are usually one-nighters. It does also however present children’s shows. There is also a first-floor sun terrace leading off the restaurant where there are jazz and brass band concerts and children’s entertainment during the summer. In 2000, the local council is considering the sale of the pavilion to a national chain of public houses largely because of the difficulty of finding funds to finance the high costs of restoration, maintenance and operation. This chain is well-known for its sympathetic re-use of older buildings, though what its policy would be with regard to the wider use of the pavilion remains to be seen.
Sources: Rother District Council (East Sussex); the Guardian 7 August 1999; the Guardian 27 March 2000
Adelaide Festival
The Adelaide Festival is a three-week festival established in 1960 which is held every two years, during March. Adelaide itself has a population of about one million and is capital of the state of South Australia. As a tourist destination, its heritage, the arts and beaches are promoted. Attractions include a zoo, art galleries and museums including the ‘Bradman Collection’ relating to the famous Australian cricketer. The casino, which opened in 1985, attracted over two million visitors in 1998–99 of whom 42,000 were international. The beach areas are extensive and include provision for sailing, diving and fishing as well as the usual sunbathing.
In the surrounding parts of South Australia, attractions include the McLaren Vale and the Barossa wine-making districts. One of the most significant attractions close to Adelaide is Kangaroo Island which includes Flinders Chase National Park, well-known for its natural wildlife especially penguins and sealions.
Tourist attractions include a number of events such as regattas and horse-racing as well as arts festivals and, for ten years until the mid 1990s, the Formula One Grand Prix. The Glenelg Jazz Festival (October) had attendances of 11,600 in 1998, of whom 3% were international and 5% out of state. WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) was first held in Australia in 1992 and in 1999 had attendances of 65,000. There are also a number of successful festivals associated with the Barossa Valley including annual gourmet festivals and vintage festivals. There is also an International Barossa Music Festival (since 1991) with international performers giving concerts in wineries and churches. Attendances in 1997 were 20,000 of whom 12 per cent were out of state.
In 1998 there were 300,000 international visitors to South Australia, compared with 2.2 million to New South Wales (Sydney). Two-thirds were holiday visits and over a third had visited the Adelaide beaches and surrounding countryside including the Barossa Valley. Under 20 per cent had visited Kangaroo Island. The single most important international tourist-generating country was the UK. There were also 1 million interstate visitors in 1997, most of whom came from the neighbouring state of Victoria. Just under a third were there for holiday purposes and the most popular destination was Adelaide itself.
The South Australian Tourism Commission recognizes the significance of festivals and events as tourist generators though the primary tourist attractions of the state are its beaches, scenery, wineries and wildlife. The state government itself established a short-lived organization, Australian Major Events, to provide financial assistance for the development and marketing of festivals and events that have economic significance. Its merger into the Tourism Commission indicated the interest in the tourism dimension of events. The Adelaide Festival is considered to be Australia’s major cultural event and includes music, drama, ballet, opera, dance, art exhibition and light entertainment. There is a particular emphasis on innovation, experiment and outreach. The opening night has usually seen the performance of new productions of twentieth century operas. In 1998 this was a State Opera production of ‘Flamma Flamma’ by Lens and in 2000 was a Netherlands Opera production of ‘Writing to Vermeer’ by Andriessen. An 8-hour epic, ‘The Ecstatic Bible’ by Howard Barker was a highlight of the 2000 Festival. Dance performances are usually contemporary dance though the music programme does include the ‘classics’ and performances by, for instance, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Brodsky Quartet. Typically performers are drawn from many countries and in the 1996 Festival over 30 countries were represented. A Fringe runs alongside the Festival and attendances at this were 857,000 in 1998.
The Adelaide Festival Centre was opened in 1973 and is home to the Festival. It is managed by a trust on behalf of the South Australian government. The Centre has four performance venues including the 2000 capacity Festival Theatre, a 600 seat Playhouse, a flexible performance space and an outdoor amphitheatre.
The Festival was the subject of an extensive impact study in 1990 and 1996. In 1990 over 9000 out-of-state visitors attended the Festival and Fringe of whom 6000 were specifically attracted by the Festival or Fringe. The 1996 study focused on the Festival only and there were separate surveys of attenders, performers, sponsors, the media and organizers and volunteers. The 1996 Festival incurred operating expenditure of nearly A$12 million of which A$2.4 million was covered by box office income, A$3.5 million from the South Australian government and A$0.4 million from Adelaide City Council.
It is estimated that 42,000 individuals attended Festival events in 1996, of whom most were Adelaide residents, 2% from the rest of South Australia and 18% out-of-state. International visitors were 13% of all visitors and of these the single most important places of origin were UK, USA, New Zealand and Germany. The average stay in South Australia was 7 nights for interstate visitors and 18 nights for international visitors.
Attenders were classified into residents, visitors and ‘Festival Visitors’. The latter were visitors who had visited Adelaide specifically to attend the Festival and were identified as people who had said they would not have come to Adelaide if the Festival had not been held or whose visit was an additional visit especially for the Festival. As seen in Chapters 6 and 8, the Festival was responsible for a significant number of visitors coming to Adelaide and of residents staying rather than going somewhere else. The festival had a greater pull for ‘local’ Australian visitors than it did for international visitors who were more likely to be in Adelaide for other reasons.
Visitors attended an average of four Festival performances whereas Festival Visitors attended an average of just over four and residents attended three. Apart from a general awareness of the Festival’s existence, the next most important source of information about the Festival for visitors was ‘word of mouth’. Nearly half of visitors had attended a previous Adelaide Festival and almost two-thirds intended to return for the next one. It is noticeable that visitors and Festival Visitors in particular were more regular theatre goers than were residents.
The economic impact of the Festival was estimated by adding Festival-generated expenditure of visitors, residents, performers, sponsors, the media and organizers and volunteers and other Festival income from outside the state. All of the expenditure of ‘Festival Visitors’ was included whereas in the case of other visitors only the part incurred in the extended part of the stay was included. Only the expenditure of residents who had chosen to stay at home rather than go away was included. Their spending per person was double that of other residents in large part because of greater spending on tickets. Sponsorship received could have been spent elsewhere in South Australia and it was important to exclude this money and, similarly, money which could have been spent outside the state but which was spent in South Australia should be included.
In total the Festival was estimated to have generated extra expenditure of A$13 million in the state of South Australia.
Sources: South Australian Tourism Commission; the Telstra Adelaide Festival; Market Equity and Economic Research Consultants; the Guardian 8 March 2000
Buxton Festival
Buxton has a population of about 19,000 and lies in the southern Pennines, an upland area approximately midway between the major cities of Manchester and Sheffield in the UK. It is surrounded by the Peak District National Park and the town is in a basin ringed by hills and mountains. There is not a great deal of industrial or commercial development in Buxton but it has had a long history as a tourist destination. Its present day distinctive buildings and layout are a consequence of its development as a tourist destination and are the focus of current tourist re-development. As a spa centre, Buxton was probably one of the earliest tourist areas in Britain. In the twentieth century there was a decline of spas in Britain and spa towns have sought other tourist attractions or roles. There are few major attractions in Buxton itself and its attraction probably is its location as a centre for Peak District touring and in its own right as a ‘pleasant town’ in a rural setting. It has an unspoilt and un-commercialized nature, a quiet ‘refined’ ethos and pleasant buildings and layout.
The town has a compact tourist area with a distinct cluster of facilities on one level. The most dominant feature is the Crescent (1780–84). A number of nineteenth century spa buildings are part of the tourist infrastructure. The Natural Baths are part of the Crescent complex and are used for the Tourist Information Centre and capping of the spring water. The Thermal Baths have been redeveloped as specialist and tourist shops. The Pump Room in the Crescent was originally a venue for drinking the waters and socializing. The Pavilion Gardens is a major park area at the western end of the Crescent. At one end of the Gardens is the Opera House (1903) restored in 1979 to its use as a ‘receiving theatre’ after use as a cinema and subsequent neglect. Accommodation in Buxton comprises about 16 hotels and over twice as many guest houses. The largest of the hotels is the Palace (1868) with 122 bedrooms.
The annual festival of the arts held in Buxton since 1979 is a festival with an opera core. The Festival was originally held over two or three weeks in July and August and offered two operas every year. The operas were initially produced by the company itself and are operas that have rarely, if ever, been professionally staged before in Britain. The Festival opened, and has continued, as an arts festival with operas forming the basis for a number of other linked events such as concerts, recitals, drama and revue. The intention had been to present thematic festivals though this approach has not always been maintained. The core of the themed festival would be the professionally staged operas.
The founders were initially moved to establish the Festival out of a desire to save and restore the Opera House, which then provided the opportunity to present rare operas. The rationale for producing rare opera lay partly in the belief that most opera-goers are reasonably well served by existing professional provision of the main repertoire. Given this existing provision in the region and the relatively small size of the opera market, a policy of producing non-standard pieces on a professional basis seemed appropriate. Additionally, in view of the limited resources at its disposal, the company would probably not have been able to mount productions of standard works that competed effectively with those of the ‘national’ companies. The artistic standards achieved in the opera production, at least in the past, have been generally recognized to be high.
The rarity of the operas combined with the theme approach, the setting in the Peak District and the Opera House itself (1000 seats, built in 1903 and restored in 1979) were believed to constitute a unique product. The Festival company also considered that having its own opera production company was an important distinguishing feature of its activity as is the fact that productions are fully professional. The company had to abandon its ‘own-production’ policy in 1993 but it has been revived on a more limited scale recently so that there is a mix of own-productions with those by other small companies.
In targeting local, regional, national or international audiences, the Festival would face little difficulty as few other companies provide the same product. The potential market is therefore geographically very large. From the outset the company talked in terms of ‘aiming at both a local and visiting audience’ and of the Festival being ‘publicized internationally’. It is likely that people will travel in order to see a rare piece but also the size of the local population is such that it could not generate large enough audiences locally for such productions. The location of the Festival may have been fortuitous in this respect, in that Buxton has been and remains a tourist destination. The operas (and Festival as a whole) have not however been regarded by the Company primarily as tourist attractions. They were seen originally and primarily as artistic events, the audience for which is widely dispersed.
Audience surveys have been carried out during several of the Festivals. They have confirmed that just over half of opera audiences were tourists and nearly half of these classified their visit and stay as ‘non-holiday’. The length of stay was not long but a third stayed three nights or more. For over 80% of tourists in opera audiences, the Festival was the main or only reason for the visit to and stay in Buxton and without the Festival those visits would not have occurred. Within the Festival it was the operas themselves that had drawn the tourists though nearly all attended other Festival events. The location in Buxton and the Opera House itself contributed greatly to the decision to attend the Festivals. Nearly all were ‘opera-enthusiasts’.
Source: Buxton Arts Festival
Glastonbury Festival
There is a large number of pop, rock, dance and folk festivals in the UK including the Reading Festival and WOMAD and dance festivals such as Tribal Gathering and Homelands. Phoenix Festival, staged since the early 1990s near Stratford-upon-Avon, failed in 1998 and led to concern about over-supply. Most festivals are supported by large corporate sponsors including Virgin, Sony and Diesel. They are eager to relate to this youth market but the festivals themselves have run the risk of being perceived of as being commercial and moving away from their origins which often lay in some form of anti-establishment, rebellious youth culture. The dance festival, Tribal Gathering (Oxford) has tried to avoid such commercial connections and is re-emphasizing its origins as an underground dance festival.
Homelands, held near Winchester, is an outdoor celebration of club culture and is sponsored by Ericsson, the mobile phone company. In 1999 it had 100 acts and attendances of 35,000. It is promoted by the Mean Fiddler organization, as was Tribal Gathering until it decided to return to its roots. Mean Fiddler is one the country’s major concert promoters and runs the Reading, Leeds and Creamfields festivals as well as a number of bars and clubs in London. The Phoenix festival was also a Mean Fiddler promotion.
Glastonbury Festival is unusual in being organized by what almost amounts to a one-man organization centred on a local dairy farmer Michael Eavis. It does not, either, have the high-profile sponsorship associated with other festivals. The festival takes place over three days in Pilton, Somerset and is claimed to be the largest rock festival in Europe. It started in 1970 as Pilton Pop Festival and has been held nearly every year since. Eavis decided to run his own festival after visiting Bath Blues Festival. It is held on Eavis’ own farmland on Worthy Farm. Initially it coincided with the harvest festival, it featured Marc Bolan and Tyrannosaurus Rex and attracted an audience of 1500. In the following year it was shifted to midsummer as a ‘hippy-type’ Glastonbury Fayre. David Bowie and Joan Baez were amongst the performers and it attracted 12,000 people. Various informal festivals continued to be held after that until a formal relaunch in 1979 and in 1981, a decision to raise money for the local branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
The festival takes place on 800 acres of farmland, only half of which is owned by Eavis. The rest is leased from neighbouring farmers. There are no permanent facilities and every festival involves erection of stages, perimeter fences, turnstiles, stalls, portable toilets, and the hiring of drainage equipment when necessary. Festival-goers often stay in tents on the festival site giving the festival a particularly informal and easy-living atmosphere.
It is claimed to be the least commercial festival in the world. It is only recently that headliner performers have been announced in advance and there is little indication of when bands will actually perform during the three days. The justification has been that the festival is not just who is appearing but ‘an experience’. It has a reputation for attracting people with alternative lifestyles and also ‘conventional’ people who will happily experience that for the duration. Glastonbury has long been associated with myths and legends especially relating to King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and the Holy Grail. The area has always had an appeal to those of a mystical nature. For most of its early years it was a free festival that attracted the free-loving, environmentally-friendly individualist and New Age travellers. Its links with CND and, more recently, with Greenpeace, the environment pressure group, have appealed to a particular non-conforming type of person. Festival-goers are drawn from all over the country and even from other countries.
The festival is not easily categorized musically and covers a wide range of popular musical tastes. It includes a jazz and world music stage and a dance stage. Performers in 1999 included Beautiful South, Billy Bragg, Barenaked Ladies, the Corrs, Lenny Kravitz, REM and Texas. In the previous year there had been appearances by Tony Bennett and Bob Dylan.
About 90,000 tickets were sold for the 1997 festival. It is estimated that 80,000 people attended in 1999, which, with performers, crew, staff, media and guests, meant that over 100,000 people had been on site during the three-day festival. The festival is largely an open-air one and, as a consequence, can be affected considerably by bad weather. There are market stalls, refreshment tents and marquees, a cinema marquee, poetry readings, craft demonstrations, a circus, and a stage for theatre, cabaret and comedy. The performances are broadcast on national radio and television and the festival is sponsored by a major national ‘serious’ newspaper.
The festival’s popularity has led to a change of emphasis. Entry, for instance, is controlled by charging for entry (£83 per head for three days in 1999), by erecting temporary fencing and ‘watch-towers’, by banning certain people and a more careful vetting of who is allowed in. Some more permanent facilities including water mains and toilet blocks have also been introduced though tents remain the main form of accommodation. There are even cash machines on site for the duration of the festival.
Despite the size of the festival it continues to be run by Eavis who combines it with being a full-time farmer. He is very much hands-on with respect to the festival and personally chooses bands and performers. The festival is, though, big business with a turnover of more than £5 million (1997) and £6.5 million in 1999. In 1997, £1.5 million was spent on performers, which is probably less than the ‘market rate’ as many are prepared to play Glastonbury at low fees. A further £760,00 was spent on administration and over £1 million on fencing, security and policing. Local farmers whose land is rented, received £170,000. Bad weather can raise costs significantly. There was particularly heavy rain during the 1997 and 1998 festivals. During 1997, groups’ tour buses were unable to approach the stage areas, one stage are was closed by the local council as being unsafe and another was eventually opened after the laying of 3500 tons of gravel. Inevitably some bands were cancelled and others rescheduled. In other parts of the festival ground, straw, wood and stones laid on the muddy ground necessitated extra expenditure of £250,000.
The festival made a profit for the first time in 1981 and has a had a policy of making contributions to charities including Greenpeace, Oxfam, WaterAid and CND and also to over 50 local organizations including schools. Over £700,000 was distributed in 1998, though it is claimed by some to be a sop to reduce local complaints about the disruption brought by the festival.
There has always been a problem of relationships with the local community. The type of festival-goer, especially in the early days, did arouse great feelings of hostility amongst the rather more staid and conservative local population. There continue to be problems of noise and the pressure of such a large number of people on a small agricultural community. Many of the festival-goers have unorthodox lifestyles and little regard for conventional lifestyles. On site there have been problems associated with drugs and violence. Increased security has reduced some of the more serious problems that seemed to have been associated with a heavy presence of drug dealers. The festival has also experienced some conflict between different festival-goers. One group of festival-goers refused to leave the site for two months in 1987 and another looted the site in 1990 causing £50,000 of damage. There is a continuing problem with thieves stealing from tents whilst their owners are at the performance areas. A police presence was introduced in 1989 and the Festival’s security has been increased greatly since 1990. Security and policing on site cost £1 million in 1997.
Sources: the Glastonbury Performing Arts Festival; the Observer 2 May 1999; the Guardian 4 June 1999; the Guardian 20 June 1999; the Observer 29 June 1999; the Guardian 21 June 1997
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras is a period of festivity that takes place annually in a number of places worldwide, in the days before Lent. This 40-day Lent period is one of abstinence, which, in its early Christian observance days, usually meant the giving up of meat. The origins of the pre-Lent carnival are obscure but it can traced back to pre-Christian times and celebrations of the new year, fertility and rebirth of nature. Although the timings of carnival differ, many now are timed so as to finish on Shrove Tuesday (February or March). The name Mardi Gras for these carnivals is believed to derive from the custom of using up all fats before Lent.
These events are associated with parades and festivities rather than with arts or entertainment as such. They, and especially parades, may nonetheless be considered ‘live performances before an audience’ in as much as parade participants wear costume, dance and sing and play music as part of the celebrations. Although these carnivals have a long history as local celebrations they have become tourist attractions which feature, for instance, in tour operators’ brochures, in tourist board and tourist bureau promotional campaigns and literature and in travel articles and supplements in newspapers and magazines. Many of the more famous are heavily promoted to tourists but are not organized by tourist-oriented bodies and they still maintain a strong local significance and involvement in balls and parades, for instance.
In Europe, perhaps the most well-known Carnival is that in Venice (Italy) for about ten days prior to Shrove Tuesday. Venice is itself a major tourist heritage city famous for its canals and historic churches and other buildings. Tourist numbers to this relatively small city of 80,000 inhabitants, are about 1.5 million staying visitors and 7 million day visitors per year with the height of the tourist season during the summer. The Venetian Carnival dates from the eighteenth century but was revived in 1980. It includes a masked procession and a masked ball. Masks are traditional and have their origin in the desire to remain anonymous and avoid the strict social codes and social barriers of the city. Anonymity could confer social equality. Masks are now a significant tourist souvenir of Venice and there is a local craft industry creating masks both for carnival itself and for the tourist trade.
Probably the most famous of all is Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The 4-day period is characterized by parties and parades with samba having particular prominence. Samba groups compete with different themes and style of costume.
Mardi Gras in Sydney (Australia) has become an event with a particular gay and lesbian emphasis. It has its origins in a gay rights march held in 1978 as part of a commemoration of the 1969 ‘Stonewall riots’ in New York. In 1981 it was shifted to the pre-Lent period and two years later an accompanying arts programme was introduced. By 1991 the parade was the largest in Australia’s history and the arts programme had been extended in 1992 to four weeks. Currently there is a three- to four-week-long arts festival and sporting events culminating in the parade and post-parade party. Despite being labelled Mardi Gras, it clearly has its roots elsewhere than in the traditional pre-Lenten carnival. The parade in 1982 was watched by 10,000 and by 1996 by 650,000. It was shown on the national television network in 1994 and on a commercial channel the following year, gaining record ratings on each occasion. The 1998 Festival had an estimated A$99 million economic impact on the city which is claimed to be greater than any other cultural or sporting event in Australia. It is sponsored by Qantas and by the national telecom corporation, Telstra, and receives funding from South Sydney Council. The festival is regularly advertised by specialist gay and lesbian tour operators in North America and Europe.
In the USA, the principal carnival celebration is in New Orleans (Louisiana, USA) where the season starts in January through to Shrove Tuesday. The city of New Orleans has about 1.3 million inhabitants and is located close to the mouth of the Mississippi river on the Gulf of Mexico. It has a particular image associated with music. It is credited as the birthplace of jazz in particular and is famous for its association with musicians such as Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson. Its nickname of ‘the Big Easy’ is derived from an early dance hall. The city also claims to have had an important influence on the development of rock-and-roll, rhythm-and-blues, gospel and Cajun music. The annual 10-day Jazz and Heritage Festival features over 4000 musicians, cooks and crafts people in a celebration of local culture and crafts. There are many outdoor events throughout the city and, in 1999 the Festival attracted attendances of 450,000 at the Festival grounds alone.
It was originally a French settlement and the ‘French Quarter’, dating from the eighteenth century, is today one of the major tourist sights. Bourbon Street in the French Quarter is particularly well-known in jazz circles as a ‘party’ place and is also a definite tourist sight. As well as the French influence there has also been a strong African and Caribbean influence seen in the Cajun and Creole cuisine and, most dramatically, in the references to voodoo as a tourist attraction. It rapidly established itself as major religion in the city and, in the nineteenth century, public out-door ceremonies drew crowds of tourists as well as of adherents. The city has a ‘Historic Voodoo Museum’.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans originated with the pre-Lenten balls started in the eighteenth century when New Orleans was under French rule but which were banned under Spanish rule. They were revived in 1827 after Louisiana had been purchased by America. In 1857 the first ‘Krewe’ was founded, one of the ‘secret’ organizations dedicated to organizing Mardi Gras. It presented a themed parade with floats and costumed riders and a tableau ball. It is billed currently as a period of parties, parades, balls and celebrations starting in early January. Currently nearly 70 parades are held during the 12-day period prior to Shrove Tuesday. There are few seats along the routes and spectators therefore stand and walk. Each individual parade is organized by its own krewe and has its own theme. Each usually has its own king and queen who are honoured at a formal ball which is by invitation only. There is a tradition of participants distributing ‘throws’ to spectators. Parades in the French Quarter are generally considered to be a little more ‘wild’ than are the family-friendly parades elsewhere in the city. The season culminates in Carnival Day celebrations led by ‘Rex’. During 1998, there were an estimated 3.7 million spectators at New Orleans Mardi Gras and of these, 1.4 million were day trippers or were staying with friends and just under a million were tourists staying in hotels.
Sources: the Guardian 8 January 2000; the Observer 23 January 2000; New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitor Bureau
Oberammergau
Oberammergau is a village in the southern part of Bavaria (Germany) about an hour’s drive time from Munich. It is located in a valley in the Alps and has a population of about 5000. Every ten years a Passion Play, which has its origins in the seventeenth century, is performed in the village. The Black Death had been sweeping Europe and the villagers of Oberammergau promised to present a passion play depicting the live and death of Christ if no further deaths from the plague occurred. The first play was held in 1634 and has been performed every decade since. It is still performed by the villagers, about half of whom (2200) are involved at one time or another as actors, singers, in the orchestra or backstage. There is double-casting of main roles in order to share the work. The current version of the play dates from the nineteenth century though music and words are continually updated. The reworking for 2000 is the most substantial yet and removes a great deal of material that has led to criticisms that the play is anti-Semitic.
Performances last the whole day and are held on five days of every week from May through to October. They are now held in a purpose-built theatre with a seating capacity of 4700. Although these seats are covered the performances are in the open-air, which adds to the atmosphere and authenticity. About 500,000 visitors were expected for the performances in 2000. It is promoted by the local and Bavarian tourist offices and features as part of the programme of specialist tour operators.
The subject of the play will obviously have considerable appeal to Christians throughout Europe and North America in particular but it also has a novelty value in its local participation by most of the inhabitants and its rarity. The village itself is picturesque and there has been a local tradition of painting on the outside walls of houses. These usually depict biblical scenes and some date back to the eighteenth century. These too are promoted as tourist attractions. The area has also been a centre for wood-carving for over 800 years and ‘good quality’ carvings, mostly religious, feature strongly for sale to tourists.
The location in the Bavarian Alps adds to the appeal of the event. Apart from the Alpine scenery there are a number of well-known historical sights including castles such as Neuschwanstein built by Ludwig II a nineteenth century king of Bavaria. Ludwig was a patron of the opera composer Richard Wagner but he also supported the Oberammergau play and donated a marble crucifixion scene to the village in gratitude for having seen a performance in 1871. This and the closest of his castles at Linderhof (about seven miles away) also feature in tourism promotion. The village is also just over an hour’s drive from Innsbruck, an attractive city in Austria. A visit to Oberammergau can therefore be combined with a touring holiday and a great deal of sight-seeing or mountain climbing or walking.
Sources: the Independent 22 May 1999; Tourist Office of the community of Oberammergau