TheatreDreams is a theatrical production and theatre management group of companies led by Tony Award®-winning executives Lawrence J. Wilker, Jill Wilker, Joan A. Alper, and William W. Becker.
Sustained Success
The company has been represented on Broadway in association with Dodger Theatrical Productions by Good Vibrations, a musical featuring the songs of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival production of Jesus Christ Superstar at The Neil Simon Theatre in 2012 and the acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company's Matilda the Musical at The Shubert, The Old Vic's Groundhog Day (2017) at the August Wilson Theater, and the tour of Matilda. TheatreDreams also was involved with Dodgers in the productions of The Bronx Tale, and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical which opened at the Lunt Fontaine in April 2018.
Our Theaters
TheatreDreams purchased the venerable Chicago Theatre, the 1921 historic landmark located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop theatre district, in April 2004. Constructed as America’s first large and lavish movie palace, The Chicago Theatre was immediately hailed as “the Wonder Theatre of the World.” Its entrance replicates Paris’ Arc de Triumph, its lobby is modeled after the Royal Chapel at Versailles, and a highlight of the venue is its internationally-recognized icon, the C-H-I-C-A-G-O marquee soaring vertically nearly six stories high. TheatreDreams owned and operated this legendary 3500-seat venue and built it from minimal use to the 13th highest grossing pop music venue in the U.S. The Theatre was nominated for Theater of the Year two years in a row by Pollstar Magazine. Until March, 2008, TheatreDreams also operated the 3401-seat Kodak Theatre (now the Dolby Theatre) in Los Angeles, California, home of the Academy Awards. TheatreDreams also operated The Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, Maryland.
In October 2007, TheatreDreams sold The Chicago Theatre to MSG Chicago, LLC a subsidiary of Madison Square Garden Entertainment. TheatreDreams managed the theater during a transition services period.
During its stewardship, TheatreDreams dramatically increased the number of performances at the The Chicago Theatre, revitalized the building, and added a new, 288-seat theater in the lower level of the building. In 2006, The Chicago Theatre was ranked 25th among theaters worldwide in concert grosses, and first in Chicago.
Partnerships and Consulting
In 14 months, Theatredreams.
Helped secure a $30 million naming gift;
Stabilized the finances, ending the last fiscal year with a surplus;
Dramatically increased the quality and amount of programming;
Increased annual attendance from 41% to over 70%;
Improved public perception and acceptance of the Center as a valuable community institution;
Reorganized the institution for increased efficiency and productivity and recruited a top-notch CEO to run the institution on a permanent basis; and
Dramatically increased the reach and effectiveness of arts education by instituting programs that annually reached over 30,000 Miami Dade children through performances and family activities. In addition, created curriculum guides for teachers ties directly to performances at the Center including Rock Odyssey and Jazz Roots.
Under joint venture limited partnership arrangements established with CIM/H&H Retail, LP, owner of the Kodak Theatre, now the Dolby Theatre, in Hollywood, CA, TheatreDreams managed the Kodak Theatre, the first permanent home of the Academy Awards®, until March 31, 2008.
In the fall of 2007 TheatreDreams was engaged by the troubled Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (now the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami Dade County) to provide interim management services. Wilker's innovative new summer programming and successful turnaround of the renamed Arsht Center were heralded in a Miami Herald article on April 29 and editorial on September 29, 2008.
Continued Development
On February 28, 2008, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph E. Becker announced the appointment of his brother Bill Becker, a principal of TheatreDreams, as pro bono Chair of a Downtown Theater Action Committee. (view article) The committee submitted its recommendations to the city about the site for, and financing of, and involvement of local performance and community groups in the operation of, a new 2480-seat legitimate stage theater on July 18, 2008. Completed in 2016 at a cost of approximately $120 million, the Eccles Theater is a resounding financial and programmatic success.
From 2013-2017, TheatreDreams provided program and management consulting services to the newly built Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida. That center is thriving and the programming nets $7M annually.
TheatreDreams continues its development of new theater venues and of theatrical and popular entertainment productions with the Dodgers.