North Shore Music Theater could reopen by spring

At North Shore, the show may go on

By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff | November 25, 2009

The former North Shore Music Theatre - closed earlier this year after accumulating $10 million in debt - could be singing and dancing again by spring.

William Hanney, who owns Theatre By the Sea in Rhode Island as well as the chain of 10 New England multiplexes known as Entertainment Cinemas, has reached a purchase agreement with Citizens Bank, which acquired the Beverly theater last month.

“This theater is literally ready to reopen,’’ said Hanney, 40, who lives in Brewster. “The phone lines are still there, the computers are still humming.’’

Since opening in 1955, North Shore has brought Broadway-style theater to the suburbs. It was once the largest theater in the region with close to 350,000 people attending each year. In October, Citizens Bank, which held a $5 million note on the property, bid $3.6 million at an auction for the now-shuttered theater.

Neither party would say how much Hanney offered for the theater, which is situated on a 22-acre site. But Hanney has made a habit of buying closed or distressed properties and quickly reviving them.

Those purchases include Theatre By the Sea, a summer-stock house in Matunuck, R.I.; Fresh Pond Cinema in Cambridge; and Falmouth Cinema Pub.

Like North Shore, Theatre By the Sea produces musicals, though on a far smaller scale and not year-round. Its upcoming season includes “A Chorus Line,’’ “Little Shop of Horrors,’’ and “Hello, Dolly!’’ There is also a restaurant on site.

Hanney said he still has to go through a permitting process and to examine the property before reopening North Shore. But he promised that its programming would remain largely the same, noting that he enjoyed the few North Shore performances he attended.

He didn’t give positive reviews to the organization’s business structure.

“It was just so top-heavy,’’ he said. “It just had too many people. It was unnecessary. We do [theater] every single year at Theatre By the Sea. We get great reviews and we make money every single year. We run a very successful 200-seat restaurant, which also makes money.’’

But Theatre By the Sea is a much smaller operation, with 500 seats to North Shore’s 1,500.

That doesn’t concern former artistic director Jon Kimbell, who has met with Hanney several times leading up to the sale.

“From the meetings that we’ve had, I think he’s a very smart, savvy businessman,’’ Kimbell said yesterday. “He’s certainly got a better shot than perhaps some others. I’m encouraged. I have great hope it will spring back to life in the spring.’’

North Shore opened in 1955 as a summer-stock theater in what was once a gravel pit off Route 128. Permanent walls were added in the 1960s and, in the following decades, so were educational programs and the annual production of “A Christmas Carol.’’ At its peak, North Shore had 10,000 subscribers.

But a 2005 fire and poor ticket sales to “Disney High School Musical 2’’ in 2008 left the theater with what turned out to be crushing debt.

North Shore’s leaders suspended operations and tried to raise enough money to reopen earlier this year, but eventually gave up, leading to the October auction. Many longtime patrons, who had sent in money to buy tickets for a season that never happened, were never given refunds.

But Danvers resident Janet Guerette, a 17-year subscriber who lost $279 after the closing, said she would definitely return to the theater.

“I lost my $300, but that’s over with,’’ she said. “It’s a beautiful property and grounds, and we can see theater without going into Boston.’’

Hanney said he had been observing North Shore’s struggles for some time. Raised in Randolph, he got his start ripping tickets at local movie houses before leasing his first cinema in Hyde Park. In the late ’80s, Hanney and a group of investors converted a former Sears building in Quincy into the first branch of Entertainment Cinemas.

He sold that theater eventually but today owns 10 multiplexes in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

He bought Theatre By the Sea in 2007. The theater, founded in 1933, had closed four years earlier.

Six weeks later, Hanney opened a production of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.’’ Today, the theater has a nearly $2 million budget with close to 6,000 subscribers.

Beverly Mayor Bill Scanlon, who has met with Hanney, said he’s impressed by plans to link productions between North Shore and the Rhode Island theater.

“He’s going to be able to rehearse for a production and then play in Rhode Island then move it to Beverly with a minimum of rehearsal to run it again,’’ said Scanlon. “You have less overhead, more paydays. This kind of partnership was being talked about by [North Shore] before it went under. Now, here’s a guy in a position to actually make it happen.’’

Scanlon said he was impressed enough by Hanney that he called a special meeting of Beverly’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 10 to consider whether to grant him the special permit he needs to operate as a theater.

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.
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