Summary
DAYTON -- Musical theater fans in Dayton have waited a long time for the lions. The Tony Award-winning musical "The Lion King," which opened on Broadway almost 14 years ago, will leave its first paw prints here beginning Tuesday, June 14. By the time the production's North American tour packs up its 18 semi truckloads after the 32nd performance in the Schuster Center on July 10, more than 74,000 ticket buyers will have paid $5 million to see it. They aren't the only ones who think it's still worth waiting for. "Lion King" has been neck and neck with "Wicked" all spring as Broadway's top draw in New York and on tour. Although "The Book of Mormon" and "Spider- Man" are the shows in the news, neither can touch it in percentage of tickets sold. For the week ending June 5, "Lion King" was second only to "Wicked" in box office receipts among 32 Broadway shows -- $1.7 million to $1.65 million. There's no doubt about "Lion King's" primacy on the theater season in Dayton, where downtown businesses hope to ride a rare summertime windfall. The national Broadway League estimates that the economic impact of a Broadway tour on a metropolitan area's economy is 3.5 times the gross ticket sales. For "Lion King," that means millions of dollars pouring into the Miami Valley. To promote that kind of business, the Downtown Dayton Partnership and Victoria Theatre Association have coordinated "Roaring Deals" packages with more than two dozen restaurants, bars, retail, service and hospitality businesses during the presentation. Reminders of the Tony Award-winning Disney musical by Elton John and Tim Rice will be all over town. Some of the advertising will be completely original. K12 Gallery for Young People, which has gotten into the spirit by having each of about 300 pre-school to high school art students draw pictures of lions, will laminate and post them along streets leading to the Schuster Center. "They're as cute as they can be," said Kelly Sexton, gallery program director at K12, which is offering a fall art class discount for "Lion King" ticket buyers. The last time a show of this magnitude played the Schuster was "Wicked" on Feb. 17-March 10, 2010. "That really took us by storm," said Leslie Gonya, co-owner of Inn Port Bed & Breakfast Suites on Brown Street. Inn Port is offering a 20 percent discount off the nightly rate of its "King Suite" to those who mention "Lion King" at the time of their booking and show a ticket corresponding with arrival or departure date. "We've had scattered inquiries, but so far the response hasn't been the same," Gonya said. "Some of that may be the time of year," though." Coco's Bistro on Wayne Avenue has developed a special menu that at $20.11 (add $5 for special wine offerings) "should make even the Lion King purr," owner Karen Wick- Gagnet said.
"We've implemented what we learned with 'Wicked.' The show and business are going to be awesome."See the full content of this document
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What You Need to Know About Long-Awaited 'Lion King'
Coco's will take reservations for two people to groups of 20.
The Dayton Racquet Club atop the Kettering Tower is also offering a three-course fixed-price pre-performance menu for between $25 and $35 during "Lion King" month. You don't need to show a ticket.Valeria Perry, who runs Valeria's Beauty Center and the Bonito Day Spa at 21 W. First St., hopes to at...See the full content of this document
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