Listen to the iHeartMedia interview: Richard Lewis, President & CEO, Broadway Sacramento, who says for the first time in his 50+ year history with this company, there will not be a summer Broadway At Music Circus series.
Letter from Richard Lewis:
Dear Broadway Sacramento Supporter,
Like many of you, I am working from home and hope this finds you and yours equally safe and well. My thoughts are with those battling coronavirus infections, the angels on the front lines caring for them, and the courageous essential workers keeping our streets safe and store shelves stocked. My thoughts are also on the future of Broadway Sacramento. For the first time in my 50+ year history with this company, I am staring at a summer calendar that doesn’t include Broadway At Music Circus.
I’m hoping you can help us make it through this hiatus so we can bring you Broadway’s best once again!
70 years ago, my father, Russell Lewis, and his producing partner, Howard Young, arrived in Sacramento, pitched a tent, and started a summer festival of musicals. Neither thought it would last more than a season or two, but Sacramento proved them wrong. Their experiment became California’s largest nonprofit musical theatre, has entertained millions of patrons, educated thousands of young people, and become a cornerstone of our community’s cultural heritage.
Broadway Sacramento’s about more than great musicals. It’s about providing a living wage for our industry’s finest artists and artisans. It’s about our civic identity, where art and commerce are intrinsically linked. It’s about creating occasions to gather and share in an experience where the only contagion is joy.
Broadway Sacramento is now under critical threat. The recent show cancellation and postponements have put tremendous strain on our finances and resulted in lost jobs for hundreds of full-time and seasonal employees – actors, musicians, stagehands, box office representatives, and lifelong members of the organization’s management team. Without any programming in the coming months, Broadway Sacramento needs your help to pay the rent, keep the lights on, and plan our return.
I understand that many of you have been financially impacted by this health crisis and had to re-evaluate your charitable giving. Or you may have shifted your donations to groups directly fighting the pandemic. What I hope you can and will also consider is making an investmenti n the world we want to return to post-coronavirus. A world that includes musicals and the cherished memories they create. A world of restored togetherness. With your support, the show will go on.
Richard Lewis, President & CEO
Broadway Sacramento
P.S. As part of the recent federal coronavirus relief package, additional tax breaks for donations to charities are available – see more here.