(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Off-Broadway theaters have been popping up in New York lately, and one of the most ambitious is the new $23 million, five theater Dodger Stages on 50th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues at the subterranean site of the old discount movie house Worldwide Plaza. Dodger Stage Holding, one of Broadway's biggest producing companies, operates the theatrical complex. The two largest venues have a 499-person capacity while the smallest seats 199 and the other two have a 360 capacity.
The complex has ample air-conditioning, big dressing rooms, three bars and ''more women's bathrooms than you'll find in any space like this,'' the owners told the New York Times.
The $23 million cost was shared by Dodger and its partners, Stage Holding, the Dutch company run by Joop van den End. Dodgers' principals are Michael Davis, president, Jujamcyn Theater head Rocco Landesman, LaJolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff and Robin de Levita, of the Netherlands' Endemol Theater Productions.
The complex opened with 20 concerts by Mandy Patinkin, a Dodger client. Theatrical plays, Bare, The Immigrant and Basil Twist's Symphonie Fantastique, are also lined up for Dodger Stages. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
