(CelebrityAccess News Service) – Two of the leading international live entertainment companies, Amsterdam, Holland-based Stage Holding, and Mexican-based CIE Group (Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento), signed a joint venture to further develop Spain's musical theater market, and will operate under the new name of CIE & Stage Holding.
With this new partnership, Stage Holding now owns 50 percent of CIE's Spanish Daughter Company.
Six years ago, CIE opened the local entertainment market in Spain through its Spanish Daughter Company. Musical productions that have already been presented include: "Beauty and the Beast", "My Fair Lady" and "Rent" in Madrid; and "Notre Dame de Paris", "Gaudi" and "Rent" in Barcelona. Phantom of the Opera, CIE's most recent production, is now playing at Madrid's Lope de Vega Theater. Yearly patronage of theater in Madrid accounts for more than 3 million theatergoers.
"The new partnership is of amazing strength, with CIE's thorough knowledge of the Spanish theater market and Stage Holding's portfolio of licenses on the most important English and American musical titles," Stage Holding founder Joop van den Ende said. "With The Netherlands, Germany and England, Spain is the most interesting growth market for musicals. We are convinced that today's partnership will prove to be a strong stimulus for Spanish business and tourism, with high quality musical productions and a new brilliance for Madrid's night life."
A new Spanish production of "Cabaret" will open in October this year at the Alcala Theater. Within the next few weeks, plans will be revealed for the new production at the Coliseum Theater. "Mamma Mia!", "Aida", "The Lion King", "Cats", "42nd Street", "Dance of the Vampires", "3 Musketeers" and "The Producers" are amongst the possibilities for the third musical production in Madrid.
Stage Holding, started by van den Ende, is among the leading European theater companies. It boasts international expertise in musical productions, ticketing and in the running of 16 Stage Holding owned theaters. Over the past 10 years, audiences in The Netherlands, Germany and New York have been exposed to Stage Holding Productions.
Stage Holding has a strategic alliance with, amongst others, Disney Theatricals Worldwide ("Aida", "The Lion King"); in Spain it has a partnership with Jose Velasco. It also runs a total of 16 theaters in The Hague and Utrecht (The Netherlands), Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin and Essen (Germany) and New York.
CIE, a market leader in Latin America, has operations in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Chili and Spain. It has strategic alliances with Ticket Master Group, Disney Theatricals Worldwide, Banco Icatu, Lone Star Park, The Really Useful Group and Grupo Inbursa de Mexico, among others.–edited by Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
