“It fell on our heads like a sword of Damocles “. Already a week that Alain Pacherie, director of Cirque Phénix (Paris 12th arrondissement), has limited himself to filling 2,000 seats in the largest marquee in the world. Like him, several directors of Parisian theaters had to adapt to the return of the gauges announced by Jean Castex during the press conference on December 27. “Standing concerts will be prohibited “and” the consumption of food and drink will be prohibited in all cinemas, theaters“, added the Prime Minister.
Unexpected measures which force certain venues to postpone or even cancel certain shows for reasons of organization and profitability. Among them, the Zénith, the musical Seine and the Cirque Phénix. The directors tell us.
The zenith
Never two without three. Scheduled at the Zénith in Paris for March 2020, the Bon Entendeur concert had been postponed to September, then to April 2021 to finally be postponed again to January 2022. “And now it’s postponed to April or May 2022 “, exasperated Lily Fisher, director of the famous Parisian room. Since the government announcements, the Zenith has already postponed a dozen shows.
For this large hall with more than 6,800 seats, maintaining concerts with a capacity of 2,000 was an option that was quickly put aside. “The problem is, when we open the box office for a show, it goes on sale for a certain tonnage. For example, Bon Entendeur was put on sale in full tonnage ”, says Lily Fisher. “This would mean that we would have to select some of the ticket holders to be able to put on the show. Not to mention its profitability“, loose the director.
In case of postponement, spectators will have the option of getting a refund or keeping their ticket for the new date. However, for the Zénith, a saved ticket does not necessarily guarantee the spectator’s arrival. “When the shows take place, we realize that we have a lot of ‘no shows’. And the more postponements, the more there are“Says Lily Fisher.”And every time there are government announcements, the sales stop and people wait to see what happens before they come back.“, she remarks.
Despite a reorganization of the programming, the machine must continue to run. “We still have a team that continues to work because there are dates to be rescheduled, contracts to be modified, and amendments to be made. We also have a lot of maintenance costs. For example, you must continue to heat the room otherwise it will be damaged. It’s a lot of work. And inevitably, it’s a lot of losses, especially for a room like the Zénith“, confides its director. Substantial losses for this room which could only organize 20 performances in two years against 150 per year usually.
La Seine Musicale
On the Seine Musicale side (Boulogne-Billancourt), the hall maintains its shows with less than 2,000 spectators. Less luck for the shows organized on the Grande Seine, which has 4,000 to 6,800 seats. “In January, we planned to host ‘Romeo and Juliet’ choreographed by Benjamin Millepied, a world creation that has already been postponed four times. Unfortunately, it was impossible to keep the representation below 2,000 people. We would have lost money. We therefore decided to postpone it to September.“, regrets Olivier Haber, general manager of Seine Musicale.
“But it’s important to know that when you postpone a show, you are not settling an economic issue. In reality, the postponement takes the place of other shows ” clarifies Haber, who ran Crazy Horse Paris before taking the reins of Seine Musicale.
Like Lily Fischer, Olivier Haber believes that these restrictions have an impact on the public. “It doesn’t make people want to go back to theaters. We measure the impact on ticketing on a daily basis. We sell less well. And that, even on shows with 1,100 seats. In reality, we are far behind our objectives and we are not very optimistic for the future.“
The Phoenix Circus
For Alain Pacherie, the introduction of a gauge had the effect of a bomb under the marquee of the Cirque Phénix. “When we learned that there were gauges we panicked because we had planned sessions for 5,500 people”, he recalls. But unlike other theater directors, Alain Pacherie owns the establishment he runs. A major advantage in this kind of situation: “By being the owner, we had the possibility of adding sessions. So we decided to split up the full sessions “.
A decision that the circus administration took urgently. “Jean Castex spoke at 6 pm, the next day at 11 am we offered this solution to our customers. Instead of giving up, we decided to fight”, says the director.
At Cirque Phénix, teams are paid per screening. By dividing the sessions, the fees increase tenfold while, conversely, the tickets no longer flow. “Since the Prime Minister’s announcements, nothing has been sold. It completely blocked the dynamic. In the usual seasons, between January 3 and 16, we make between 200 and 300,000 euros in turnover. In 5 days I made 10,000 euros, so we are far from the mark!“testifies Alain Pacherie.”We also closed the bars and the popcorn machines, although this represents between 7 and 10% of our turnover. Here again it is a significant loss of earnings“, he continues.
For the year 2021, the Prodiss (national union of musical and variety shows) estimates the loss in turnover of live shows between 80% and 85%. Large venues, numbering 150 in France, are among the most affected.