Entertainment

Dallas will soon have two separate groups presenting Broadway shows.

The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will announce today that it has hired Shorenstein Hays Nederlander (SHN) as the consultant to bring touring musicals to the new Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, which is set to open in the downtown Arts District late next year.

The center told Mayor Tom Leppert and the City Council on Thursday via fax. City leaders had been trying to help the center and the Dallas Summer Musicals reach a compromise that would let the Summer Musicals use the Winspear in addition to the two venues it already controls, Fair Park Music Hall and the Majestic Theatre.

Thursday, however, center chairman Howard Hallam sent a letter to Summer Musicals chairman Stanley D. Gardner and president Michael A. Jenkins saying their proposal had been rejected. It cited two reasons: The center wanted to retain control of which shows played in the Winspear, and the center did not think it fair to offer the Summer Musicals the same rate as its two resident companies, the Dallas Opera and Texas Ballet Theater.

The Summer Musicals did not join the original groups that founded the center in 2000 because Mr. Jenkins thought that the opera house needed more than 2,300 seats to make it viable for touring shows. Lately, though, he has been working toward a compromise that would allow the Summer Musicals to present there.

"We were quite honestly shocked. I think it's a huge misstep for the city of Dallas and the Center for the Performing Arts," Mr. Jenkins said late Thursday. "We had been working for a long time to reach an agreement that would keep these venues from cannibalizing each other."

The Summer Musicals is presenting 17 shows in its two venues this season. The center plans to begin with four or five touring shows. Mr. Jenkins says there may not be enough shows available to fill both seasons, and that the future of the Summer Musicals could be jeopardized.

Some civic leaders still held out hope. Council member Mitchell Rasansky, who has been heavily involved in the negotiations, said he spent three hours with both sides Thursday on the issue.

But from the way the center's president, Mr. Lively, was talking, the SHN hire was a done deal.

"We spent four years interviewing the Dallas Summer Musicals and other groups. We wanted to get the very best product and still keep the charges low enough to achieve the most income to ensure the financial stability of the center," Mr. Lively said

Mr. Lively said that at least six other American cities have more than one Broadway series. But Mr. Jenkins pointed out that in most of those cities, the separate series are confined to different seasons of the year and don't compete directly.

The new consultants bring along some credentials. Carole Shorenstein Hays is a major Broadway producer. Her co-owner, Robert Nederlander, is related to the owners of the Nederlander Organization, which partners with the Dallas Summer Musicals in Troika Entertainment. SNH owns and manages three theaters in San Francisco.

"The center board and staff want to be on the front lines of all the planning. We will take our lead from them," Greg Holland, CEO of SNH, said Thursday.

Several city leaders expressed concern that the center had chosen an out-of-state for-profit group rather than a local nonprofit group.

"I'm sad that the process did not work its way through," council member Carolyn R. Davis, who represents the Fair Park area, said. "This could have been a win-win situation for the city of Dallas."

Staff writer Rudolph Bush contributed to this story.