Broadway Veteran Tapped to Produce Mall Entertainment
August 31 2016 - 7:15PM
Dow Jones News
By Pia Catton
An international retail giant is poaching some razzle-dazzle
from Broadway.
Westfield Corp., the Australian shopping-center company with 35
malls including lower Manhattan's Westfield World Trade C enter,
has tapped Broadway producer Scott Sanders to lead its
entertainment offerings.
Mr. Sanders, who won a Tony Award this year with his revival of
"The Color Purple," will have the official title of creative head
of global entertainment.
And the role will include thinking broadly about performances to
create "unique and spectacular events," he said, possibly including
music, dance, food and fashion.
He will continue to work on his Broadway projects in
development, including stage adaptations of "Tootsie" and "Coal
Miner's Daughter."
The new role comes as brick-and-mortar retailers are scrambling
to create new reasons for consumers to shop in stores instead of
online, said Mark Hunter, managing director of retail asset
services for CBRE Group Inc., a commercial real-estate-services and
investment firm.
"They are not only competing against other retail property
owners," said Mr. Hunter. "They are also competing against
e-commerce for the attention and spending dollars of
consumers."
Mr. Sanders, 59 years old, comes armed for the task with
experience in TV and film, plus 15 years at Radio City Music Hall
presenting and producing major acts from Madonna to Sting, as well
as Michael Jackson's 1993 Super Bowl halftime show.
While Broadway elements could be part of the mix, Mr. Sanders
said the intent is not to transplant shows into the flagship
shopping centers. Instead, they will shoot for more unusual
concepts, including overhead stage platforms and immersive theater,
in the style of "Here Lies love," the rock musical created by David
Byrne and Fatboy Slim.
"The audience moved with the cast," he said of the 360-degree
show about the life of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.
Not long before hiring Mr. Sanders, Westfield opened its lower
Manhattan shopping center, within the Santiago Calatrava-designed
Oculus, with a slate of more traditional performances by
singer-songwriter John Legend, Tony-winning actor Leslie Odom Jr.
and the cast of the musical "School of Rock."
"Events and entertainment are going to be huge part of what
happens here at Westfield World Trade Center," said Westfield
co-chief executive Steven Lowy at the event.
As for moving some of those Westfield shoppers up to the Theater
District, Mr. Sanders said there could be opportunities for cross
promotion: "The demographic sits right in the Broadway sweet spot.
It is a very similar person."
Write to Pia Catton at pia.catton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 31, 2016 19:00 ET (23:00 GMT)
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