When Ed Kirchdoerffer books every season of entertainment shows at Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC), in Morristown, he carefully divides his year into equal parts in order to entertain everybody.
“We do rock music, ballet, symphonies...everything you can think of,” Kirchdoerffer said.
“And family.”
He loves the New Jersey family. “Family shows are very, very important to us and always will be,” he said. “A large percentage of North Jersey residents belong to families and they want entertainment for the whole family.”
This year is no different. “We have every type of family show you can think of. We’ll have seven Bluey’s Big Play shows from Disney. They are selling out for us. Others are near sell outs, too,” he said.
“Entertainment for the whole family is very, very important to us. For example: we just produced 14 performances of The Nutcracker, a show designed for the family, and every single performance sold out…audiences filled with kids,” he said.
Kirchdoerffer has standards for all of his family shows. “We will NOT produce any badly put together shows. Quality is everything.” he said.
On May 23rd, MPAC presents The Peking Acrobats with performances at 3:00pm & 7:30pm. Photo by Tom Meinhold Photography
All of the family shows (12 of them this year) must have quality, top actors, good directors and have a ‘hook’ for audiences. They may be shows tied to a movie or television show or a well known entertainment characters. Audiences need to connect and see a show with good ties.
“We see the family as an important part of our audiences, not just thus year, but five, ten years from now,” said Kirchdoerffer.
“We have people coming to some of our shows – Nutcracker stands out – who first came here fifteen years ago. Some parents bring their kids to our family shows year after year. These shows are vitally important to us,” Kirchdoerffer added.
The family shows are not just for five or six year old kids, either. “We do a lot of dance shows aimed at high school kids. They enjoy these shows and those teens, ten years from now twenty years from now, will be back with their kids for these family shows.”
And, Kirchdoerffer pointed out, the family shows must appeal to kids’ parents. “We want mom and dad to like the show, too. You want parents to bring their kids to a number of family shows, You don’t want them falling asleep even though their child may be happy watching the show. It’s that total family we are trying to please, not just little kids. And, too, parents who like the show might tell other parents and they’ll bring their kids, too.”
The Mayo producer is happy with the family show program, but at times yearns for a bigger theater. “There are family shows whose sets are just too big for us. A bigger theater would help, there, but everything else works just fine.”
Biggest pleasure for him personally?
“Oh, the kids. There is nothing as pleasing to a theater produce than to see little children having a good time. I think, overall, that’s our goal for these family shows – kids enjoying themselves,” he added.
Future family shows include: March 23 – The Peking Acrobats; April 11 – Iluminate; April 12–14 – Bluey’s Big Play; April 20 – The Piano Guys; April 27 – Dinosaur World Live!; May 2 – TAIKOPROJECT; May 9 – Charlotte’s Web; May 31 – June 2 - Mayo’s Spring Musical: Beauty and the Beast.
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) is located at 100 South Street in Morristown, New Jersey. For information on their shows, visit www.mayoarts.org
