Mayor Puts Brother in Charge of Bringing Broadway Theatre to Salt Lake

None by Jeff Robinson

Bill Becker Founded Theatre Production Company in 2001

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker has appointed someone very close to him to take charge of his plans to bring a Broadway-style theatre to downtown - his brother, Bill Becker, who has run a theatre production and management company since 2001. At a press conference today at the vacant Utah Theatre on Main Street, Bill Becker said Salt Lake has the potential for such a theatre. When his company produced the musical satire Urinetown in 2002, it drew a crowd here, even when it failed in Baltimore.

"We had to close the show, not actually open in Baltimore because we weren't able to sell enough tickets," he said. "Salt Lake City did very well with that show. That's quite an accomplishment given the name of the show, the fact that you don't have the money to advertise it in advance and get over the impediments of having a name like Urinetown. It was an extraordinary show and it did very well in this town."

Bill Becker will now chair the mayor's Downtown Theater Action Group, working for free as a volunteer. He won a Tony Award in 2002 for producing a revival of Into the Woods.

Mayor Becker also announced that the Utah Theatre could be the new site of the Broadway-style theatre the city is hoping for. He says it's one of a handful of sites being considered.

"We are finalizing an option agreement for Salt Lake City to purchase the Utah Theatre," said the mayor. "That agreement will allow another buyer who could come forward to have that theatre, and restore it and use it for the purposes that we want."

The mayor says Salt Lake City's theatre plans are moving forward regardless of what Sandy does. He believes his brother can finish analyzing the city's options in a period of months.

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