The story
Broadway Across America traces its history to the creation of Pace Theatrical in Houston, Texas in 1982. Pace Theatrical Group was created as a subsidiary of Pace Management Group, whose principals were Allen Becker and Sidney Shlenker, with Miles Wilkin installed as president of Pace Theatrical.
In the year of its formation, Pace Theatrical, together with Zev Buffman, purchased and fully restored the vintage 1927 3,000-seat Saenger Theatre in the French Quarter in New Orleans, which became a national landmark and New Orleans' new home for the performing arts. Pace also acquired the Chicago Theater in 1987 with Buffman and sold it a year later to Donjo Medlevine.
In 1988, Pace Theatrical acquired Buffman's theatrical interests in Florida for $1.6 million plus an additional $1.7 million if the business was profitable. The business comprised 6 theaters and 75,000 subscribers, which Buffman had built during the 1970s and early 1980s, creating a subscription model for touring theatrical productions. At that time, this increased the number of theaters that Pace used to 24.
In 1993, Pace took over direction and management of the Theatre League of Atlanta who presented a season of Broadway shows at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.
Pace was acquired by SFX Entertainment in 1997. In 1998, Pace acquired Boston based presenting and producing theatrical company, American Artists, for $25.7 million, including the Charles Playhouse in Boston and leases of two other Boston theaters: the Colonial Theatre and Wilbur Theatre. SFX also took over American Artists' "Broadway in Boston" subscription series.
SFX Entertainment were taken over by Clear Channel Communications and renamed Clear Channel Entertainment in 2000. Clear Channel made the touring shows operate nationwide and renamed the business Broadway Across America. In 2005, Clear Channel Entertainment was spun off into Live Nation. By 2005, the business operated or had interests in 13 performing centers and had the largest subscriber base in the United States for touring theatrical productions.
In January 2008, Live Nation sold its North American theatrical business (including the Broadway Across America business) to Key Brand Entertainment for $90.4 million. In 2016, Key Brand Entertainment was rebranded as the John Gore Organization.
From Wikipedia’s article on Broadway Across America, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3