Perhaps it would be more accurate to call the recent partial collapse of the Apollo Theater in London a near-tragedy. Although a large number of people were hurt, and some seriously enough to be sent to the hospital, no one was killed. And for that, above all, we should be exceedingly thankful.
As things stand at the moment, there is no clear explanation as to why the collapse happened. It is, however, a well-known fact that many of the older theaters in London's West End have suffered from years of deferred maintenance--and the Apollo, by all reports, was no exception.
Which is why, when I saw the news about the collapse, and after my concerns about fatalities were put to rest, my theater-preservation mind came to one very quick conclusion: that it would not be long before the tear-'em-down crown would be out in full force.
And I was not completely disappointed. This piece, from The Guardian, takes a somewhat two-faced attitude toward the subject, alternately talking about investment in old theaters while raising questions about their real value in the modern world. Likewise, this piece from The Atlantic makes the case against historic theaters without quite coming out with a call for the bulldozers, There's something to be said about the fact that, even after a crisis like the Apollo collapse, no one quite wants to use it as an excuse to level cultural and architectural history.
Except, as it turns out, if the someone in question is Andrew Lloyd Webber. A former owner of both the Apollo and its next-door theater neighbor, the Lyric, Webber here argues for tearing both theaters down and replacing them with new, more modern theaters (presumably, ones more to Webber's Tory-leaning, profit-gushing tastes). Leaving aside the intriguing question of what exactly Webber knew about the theaters when he sold them, and how much of their poor condition accrued on his watch, his diatribe against his former buildings and their counterparts on the West End overlooks the fundamental question: what can be done to make owning and maintaining any theater affordable?
Whether a theater is old or new, modernized or otherwise, the economics of the theatre make owning an operating such a structure daunting. Theater in any form, traditional or otherwise, is a labor-intensive and capital intensive art form that competes with other media that have many more avenues for expanding their markets and spreading out their costs. Any theater can only give one performance at a time to a very limited number of people, while a movie or TV show can move through a number of market mechanisms to an ever-increasing audience around the world--theaters, broadcast channels, cable, satellite, the Internet, and who knows what else may come in the future. This dilemma exist for new legitimate houses as well as older ones--which is why, over the past several decades, almost no new legitimate theaters have been built without some form of subsidy attached to it.
Once you accept the fact that no legitimate theater can function without some form of subsidy, the question then becomes this: what should we subsidize? Do we want to subsidize modern theater buildings, with all the functionality of an airport lounge and half the charm? Or do we want to subsidize our history, our heritage, our sense of a style and beauty that has its original roots in a specific era but, in terms of its impact on the public, is positively timeless?
As for how? There are, truthfully, lots of ways, and finding them merely requires the right combination of creativity and will. In New York, Broadway theater owners have been able for a number of years to sell the air rights over their theaters, and thereby able to maximize the market value of their land while obtaining the funds needed to maintain their landmarked properties. Perhaps something along these lines could be used to ensure the future economic and physical viability of their West End counterparts.
In any event, safety does not require the leveling of history. Let's hope, for history's sake and London's sake, that it finds a way to maintain its amazing stock of historic theaters for years to come.
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