Starlight will be star-studded for summer concert season — thanks in part to COVID-19
Starlight Theatre president and CEO Rich Baker is by no means thankful for the pandemic. But after two-plus years of cancellations, postponements, restrictions and mandates, Baker can appreciate a silver lining when he sees one.
Some acts continue to be leery about performing indoors because of COVID-19, so, advantage Starlight.
“For us, quite frankly, it really does help being outdoors,” Baker said. “All those years where we were kind of apologizing for heat or rain, that sort of thing, it used to be a detriment. But it’s become a positive now, which is great.”
Such a positive that Starlight’s 2022 slate of concerts is huge, both in quantity and in quality. The season has cornered the market on female performers, including H.E.R., Phoebe Bridgers, Haim, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Bonnie Raitt and Alicia Keys, and otherwise boasts everything from oldies act Chicago to indie rockers Lord Huron to children’s sensation Kidz Bop Live.
R&B singer H.E.R., aka Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, is an example of an act Starlight might not have landed in a normal environment.
“We’ve had a lot of people say, ‘How’d you get H.E.R.?’” Baker said. “Sometimes you just luck out, quite frankly.”
Starlight’s Broadway plays and special shows are always set well in advance, but the concerts that round out the season are much more of a moving target. The schedule has been filling over recent months and still isn’t finalized.
Meanwhile, the season will kick off earlier than normal, with H.E.R. hitting the stage May 3. She will be followed by Ben Rector on May 7 and two plays (“Oklahoma” and “Waitress”) later in May.
“We knew this would be a big summer,” Baker said. “We didn’t quite know how big, and we’re all going to be exhausted by the end of the summer. It’s a good problem to have.”
The bad kind of problem came the past two summers. For the first time since Starlight opened in 1950, the city-owned theater canceled its entire season in 2020 because of the pandemic. Last summer, Starlight reopened at full capacity and without mask or vaccine requirements but featured just six concerts along with four Broadway shows.
This year’s schedule of eight shows and 27 concerts (with one or two still to come, Baker said) is a return to normal — and then some. Baker said he shoots for 25 concerts, but there were simply too many intriguing acts to resist.
“The nice thing about it is that we’ve got something for almost everyone,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a great concert season. We’ve seen that already in the ticket sales.
“I think some of that is just people want to come back after the pandemic. They’re tired of being cooped up indoors. But hopefully a lot of it is because we have some really good shows out there.”
He said that the Broadway series lost some subscribers because of the pandemic but that new subscribers are higher than normal. Single-ticket sales also are doing well.
Baker pointed out that Starlight maintained its entire full-time staff of 47 throughout the pandemic, with no furloughs. A more difficult challenge has been finding the dozens of part-timers needed during the summer season, although an increase in pay has helped fill spots. Volunteers also will supplement the shortage.
Now Baker’s biggest concern is the same one that has bedeviled Starlight since the start — the weather — although the huge, ultra-quiet fans installed in 2018 have resolved part of the problem.
“With the new fans, you really don’t have to worry about the heat,” he said. “So we really just hope we can keep the rain away.”
2022 Starlight schedule
Concerts: H.E.R., May 3; Ben Rector, May 7; Phoebe Bridgers, May 31; AJR, June 1; Haim, June 4; Lord Huron, June 5; Rex Orange County, June 13; REO Speedwagon and Styx, June 14; Bon Iver, June 15; Chicago and Brian Wilson, June 20; Why Don’t We with The Aces and JVKE, June 22; Barenaked Ladies with Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket, June 29; Third Eye Blind, June 30; Brandi Carlile, July 6; Chris Isaak and Lyle Lovett, July 7; Halestorm, July 10; Earth, Wind & Fire, July 12; Maren Morris, July 21; Josh Groban, July 22; John Mulaney, July 23; Kidz Bop Live, July 29; Goo Goo Dolls, Aug. 1; OneRepublic with Needtobreathe, Aug. 5; Bonnie Raitt with Mavis Staples, Aug. 6; David Gray, Aug. 7; Alicia Keys, Aug. 24; Jack White, Aug. 29.
Broadway Series: “Oklahoma!” May 13-15; “Waitress,” May 17-22; “Hairspray,” June 7-12; Riverdance, June 17-19; Blue Man Group, June 24-26; “Anastasia,” Aug. 9-14; “Sister Act,” Aug. 16-21; “The Prom,” Sept. 13-18.
