Kimmel Center profits from 'Les Miserables' craze

AS I NEVER tire of reminding people, it's called "show business," not "show art." Which is why the current 12-day run of "Les Miserables" at the Academy of Music - which opened Wednesday, a mere eight days after the Christmas Day debut of its cinematic offspring - is hardly a matter of cosmic happenstance.

"It was totally planned. It was very much part of the strategy," admitted Matt Wolf who, as vice president of programming and theatrical presentations for the Kimmel Center, is responsible for the organization's Broadway series.

It's not difficult to divine the reason for the show's return to the academy. It's completely logical to suppose there is a vast audience who has never seen the stage version of "Les Miserables" but could be inspired to check it out after seeing the blockbuster film starring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe. Maybe the movie audience saw the film because it boasts one or more of their favorite movie stars and were subsequently hooked by the film's emotional resonance and monumental score.

Wolf is ready for them.

"The new audience created by the movie is going to be so excited by what it sees" at the academy, he said. "Offering the live experience right on the heels of the movie is going to be a special experience for the city."

Of course, that probably would have been a pretty safe bet even if "Les Miz" hadn't made the transition to the big screen. The show has been a reliable lure ever since it first came to town (at the Forrest Theatre) in the late 1980s. Not only have all of the show's national tours had local runs, but several years ago, the Walnut Street Theatre was one of the first to restage the epic, "sung-through" musical without using the show's signature turntable, a move that was adopted by producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh for last year's bus-and-truck version as well as the current production.

During a recent lunch at XIX Restaurant atop the Bellevue Hotel, Wolf was so optimistic, it bordered on cockiness. Now it looks like, if anything, he was conservative in his prognosticating.

We touched base with Wolf Thursday afternoon. He explained the original projected revenue was adjusted upward preopening, and that figure has already been exceeded by 20 percent. As of Thursday, "Les Miz" has grossed $2.3 million so far, a figure Wolf described as exceptional for a two-week run. Sales, he crowed, have "blown our expectations out of the water."

But, as he noted, "It's a perfect storm of timing."

Welcome to Theaterdelphia, the newest entertainment destination for Daily News readers.

We hope the column's name leaves no doubts about its intentions and goals. The Delaware Valley's live theater scene has, over the past decade or so, developed into a nationally celebrated powerhouse with more than 50 professional theater companies and an ever-growing community of indigenous actors, writers, producers, designers and technicians.

That is what we seek to celebrate, illuminate, investigate and, at times, castigate here. Every Friday, the column will introduce you to the region's theater scene - the shows and the people behind them. Obviously, the touring Broadway musicals that visit Philly regularly will also be noted. But the whos, whats and whys of the homegrown realm will be at least equally as important.

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