New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced that her office has secured more than $1.1 million in refunds for customers of the Westchester Broadway Theatre (WBT) that used to be located in Elmsford. According to James”™ office, as of March 2020, the theater had sold more than 30,000 advance tickets to performances that were cancelled once the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
WBT was forced to close along with other theaters and entertainment facilities as a result of the pandemic. It was not known when or whether the theater might reopen. WBT operated as a dinner theater, serving food and drinks along with performances of Broadway shows, concerts and special events.
On Oct. 31, 2020, the Business Journal reported that WBT would be permanently closing after 46 years in operation. Theater founders Bob Funking and Bill Stutler introduced their concept of offering a complete package of dinner and a Broadway-quality live show along with free parking to Westchester in July 1974. Matinees also were offered featuring lunch and proved especially popular with tour groups, many of whom came from out of state.
Numerous actors, directors and choreographers got their starts or developed their careers at Westchester Broadway Theatre, including Rob Marshall who went on to direct the film “Chicago” and five-time Tony Award-winner Susan Stroman who directed and choreographed the Broadway smash “The Producers.”
The theater received numerous honors over the years, including proclamations from Westchester County. In 2004, Funking and Stutler were inducted into the Westchester County Business Hall of Fame.
The theater billed itself as “the longest running Equity theatre in the state of New York.” In addition to actors, musicians, stagehands and technicians, the theater employed an office and box office staff, kitchen staff and numerous waiters and waitresses.
The theater was set up with a seating capacity of about 450 people at tables in a stadium seating arrangement with private luxury boxes elevated at the rear of the auditorium.
James said that following the shutdown, her office received numerous complaints from ticketholders that WBT refused to issue refunds for canceled shows. Instead, WBT created a ticket exchange policy with the White Plains Performing Arts Center (WPPAC), whereby WPPAC would honor tickets and gift cards that had been bought for WBT shows. However, no refund option was offered to WBT ticketholders, and the ticket exchange did not honor the value of the dinner portion of WBT tickets. Only 930 WBT ticket holders participated in the ticket exchange, according to James”™ office.
James says that WBT has agreed to refund a total of $1,127,258.84 to thousands of customers, even the ones who participated in the ticket exchange with WPPAC. Gift certificate holders who show a receipt may also be eligible for a refund or may use the gift card at WBT”™s new location in Chappaqua, where it has been producing entertainment events at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, which is located on the former Reader”™s Digest campus.
