Our view: Sound of silence threatens NSMT

January 13, 2009 06:07 am

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Back in 2004 when the North Shore Music Theatre was contemplating a major expansion, the idea did not seem so farfetched.

This was (and is) a beloved local institution, after all, with a national reputation. For the past half-century it has provided live, professional entertainment for audiences young and old.

Yet now there are fears that Sunday's performance of "Disney's High School Musical 2" may have been the last at the circular stage on Dunham Road in North Beverly.

We hope not. And fortunately, people from far and wide are rallying to the cause of saving the theater with fundraisers planned this month and next.

This region could use more, not less, in the way of live theater and concerts. Which is why many, including this newspaper, were excited by the prospects of an expansion of the theater into a multi-stage, multi-purpose venue that had been tentatively named "Dunham Woods."

City and state officials were encouraged to the point they pushed through plans for a new highway overpass that would have provided more convenient access to the site from Route 128. It would be sad, indeed, if the new road — still in the pipeline and still needed to alleviate traffic on Brimbal Avenue and allow for development of other hard-to-reach parcels — were to terminate in just another housing subdivision or office park rather rather than a unique performance center.

Therefore, we wish supporters the best of luck in their effort to raise money and pare expenses so the theater can survive.

Last week David Fellows, chairman of the NSMT board of trustees who's poured more than a million dollars of his own money into helping the theater cope with tough times, told reporter Paul Leighton of his charitable activities: "I tell people that I give to hospitals to save lives, and I give to the music theater to make lives worth saving."

Tastes vary, of course, but there were several hundred people willing to brave the snow and slippery roads Sunday to see "High School Musical 2." And based on the complaints received about its suspension (for the staging of the Disney show) this year, people should be banging down the doors for tickets to "A Christmas Carol" next year.

There's an audience out there. We hope the music theater is still around after this month to serve it.