Thursday’s show by Garrison Keillor at the Warner Theatre in Connecticut was canceled, just hours before it was due to go ahead.
Lynn Gelormino, the theater’s executive director, said that the show’s promoter, Premier Events, had informed her of the cancellation.
Keillor’s contract with Minnesota Public Radio was terminated Wednesday amid allegations of inappropriate conduct. Later that night, Keillor’s show in Pittsfield, Massachusetts was canceled.
Two doors down from the theater and its majestic marquee on Torrington’s Main Street is Sasso’s—a “coal-fired” pizza restaurant. Jeff St. Jean is its manager.
St. Jean: “We are usually busy when there’s a show next door so the show being canceled definitely messes up business a little bit for us.”
Graziano: 1,200 people…
St. Jean: “Yeah I know. We would have been packed in here—definitely would have had a wait.”
Gelormino says about 1,200 tickets were purchased for the Warner performance. And now, the theater is scrambling to reach out to ticketholders regarding the cancellation.
Keillor was a fixture for decades on public radio before retiring in 2016.
Minnesota Public Radio has severed ties with his production company and will rename the program he founded, A Prairie Home Companion.
This report comes from the New England News Collaborative: Eight public media companies, including Rhode Island Public Radio, coming together to tell the story of a changing region, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
