A rendering of the interior of the planned Sylvee, Madison, Wis.
The Franks like to keep it in the family. That explains why the Madison, Wis.-based Frank Productions team is building a new 2,500-capacity state-of-the-art theater in its hometown called the Sylvee in honor of the company's late cofounder, Sylvia Frank, who died in 2006. Over the years, the family has brought everyone from Frank Sinatra and David Bowie to the city, along with staging massive concerts with Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and U2 at the 60,000-capacity Camp Randall Stadium.
Now, though, for their first new build, the Franks are paying homage to the 50-plus-year family tradition of staging shows across the country with a room that will be both forward-looking and a kind of museum of Madison's musical heritage.
Frank Productions is dedicated to Madison, Wis., per its matriarch.
"The Sylvee is being designed from the ground up taking everything we know that artists and patrons like about venues across the country and integrating it here," said Charlie Goldstone, president of Frank Productions. The floor of the Sylvee will be an open GA configuration, with a balcony featuring several hundred fixed reserved seats and a tiered standing area just behind.
The Franks plan to host around 75 events a year in the multipurpose theater, from concerts to private and corporate events. The company has 22 full-time and 100 part-time employees that produce hundreds of concerts a year in theaters and arenas in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Ohio and South Carolina. That staff will eventually move into a space in the building behind the venue, which Frank Productions will own and operate.
"We're not reinventing the wheel in terms of expectations," Goldstone said. "But we're bringing best practices to Madison in a venue that has wiring backstage for cable, video games and climate control, which seems like a no-brainer in Madison, but is not because most of the venues are old repurposed movie theatres from the 1920s and 30s."
One of the innovations will be a beacon system that will allow patrons to use their smartphones to easily do everything from upgrading seats to buying drinks and merch with just a few clicks. "It's the first venue we're going to own and operate, but we don't anticipate it will be the last one," said Goldstone, who did not have the final budget for the project. He added that he anticipates bookings to be robust given that American Family Insurance and StartingBlock Madison — a tech hub that will house startup businesses – will be right next door. "It will mostly be used for music, but we anticipate the room will be used for a wide range of corporate functions too," he said.
Goldstone said in a city with a number of smaller rooms that are more than half a century old, the Franks wanted to add a venue into the mix that will focus on premium sightlines and acoustics, as well as easy access to two bars and considerably more bathrooms than the older clubs in town. There is also a focus on making the 40,000-sq.-ft. Sylvee as comfortable as possible for the bands, with a two-truck dock where bands can load in and easily plug directly into show power, as well as four large dressing rooms with private bathrooms featuring showers and a "very large" green room with a kitchenette, entertainment center, comfortable seating and video games.
The exterior of the Sylvee is decorated with the Sylvee 'V'
"This will be the largest midsized venue in town," said Goldstone, noting that the Sylvee will be across the street from the 100-year-old Breese Stevens Field multipurpose soccer park (capacity 7,500-9,000) and down the road from the 7,500-capacity Alliant Energy Center. "The great thing about this is if you put 1,200 people in it, it will look great." The Sylvee will also fill a niche in town, where the next biggest rooms below include the 87-year-old, 900-capacity Barrymore Theater.
Sylvee, as the family's matriarch was known, cofounded Frank Productions – now run by sons Larry and Fred — in 1965 with her husband, Herb. The building will be part of a big redevelopment project in the city's Capitol East District referred to as the 800 Block Project, which features two buildings and a 600-spot parking structure.
The theater will be housed in the $12-million, eight-story Cosmos building, which will also feature office space and retail. Current plans call for groundbreaking in the spring, with a tentative summer 2018 opening.
Mark Schmitz, founder and creative director of Zebradog, the environmental design firm that's working on the venue's brand integration, said his group is working on telling the story of the building by using the Frank's history as part of the design. "Frank Productions is a pretty significant booking firm and for those guys to be natives of Madison and build this venue in their backyard is a special thing," he said. "This is in the old warehouse district on the city's east side, which is rooted in the industrial past, so to bring a new venue to this environment, it needed to have a soul that's close to that history."
That is why the building will be wrapped in Corten steel for an industrial-looking outer shell whose façade will rust over time. Zebradog is also tapping into the vibe of such hometown heroes as Nirvana producer Butch Vig and James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield to help give the interior a fitting persona. "It's important for people to know they're not just in a big box rock venue, but one that's as authentic as the Orpheum or Majestic Theater, which have such beautiful, rich stories," he said.
The VIP area upstairs will feature a tribute to the city's favorite musical rock sons and daughters from the 1960s until today, with a minimusic museum made up of classic cassette tapes and show-related media that Schmitz is gathering and crowd-sourcing from locals.
