Cultural expert Joe Sidek, who is the founding director of the George Town Festival in Penang, told CNA that he “thoroughly enjoyed” his experience at the opera house in April when he watched the Drum Up JB! Performance.
However, he expressed concern that the small capacity of the Permaisuri Zarith Sofiah Opera House would make it difficult for performances with large manpower to break even financially.
“It’s really a lovely little opera house, nice building and great views of the sea and the Causeway,” said Joe.
“But from the commercial side of things, it’s not so easy. Can you imagine, if there are around 20-30 people in your performing team and you have so many people to pay? The maths is not right,” he added.
Joe explained that having a 600-capacity venue will hold back the opera house from hosting larger scale events like concerts featuring world renowned artists, keeping in mind the likes of Coldplay and Taylor Swift have recently favoured Singapore’s Sports Hub 55,000 capacity venue for consecutive-days performances over other options in the region.
However he acknowledged that in the case of the Permaisuri Zarith Sofiah Opera House, garnering profits through large-scale events was never R&F’s main objective.
“The idea is to enjoy the multiplier effect, offer these events to draw tourists who will come to Johor Bahru, eat at the restaurants, stay at the hotels and attract more footfall in that manner,” said Joe.
“But doing (large-scale) events is not (R&F Group’s) core business,” he added, noting that the company’s focus is on residential and retail property.