The recently announced name change of Broadway in Detroit to ATG Detroit may seem relatively minor.
But it’s a significant indication of how much has changed for the metro area’s primary Broadway production company and especially its main venue, the Fisher Theatre, since it was purchased in 2021 by the U.K.-based Ambassador Theatre Group, now known as ATG Entertainment.
“What we offer now is broader than Broadway,” explains James Kuhl, general manager of ATG Detroit. “Broadway’s always going to be our bread and butter. It’s always going to be the majority of our programming. But we’ve expanded as a company. We have concerts and comedy and other performances, and we want the people of Detroit and surrounding communities to know that.”
Adds Scott Myers, ATG Detroit’s director of sales and marketing: “We are presenting so much more than Broadway. ATG Entertainment is the name of the company now, and it’s about entertainment. So it makes much more sense for a concert or a stand-up comedian to be presented by ATG Detroit than it does Broadway in Detroit. And we still are bringing the best of Broadway shows to the city, so I’m really happy the name Broadway in Detroit is going to stay … for our Broadway series.”
That expansion has been evident during the past four-plus years, and certainly more so during the last couple. In addition to its theatrical production — at the 2,089-capacity Fisher, which this week hosts a return engagement of “Kinky Boots,” as well as the Detroit Opera House, where ATG also places shows (including “The Phantom of the Opera” starting this week) — has hosted concerts by rock acts such as America, Kansas and guitarist virtuosos Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and others, and performances by artists such as Diana Krall, Samara Joy, Gregory Porter, Tye Tribbett and comedians Nikki Glaser and Sal Vulcano.
Other offerings have included family favorites such as the Wiggles and Blippi, and productions such as “Spider Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Wheel of Fortune Live” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender Live in Concert.” Speaking engagements have included Hilary Clinton, David Sedaris, William Shatner, Fran Lebowitz, John Cusack and one of the last public appearances by the late Jane Goodall. The Fisher also hosted a screening and cast Q&A of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” — with audience props and all — and even had a concert by rapper Juvenile on the schedule until his tour was canceled.
The transition is evident in volume, too.
In 2025, ATG Detroit presented 229 performances of 49 productions, including substantially more Broadway shows separate from the annual subscription series. This year, 18 productions have already been announced, with more to come, and the 2025-26 theater series slated to be announced in February.
Kuhl, who joined ATG Detroit in 2022 after 13 years of running the Tipping Point Theatre in Northville, is confident that the expanded array of offerings is going over well, with what he calls the music/comedy/entertainment “silo” attracting new patrons who may then gravitate towards the Broadway shows, and vice versa.
“If we can get an individual in the door, once they see the type of high-quality experience we offer, they are infinitely more likely to return,” he explains. “I talk a lot about building relationships with our audience so that we can get to a point where audiences are more willing to take a risk on things they’re maybe less familiar with, because they know we’re not going to disappoint them with the quality of the entertainment.
“And when they give it a try, it’s going to be one of two things: ‘I’m so happy I took a risk and tried that, and it was absolutely amazing;’ or ‘That wasn’t my thing. I’m looking forward to the next one.’ That just builds our base for the future.”
The ATG and Fisher heritage certainly provides a solid foundation for growth.
The local company dates back to 1912, when David Nederlander and the Schubert Brothers began bringing shows to the Detroit Opera House along with other area theaters. The Fisher’s renovation in 1961 provided a new home, allowing the Nederlander Organization to host shows and occasionally premiere them on their way to Broadway and other international stages. (The company also owned and operated Pine Knob Music Theatre from 1972 to 1990). The Broadway in Detroit moniker was coined about 25 years ago and will remain the banner for the theatrical series.
Ambassadors, which was founded in 1994, rebranded itself ATG Entertainment in the spring of 2024. In addition to operating theaters in the U.S., U.K. and Europe, it also produces shows and runs a ticketing service.
Kuhl says that patron data has confirmed that ATG is seeing more new people at its events. Theater subscriptions, now at about 11,000, have increased steadily since the purchase, he notes. The company is partnering with other promoters — Live Nation and AEG have both put shows in the Fisher — while Myers, who worked at the Gem and Fox theaters before joining Broadway in Detroit in June 2010, is particularly happy that the Fisher is busier than ever.
“It just brings a lot more variety to the theater,” he says. “Before, there was this sense that the Fisher was where you go for Broadway, and people who don’t like Broadway felt like, ‘That’s not my place.’ Now the Fisher is a home for anybody, which is great. It’s a piece of Detroit we should all be proud of, and now we’re bringing programming that can bring a lot more people through the doors.”
