by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Workspace: Milton Russos, Florida State College at Jacksonville executive director of Cultural Programs
Since 1966, Milton Russos has been bringing Broadway shows and other legitimate theater productions to local and regional audiences under the banner of “The Artist Series” and “Broadway in Jacksonville.” When he arrived in Jacksonville fresh out of graduate school at the University of Florida, he had no idea that would be his chosen career.
“I thought I was going to be a history professor,” he said.
Russos came here in 1966, a pivotal point in education.
Before Florida Junior College at Jacksonville opened, there was no public higher education in North Florida.
“FJC was brand new and started in an old elementary school in San Marco with 2,600 students,” he said. “I saw it as a chance to do something really exciting.”
Russos taught in Jacksonville and at the campus in Nassau County. After he was here a few weeks he was asked if he’d like to work in the Student Activities area.
“When you’re young and single you can do a lot of crazy things,” he said.
One day FJC’s president called Russos into his office, pointed out there was a new theater Downtown (the former Civic Auditorium) but nobody was using it, then waved his hand and said, “put something together,” Russos recalled.
The first show was “The Lettermen” followed by “Ramsey Lewis.”
“The shows were originally intended for the students, not the community,” said Russos. “They had a fine venue and also had success with the first several shows, so soon the decision was made to offer tickets to the general public.
“It was a hit because there was very little entertainment in Jacksonville back then.”
A staff position was created for Russos, which made the effort much more consistent because activities staffs were made up of students and the ones with the most experience booking acts graduated every year.
“That caused us to look at Broadway,” said Russos. “We sold out ‘Grease’ in 1975, then we booked ‘Godspell’ and it sold out.”
The next step was to package subscriptions and sell a season of four shows, all one-night engagements. That continued until the early 1980s when ticket buyers lined up for three-night runs of “Evita” and “42nd Street.”
Russos said the turning point came in 1986.
“I got a call from the agency that was booking the second national touring company of ‘Cats.’ They had to get from the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami to New Orleans and wanted to make a stop in Jacksonville on the way.
“Looking back, the risk wasn’t great but we didn’t know that. We spent $6,000 on advertising and put 25,000 people in the old Civic Auditorium,” said Russos.
As soon as the Times-Union Center opened, “Broadway in Jacksonville” brought “Phantom of the Opera” here for a four-week engagement.
“People told us Jacksonville would never support a show that long but we had huge grosses,” he said.
Speaking of gross revenues, Russos pointed out bringing the best in live theater and entertainment to North Florida has certainly changed the economics of what began as a junior college student activity.
“We did $10,000 in 1967 and we’ll do $8 million this season,” he reported.
All in all, it has been quite a ride that he never envisioned when he came to Jacksonville to teach history.
“I could write a book,” reflected Russos.
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