But the size of a 2,500-seat theater is what has Chris Lino, managing director of Pioneer Theatre Company at the University of Utah, raising an eyebrow.

"They keep calling it a Broadway-style theater, but nothing could be further from the truth," he said.

The average size of a Broadway house is 1,234, half the size of what's being discussed, Lino pointed out. "The experience of seeing theater in a 2,500-seat venue is worse because you lose the intimacy and beauty of the actor/audience relationship."

Jerry Rapier, producing director of Plan-B Theatre Company, agrees. "I feel like people throw the term 'Broadway style' around very loosely, and I don't think people are really clear on what that means. I, personally, as someone who is an avid supporter of Broadway work, would not ever buy a ticket to see a show in a 2,500-seat venue. It's not the same intimate experience."

Broadway in New York is totally different from Broadway on the road, NewSpace's Ballard countered. "The economics are different. When you run a show for two to five years, it's very different than running for a week."

Randy Weeks, president and chief operating officer of Denver Centre for the Performing Arts, the primary tenant of the DPAC, is familiar with the Capitol Theatre. "Unfortunately, in the world of touring Broadway, the Capitol is becoming a little theater. It's just not quite big enough, unless you don't mind paying $125-$150 a ticket."

Broadway's monster hit, "Wicked," will be in Salt Lake City in 2009 with ticket prices that will probably break records. "It might be a bit of sticker shock for some," Ballard said. "If we had a 2,500-seat theater, we could lower those prices."

Weeks explains how that's possible. "When you've got a limited capacity like the Capitol, you can't capitalize on the opportunities from time to time to make enough to subsidize other shows."

Denver's Buell Theatre has the space to add a premium seating chart where the best seats in the house come at a higher cost.

"There will always be a segment in the market that does not care what the cost is. If they can get the best seats in the house, they don't care, they'll pay it," Weeks said. "With that, you have the ability to go in the balcony and subsidize $10 student tickets. Then other people can come, too. When you don't have the capacity, you lose that ability."

Still, Lino of PTC is not convinced. "Can we fill it? Can we fill a 2,500-seat theater? There are only so many blockbuster shows to go around. When we did 'Les Miserables,' we sold out every night. But there aren't that many shows that will fill a 932-seat theater (the size of Simmons Pioneer Theatre), let alone a 2,500-seat theater."