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When the Three Little Bakers Dinner Theatre closed, it was the end of an era. Was it the end of a legacy, too?
(page 7 of 8)
Carol Everhart, director of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, says the theater has already enhanced the town. “The visual and performing arts always do,” she says. “I can’t imagine a better leader than Hugo Jr. He comes from Three Little Bakers, and who could ask for a better résumé than that?”
As a leader, Hugo Jr. is a work in progress. “Our father and uncles were the types of leaders I want to be,” he says. “They knew we were all talented in individual ways. What I lacked, somebody else made up. Whatever my strength was, that was what I did.”
Hugo Jr. spent 34 years working at TLB, doing the same things he’s doing now: booking talent, negotiating deals, emceeing, greeting guests. When buses roll in, he befriends the drivers.
He’s also putting together another concept for a separate company called Hugo Jr. Presents. His goal is to blend the tourism and entertainment industries and, possibly, to present shows under the TLB name.
For years he’s dreamed of a TLB by the Sea—a possibility given his connections. But he has big shoes to fill. Only he knows if he has the knowledge and the stomach to create a comparable venue.
“Well, it’s a big legacy,” he says. “My dad and his brothers were hugely successful. But for the hospitality, food, tourism and theater businesses, TLB was a Harvard education. I inherited tenacity, pride and diligence. I take that with me.”
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