Financial records recently released by Roanoke Rapids officials show that he took $350,000 as an artist fee while performing at the venue. But the theater, in its first four months of operation, sold only $325,706 in tickets.

The documents give the clearest picture yet of the theater's struggles and why city leaders stepped in to overhaul it.

Parton's attorney, Nick Ellis of Rocky Mount, said Saturday, "everybody hoped that ticket sales alone would be sufficient to cover" Parton's fee. Ticket sales fell short, but Ellis said Parton "got paid what the city agreed to pay him."

In November, Roanoke Rapids hired a Boston-area company to manage the theater.

This month, city officials asked Parton, brother of country music superstar Dolly Parton, to leave before a show. They said he had been drinking. Parton denied the allegation.

It's unclear whether Parton will perform again at the theater that bears his name. His lawyer and an attorney hired by the city are now reviewing contracts.

"From what I can see, as soon as he left, things started getting better," said Jim Garrett, who runs a Web site where residents have posted comments critical of The Randy Parton Theatre. "I think it has a chance now. But with Randy Parton running it, I don't think it did."

The theater opened in July. Between then and November, it logged $369,454 in total sales. That includes money for concessions and souvenirs.

Based on ticket revenue, about 200 tickets were sold for the average show in that period, according to an analysis by The News & Observer. An official with the theater, which seats 1,500, had projected as many as 300,000 patrons in the first year. The venue would have needed about 1,000 per show to meet that goal.

Parton has said he did all he could to make the theater a success. The Randy Parton Theatre is the centerpiece of an entertainment district called Carolina Crossroads that city leaders envisioned as an economic engine for the former mill community.

Roanoke Rapids borrowed $21.5 million to build the theater and agreed to let Parton star in the show and run the operations. After paying $12.9 million to build the structure, city leaders promised Parton as much as $3 million to get the operation running.

He spent $2.4 million of those funds, using some of the money to make monthly lease payments to the city. Parton's contract with Roanoke Rapids promised him a $750,000 artist fee each year, before other expenses were paid. Through that agreement, he got the $350,000.

An analysis completed before the project said at least 200,000 square feet of retail and other amenities needed to be in place for the theater to succeed.

Today, nothing else is there except for a Hilton Garden Inn hotel that has not yet opened.

Parton's production company spent more than $81,000 on advertising, although many of those expenditures were after the theater opened, according to the financial records.

City officials are limiting their comments on the the theater's past because of possible legal action. Reached Friday, Mayor Drewery Beale referred phone calls to Johnny Loper, an attorney with the Raleigh firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. Loper could not be reached for comment.

For now, the city is counting on UGL Unicco to turn the venue around. The City Council hired the company last month to take over day-to-day operations.

UGL Unicco projects that it can put on 121 shows by July and bring in $3 million in ticket revenue, according to estimates included in an agreement with the city. It assumes that each show will average 735 attendees who will pay average ticket prices of $35 each.

Within five years, UGL Unicco estimates that ticket sales will top $8 million annually.

There is no nearby theater competition. One of the closest is the American Music Jubilee, a variety show performed at the Rudy Theatre in Selma. The Randy Parton Theatre is just south of the Virginia border, at Exit 171 off Interstate 95. The Rudy is off Exit 98.

In its ninth year, the American Music Jubilee production has been a hit, said owner and producer Spook Joyner, even though "when we started this, nobody thought it would work."

Joyner also wants success for the Parton Theatre. "If it's good for Eastern North Carolina, it's good for everybody."

Joyner produces three distinct shows per year, including a Christmas show. This year he expects to entertain about 14,000 people during November and December, proving that there is an audience for such shows.

But Joyner changes his offering three times a year to keep people coming back.

"You've got to keep it fresh," Joyner said. "You've got to put a good steak in front of them."