PRODUCER’S PERSPECTIVE Ken Davenport, Broadway Producer, Off-Broadway, Theater

Fun on a Friday with sign language.

If you haven't seen Michael DiMartino's YouTube vids, then you've been missing out.  And when I say "seen", that's all that I mean, because you don't even have to hear them to enjoy them.

Michael is a sign language interpreter based in the city who has been creating original 'signed' music vids of popular songs. He's done Britney's "Womanizer", Clarkson's "Addicted", Busta's "Break Ya Neck" and lots more (his unique videos had been viewed more than 250,000 times, before his account got hacked and he had to start over).

The Director of Altar Boyz spotted Michael online and thought it would be fun to have him do something for our show.  After all, Britney's got nothing on Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abe.

An email or two later, and behold . . . Michael DiMartino signs "Rhythm in Me" from Altar Boyz, with a guest appearance from the Boyz in the video below.

Enjoy.  And if you want to learn how Michael does it, he'll be schooling us all on how to sign, live and in person, at our next Altarholics Appreciation Day on July 19th.  To learn more, visit altarholics.com and scroll down.  All the info is there, along with a pretty fancy discount.

Sometimes marketing ideas come from the most unlikely of places.  In fact, sometimes, you need someone to spell it out for you.

To see the rest of Michael's vids, visit his YT channel here.

Anyone can advertise on the NY Times! Except for guess whom?

I was reading a review on The Old Gray Lady the other day (not in print, mind you, but online) and I noticed an interesting ad appearing on the page.  

It didn't look like an ad that would normally appear in the Times, actually. It was for a smaller company that I wish I could remember (couldn't have been that good of an ad) but I think it had something to do with discount mortgages or something.  

There was an "advertise with the NY Times" link right underneath the forgettable ad, so I clicked, because I honestly wondered how that forgettable company afforded that placement.

And it took me to a brand new offering from the NY Times . . . Self Serve Advertising!

It seems that the NY Times has developed their own version of Google's web-changing AdWords program, which they call Self Serve, for clients with a budget under $10k (sounds perfect for Off-Broadway, doesn't it?).

It looks awesome!  You can upload your own ad or if you don't have one, you can use one of their templates!  You can set your own daily budget so you never spend more than you're comfy with!  You can start with as little as $50/day!  You get reporting, tracking and more!  And you can pick exactly what section you want to advertise in!  It's perfect!

Where do I sign up?

Where do I . . . where do I . . . 

Oh.  Wait a second.  It looks like . . . yep . . . huh.

The NY Times does not allow self-serve advertising in the Theater section.

Let me say that a different way.

The NY Times Online allows you to advertise in all areas of the The Old Gray Biatch except for the Arts section (and Opinion & Politics).

I mean . . . wow . . . ok, ok, keep it up NY Times . . . keep pushing us further away, cuz you're doing oh so well in the meantime.  What was it again?  A loss of 61 million in the first quarter?  That's like more than 4 Lestats.  

If you'd like to be discriminated against because of the business you're in, click here to check out Self-Service Advertising on NY Times Online.

And then take your money to Google (which serves ads to the NY Times anyway).  

We lost one.

Broadway mourned the loss of Broadway producer Morton Gottlieb last week.  Although I never met Mr. Gottlieb, he was always close to my heart, because he came up like I did (or I came up like he did, whichever is more respectful), as a Company Manager first . . . in 1948 (I wonder what filling out house seat orders was like back then).

Morton's biggest hit was Sleuth (which I hear may be on its way back to the boards in the next season or two - I'm just sorry, Morton won't be able to see it).

He did leave us with this great quote about what it takes to do what we do, which is not much, and a helluva lot at the same time:

The Broadway Theater is the only place in the world where the easiest way to break in is by starting at the top.  You don't need experience, you don't need a license, you don't need money.  All you need is chutzpah.  You call all the agents and say, "Here I am - a Producer!"

We'll miss you, Mort.  

Read the full obit here.

Please DO feed the animals.

I went to the zoo on Friday.  Right in front of the monkey pond there was a sign reminding zoo-goers like me not to throw food to the monkeys.

I went to a sushi restaurant on Saturday.  Right in front of the hostess there was an giant aquarium with a sign taped to the glass telling raw fish eaters like me "Please, do not tap on the glass."

I went to a baseball game on Sunday.  There were a whole bunch of signs all over the place reminding fans of the fines for jumping on to the field (someone did it anyway).

It is a human being's natural instinct to want to interact . . . especially with things put on display. It's so much of the majority's curiosity that we have to put up signs telling us not to, when it's not appropriate or not safe.

I also went to see a show on Sunday.  This show took advantage of our natural curiosity and had actors handing out programs, had the star talking to the audience, and even had a couple of audience members on the stage.  And a better time was had by all as a result.

It's simple, and not ground-breaking, but it works every time. Why?  Because it's part of who we are.  

We want to feed the animals.

So give your audience that chance in whatever way is appropriate for your show.  Maybe you can't have audience members on stage. Maybe you can't break the fourth wall.  

But there's gotta be something you can do.  And you're creative enough to figure it out.

Brodaway Grosses w/e 7/5/09

Show Name	GrossGross	TotalAttn	%Cap	AvgPaidAdm
9 TO 5	$675,136	9,671	75.04%	$69.81
AVENUE Q	$318,640	4,956	77.83%	$64.29
BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL	$1,351,026	11,369	100.01%	$118.83
BLITHE SPIRIT	$548,311	7,995	67.57%	$68.58
CHICAGO	$571,015	7,021	81.26%	$81.33
GOD OF CARNAGE	$933,436	8,680	100.65%	$107.54
HAIR	$999,471	10,956	96.99%	$91.23
IN THE HEIGHTS	$782,689	10,419	95.41%	$75.12
JERSEY BOYS	$1,101,363	9,719	99.42%	$113.32
MAMMA MIA!	$953,712	11,952	99.73%	$79.80
MARY POPPINS	$778,466	11,198	77.89%	$69.52
MARY STUART	$287,087	5,091	55.34%	$56.39
NEXT TO NORMAL	$418,644	5,974	96.73%	$70.08
ROCK OF AGES	$569,432	7,869	98.66%	$72.36
SHREK THE MUSICAL	$853,080	12,686	91.50%	$67.25
SOUTH PACIFIC	$745,970	7,519	90.29%	$99.21
THE 39 STEPS	$195,972	3,691	78.33%	$53.09
THE LION KING	$1,294,159	12,113	91.54%	$106.84
THE LITTLE MERMAID	$809,585	10,382	85.43%	$77.98
THE NORMAN CONQUESTS	$320,397	5,646	90.48%	$56.75
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$873,236	11,390	88.16%	$76.67
WAITING FOR GODOT	$549,144	8,336	103.78%	$65.88
WEST SIDE STORY	$1,253,984	12,639	93.10%	$99.22
WICKED	$1,573,163	14,445	99.81%	$108.91
TOTALS	$18,757,116	$221,717	88.96%	$81.25

Exactly who goes to Broadway TOURING shows anyway? Survey says . . .

Back in Feb., I posted a summary of the Broadway League's annual survey of the Broadway audience.  Well guess, what?  The League also surveys touring audiences in their member theaters all over the country.  

And guess what?  I'm going to summarize those results for you here:

• In the 2007-2008 season, 15.3 million tickets were to sold.  This number has been declining for the last six years.
• 70% of the tickets sold were purchased by women. 
• Average of of the theatergoer was 50 years old. 
• The vast majority of the theatergoers were Caucasian. 
• 73% of the audience held a college degree and 32% held a graduate degree. 
• 43% of the audience reported an annual income of more than $100,000. 
• 44% were "subscribers" to the local Broadway Series. 
• The average theatergoer saw 6 shows per season. 
• Local newspaper was still the primary source of information, but 40% of the audience looked online at the venue's website for information. 
• The internet has surpassed phone sales and is now the most popular way to purchase tickets. 
• Single-ticket buyers (non-subscribers), generally bought their tickets a few weeks prior to a performance. 
• Personal recommendation was the most influential source for show selection (other than simply being included in the subscription series). 
• Television commercials were the most noted form of advertising. 
• 27% of the audience also attended a Broadway show in New York City.    

So why are these numbers important to the NY producer?  

Look at that last bullet point:

27% of the audience seeing shows at theaters across the country came to Broadway to see a show as well.  27% of 15.3 million is over 4.1 million people.  Last season, Broadway only had 12.1 million attendees.  That means that about 35% of our audience, or more than 1/3 is coming from these theaters.  

Our relationship with the touring houses is a significant one (which is why the road presenter is a part of the Broaday League in the first place).  The touring audience is a stream that represents more than 1/3 of our audience here on Broadway, and the theaters where they see shows in their hometown is like a dam.

If that dam gets clogged up, and it looks like it has been for the last 6 years, then you're going to hear a lot of producers (and the mayor of NYC) using the word "damn."

Thanks to the League for their continued excellent quantitative analysis of what's happening here in NYC and all over the country.  

Now, if only we could survey the international tourist in their hometowns, since they represent another 16% of our Broadway audience.

It's analogy Friday!

If you've been a reader for awhile, then you know that I like a good analogy.  I've compared Off Broadway to a rowboat, raising money to selling girl scout cookies, new businesses to kids, and I've used more baseball terminology than an ESPN announcer.

Because of my fondness (and my use) of both good (and bad) analogies, one of my favorite readers out there thought I'd get a kick out of the following.  I certainly did, and I thought you would too.  So today, on this Friday when so many folks are cutting out early, I thought we'd take a break from the Broadway talk and have a little fun.

Every year, English teachers from across the USA collect actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays.  Now, for your amusement, here are some of the best of the worst:

§         Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

§         His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

§         He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

§         She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room temperature Canadian beef.

§         She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

§         Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

§         He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

§         The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

§         The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

§         McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

§         From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

§         Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

§         The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

§         Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

§         They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

§         John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

§         He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

§         Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

§         Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

§         The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

§         The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

§         He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

§         The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

§         It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

§         He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Have we seen the last of the looooong running musical?

I've written about long running shows by decade before, but I felt the subject deserved another look as a whole.  So, as of this Sunday, take a look at Top 10 Longest Running Shows on Broadway:

Show		# of Perfs	Year Opened
1	The Phantom of the Opera*	8907	1988
2	Cats	7485	1982
3	Les Miserables	6680	1987
4	A Chorus Line	6137	1975
5	Oh! Calcutta!	5959	1974
6	Beauty and the Beast	5461	1994
7	Chicago*	5236	1996
8	Rent	5123	1996
9	The Lion King*	4821	1997
10	Miss Saigon	4092	1991

*still running

5 of these marathoners or 50% of the longest running musicals on Broadway are from the decade of glorious growth, the 90s.  

30% are from the British Invasion of the 80s.  And the remaining 20% are from the 70s.

Let's take a little trip further down the long runner list, shall we?  Here is a list of the 11th - 30th Longest Running Broadway Shows:

Show		# of Perfs	Year Opened
11	42nd Street	3486	1980
12	Grease	3388	1972
13	Fiddler on the Roof	3242	1964
14	Life with Father	3224	1939
15	Mamma Mia!*	3184	2001
16	Tobacco Road	3182	1933
17	Hello, Dolly!	2844	1964
18	My Fair Lady	2717	1956
19	Hairspray	2642	2002
20	The Producers	2502	2001
21	Avenue Q	2446	2003
22	Cabaret	2377	1998
23	Annie	2377	1977
24	Wicked*	2342	2003
25	Man of La Mancha	2328	1965
26	Abie's Irish Rose	2327	1922
27	Oklahoma!	2212	1943
28	Smokey Joe's Café	2036	1995
29	Pippin	1944	1972
30	South Pacific	1925	1949

There are only 2 musicals on this list that are still running and have a shot at cracking into the top 10:  Mamma Mia needs another 2 years, and Wicked needs 4.  I expect both to make it, which will give the 2000s (or the "aughts") 2 spots in the top 10.  

If you keep going down the list, there are 3 more musicals that are still running that could conceivably have a shot:  Jersey Boys (#54), Mary Poppins (#89), and Billy Elliot (too far down to count).  Jersey Boys has probably got a chance, thanks to its low overhead, but I doubt the other two will go the distance.

If those falsetto-singing boys from Jersey make the cut (and they still need another (gulp) 7 years), then that will give the aughts a 30% representation in the top 10 longest running shows.  Not so bad.

But if they don't, and if the Mamma Mia movie madness wears off and that show doesn't make the cut, we could be looking at only one show from this decade to be in the Top 10.

And is it just me, or does it seem like there isn't anything on the horizon that has twenty year staying power?  

Then again, the day before Rent opened on Broadway, I bet no one thought it would run for 5123 performances.

How is Tony Voter turnout?

During my years an Assistant Company Manager on shows like Ragtime, managing Tony Voters was my job.  

It's a pretty stress-filled process, as you can imagine.  You have to reserve hundreds of great seats with the box office (another reason it's hard to get a good seat to a show), send out invitations, take the orders when the voters call/fax/email, change the orders when the voters call/fax/email again, place the orders, make sure certain voters aren't sitting next to certain voters, etc.  

And you have to answer the calls from the Producers who want to know how it's going.  My former boss, the recently convicted Garth Drabinsky, used to call me daily. I'd have to give him the # of orders that I took that day, the total voter turnout, and the "mood" of the voters as well.  

Obsessive?  Yes.  Justified.  You bet.  (Garth thought that if he could get more people to see Ragtime, he could defeat the hype and spectacle of The Lion King, playing across the street.)

There are only 805 Tony Voters out there, and despite popular belief, our voter turnout is not like the turnout in Malta.  I remember working on my first show and being shocked at the number of voters that failed to exercise their right to vote (never mind get free tickets).  

So, I took an unofficial "back-alley" poll of a few of the Tony nominated shows from this past season.  The turnout for the shows that I polled ranged from as low as about 35% to as high as about 80%.  And yes, as you can imagine, the shows with the higher turnout did better on the big day.  Average for all of them in my poll?  About 60%.

60% of 805 is only 483 voters. 

Garth was right to obsess about the turnout.  483 bodies casting votes isn't a lot, when you thing about it. You add another 75 to that number, and you can have a much different result.

I guess that's why Garth made me call all of the voters that hadn't made a reservation 4 weeks after the invitations were out.

High turnout is essential for every show (especially the underdogs), but it's also essential for our industry (and for our country).  Individual shows should do everything they can to encourage actual turnout (as opposed to Iran-type turnout), as should The League.  

And maybe we should consider taking away voting rights for those that haven't voted in several years.  

It shouldn't be a luxury. It should be a duty.

Advice from an Expert: Vol. 9. A Damn Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

I got a bunch o' emails after my blog about my experience in the UK a few weeks ago.  One of them was from an actual expat American living and working in London.  Since he has such a unique perspective on what and why things are different in the land of fish and chips, I thought we might all learn from letting him have a post.  So here's Jason Ferguson . . . 

- - - - -

There is so much to say about the differences in British and American theatre (such as how to spell theater!), but for my first topic I will respond to a posting Ken did on the popularity of jukebox musicals in the UK. His opinion was that jukebox musicals thrive in the West End because of the influx of international tourists that speak different languages coming from Europe (I should say 'continental Europe' but the Brits don't consider themselves European). I agree with Ken that this is an important element to British theatre and the international language of pop music or anything non-verbal (see Stomp) keeps shows running here that would die a fast death in New York at the hand of Brantley and company. But there is another factor less talked about and that I think it takes an American living here to notice...PANTO!

I admit that on my arrival to London almost three years ago I picked up a copy of the local trade rag, The Stage, and noticed article after article about pantomimes. Castings, backstage profiles, interviews with elder panto stars, and an entire feedback page filled with letters about this strange theatrical art form. According to Wikipedia, 'pantomime' is:

a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in Great Britain, Canada, Jamaica, Australia, South Africa, America, Japan, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is usually performed during the Christmas and New Year season.

I don't know how America made that list; I grew up attending theatre regularly in Florida, with the occassional NYC family trip, and I never came across a panto! I encourage you to read the full Wikipedia article to fully research this phenomenon. The closest you have come to a panto is probably going with your Aunt Mavis to see Peter Pan. Or some could argue that Into the Woods is as much a play on pantomime as it is on children's literature (I have heard a couple Brits claim the show didn't work well here because they played it too 'panto-like').

In short, modern British pantomimes are generally large expensive shows that play over the Christmas season in most producing theatres and touring venues. They are usually titles like Peter Pan, Dick Whittington, Snow White, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc. The scripts can change from year-to-year, but usually include standard gimmicks. For example, every time the villain walks out (and you won't miss him as he will be wearing black or some other villain-like clothing) the kids in the audience will hiss. That's right...hiss. Like when your more annoying nephew tries to act like a snake to scare you. Another key element to panto are the celebrity guests. Your average panto will feature between 3-6 celebrities in just that one show. I don't want to offend anyone that I know who perform in pantos, but let's just say the level of celebrity is not Jude Law. The big deal last year is that Steve Guttenberg came over to perform in Cinderella at a theatre in Bromley, England.

So back to my point. Panto is huge in the UK. Almost everyone has been to see a panto when they were a child. It is a Christmas tradition. In America we have A Christmas Carol in various forms, but it doesn't come close to the holiday theatrical monopoly that panto holds over the public. But while many on the snootier side of the theatre industry will roll their eyes at the mention of panto, it is an important part of the theatrical tradition here. It has brought children into the theatre in mass and, unlike in America, if you were to stop the average person on the street in Ipswich (think Peoria) and ask if they have been to the theatre in the last two years, the chances are probably good they have. Now you don't find that in America!

In conclusion, pantomimes have a large effect on UK theatre audiences and one of those is that very British thing called 'class'. By opening theatre up to everyone at an early age and to people of all socio-economic backgrounds, the UK theatre is often able to attract a more populist audience to shows. The discussion over how class background effects theatre is for a whole other posting, but PC or not these are the facts. The Royal Court may always fight hard to expose working and lower middle class audiences to the plays of Wallace Shawn, but the producers of Dirty Dancing seem to have had a much easier time. In the UK at least. 

Jason Ferguson is a theatre general manager/tour booker/producer in London. He formerly worked for the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Manny Azenberg and Clear Channel before moving to London where he has been a consultant for general manager Arden Entertainment (Dirty Dancing, Old Vic's Tunnel 228) and is currently working as an independent tour booker and producer through his company Jason Ferguson Ltd. 

You can contact Jason at jason@fergusonlive.com.