Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

The secret to producing a big fat hit Broadway show.

A distinguished member of the press recently asked me for my thoughts on developing product for Broadway, and the ingredients that make a million-dollar-a-week-show.

While sure, I'm a big believer in market research, and understanding who your audience is, and what they want to see, and trying to meet and exceed their expectations.

The big secret to creating a gi-normous, box-office busting, Broadway smash?  

Ready?  

There is none.

Anyone who tells you they can sit down and write a hit is full of something that rhymes with hit but doesn't smell as good.

You just can't do it.  People can tell you that they can engineer it, but they're wrong.  

You think Da Vinci sat down and said, "I'm going to paint a picture of a woman with a half-smirk that people will talk about for centuries!" 

You think Hemingway sat down and said, "Yep.  An Old Man.  The Sea.  Better open up the cash drawer and make some room, because this one is going to be a gusher."

You think R&H sat down and said, "Oh yeah, this Oklahoma thing is going to make us so much money we're going to be able to buy . . . well . . . Oklahoma!"

Artists write what they love, and what they want other people to love.  They write what they are passionate about.  Period.   

And a Producer has to do the same thing.  While sure, it's hard when you've got people's jobs on the line (including yours), to not think about "what could I produce that would be a hit?"  But since that never works, why bother?

Here's my mission.

Produce like Da Vinci painted.  Like Hemingway wrote.  Like R&H dreamed.  Produce what you love, what inspires you, and what you want to inspire others.  You'll be proud, instead of pandering.  

And whether or not people it's a "hit", when you're done with one project, find another one and do it again.

 

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Making your butt feel better in your seat.

Theatergoing can be uncomfortable.  Let's face it.  With legroom that seems designed for the people of Lilliput, and a number of bathrooms that couldn't even accommodate the Duggars never mind 1500 people, we're not exactly the most user-friendly experience in town.  

But the folks at Jujamcyn are doing everything they can to change that.

In a whirlwind of a 48 hour changeover (that must have cost a fortune in stagehand OT), all the seats at the August Wilson Theater got a 'buttover' in early January with new, state-of-the-art ergonomic seating designed by a company called ProBax.  

As producers and theater operators, whether in this city or around the world, whether you have a 1500 seat house or a 50 seat house, we put most of our energy into making sure that thing that's on the stage, whether it's a play or a musical or a dance piece, is the absolute best it can be.  

What is easy to forget as we focus on that primary goal is that an audience's experience from their seat, can actually enhance (or the reverse) how they feel about what they're watching.

Seat backs and bathrooms may not be sexy, but they do have an impact on sales.

Watch the video below (or click that link) to hear Jordan Roth talk about the impetus for change, and then give Jujamcyn mad props for keeping our butts on the top of their minds.

 

 

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If you only do one thing today, make it this.

Watch Smash. 

Smash is the much anticipated, heavily advertised, prime time, major network, Broadway drama about the making of a Broadway musical.

It's about Broadway, it's shot on Broadway, it's written by a Broadway writer, directed by a Broadway Director, and stars a whole bunch of Broadway peeps.

And if there was one thing that could have an atomic bomb-like impact on Broadway theatergoing, Smash is it.

Sure Glee is great, and makes singing showtunes not as geeky as it used to be, but Glee is more of a pop-sical, whereas Smash is the real thing to the core.

And even a mediocre showing on the Nielsen ratings chart means that millions of people will be getting intimately acquainted with the making of a Broadway musical.

So imagine, for a second, if it was more than mediocre.  Imagine what a smash Smash would mean to theatergoing and theatermaking all over this country.

So watch it.  And force your friends to watch it.

Here are the deets:

Monday, February 6th. aka TONIGHT
10 PM EST/9 CT. 

Football season is over.  It's time for our season to start.

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Playbill goes Boffo with its brand.

The battle of the Broadway websites just got real, yo.

Playbill.com could sit back and stay fat on its yellow striped cover and trademarked font and still have more traffic than the 405 in LA.

But no . . . ever since young Turk-ish Blake Ross took the reins years ago, Playbill has been operatin' like a startup, adding new features left and right and all the way 'round.

And two of those features are turning a lot of heads.

Less than two months ago, Playbill released The Playbill Vault, an online database of every Broadway show and everyone associated with those shows since 1930.  And, what's cool about it is that it combines the stats with other material from their database (photos, articles, actual playbill listings, etc.)  Look at my listing to see an example here.  It's pretty awesome, and has already become my go to .com when I'm researching . . . anything (Sorry, IBDB).

And, not resting on its e-laurels, last week Playbill announced the acquisition of Boffo Box, now named Playbill Professional, an online "theatrical index" with Broadway grosses, charts, an online rolodex for Broadway personnel, and more.  Unlike the Playbill you get when you walk in a theater, Playbill Pro ain't free.  But time is money, and this system looks like it'll save some folks hours.

The mission statement at Google is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Well, we here in the theater industry have never been good at doing anything with our information.  Thankfully, Playbill.com has stepped up, adopted the Google plan, and given a lot of people a lot of info.

And a lot of info makes us a lot smarter.

(Oh, and yeah, they're probably going to make money with it.  But that's what great companies do.  They find out what people want/need that they aren't getting elsewhere and give it to them.  And they make some money.  And the really great companies then use that money to find new things that people want/need that they aren't getting elsewhere and give that to them.  And rinse and repeat and growth for all.)

 

 

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Our final reading of 2011 - and you are invited.

As I announced back in September, our final reading of the year has international ancestry.  Martha, Marina, was written by Ana-Maria Bamberger of Bucharest and has quite a life overseas, where it has been running for 7 (!) years in and around Romania.

And now, it's going to make its US debut in our studio as part of our reading series, where it will be directed by Dev Bondarin.

We'll read it next Monday, Dec. 12th at 8 PM in our brand new studio.  

What is it about?

Mistakes often tend to be repeated by the next generation – and breaking the pattern is a tough game to play. Grumpy old Martha gives it a try, employing rather unorthodox methods in her quest to prevent her daughter Marina’s life from going down the same hill. A resonant and uplifting comedy about the mother and the daughter we all are – or have.

Want to come?  

Click here to RSVP.

Our new studio is a bit bigger, so we can get a few more folks in, but RSVP ASAP because we expect a lot of interest in Martha, Marina.

See you next Monday!

 

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If there is such a thing as a book club . . . then why not . . .

Yep.  Finish it with me . . . 

Why not a play club . . . or a musical club.  Right?

My mission as a theater professional is to amplify the conversation about the theater.  More people talking about it gets more people interested, which gets more people going, which gets more people telling their children about it . . . and repeat cycle.

Yesterday, WOMMA helped remind us that a good chunk of the precious resource known as word-of-mouth occurs offline.  So, our challenge in promoting our products/shows and the theater in general is to find ways for our customers to have these conversations.

Hence the idea of a Play Club . . . or a Musical Club.

It's simple really.  7 easy steps.  Ready?

1. Declare yourself the organizer.
2. Invite friends . . .  1, 2, 10, doesn't matter . . .  to your place to discuss a play/musical/cast recording of your choice (bonus if it is running on Broadway now)
3. Have food, drinks . . . especially the liquor-ish kind.
4. Discuss the play/musical/cast recording.  Read some scenes/sing some songs aloud.
5. At end of night pick next play/musical/cast recording and set next day/time to discuss (best to make it the same time every week/month)
6. Congratulate yourself, because you just helped create WOM. 
7. Repeat from the beginning. 

Seriously, these clubs should be all over creation, especially in cities and counties that are far away from the Broadway.  This is a way for you to keep in touch with what's going on here (and regional theaters and touring houses that are trying to teach their audiences to keep current - this is a fun, low cost way of doing just that).

So start one today.  You'll be helping the theater tomorrow.

(Need a better guide to starting a club? Check out Oprah's guide on how to start a book club and just replace book for play, musical, cast recording, or whatever you'd like!)

 

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Godspell opens tonight, and I just have to say . . .

. . . thank you.

There's a lot of people that will be joining me at Circle in the Square tonight who helped make the first ever revival of Godspell happen.  There is Stephen Schwartz, and Danny Goldstein, and the designers, and the so-talented-they-make-me-want-to-throw-up cast, and the crew, and General Managers, the investors and co-Producers, and all the other people I mentioned over the summer on the Godspell Blog.  

But I'll get a chance to thank all those guys in person. 

I wanted to take today's blog to thank all of you . . . the people that read, the people that comment, the people that agree with me and the people that don't . . . because whether you like it or not, you helped raise tonight's figurative curtain with me.  Your passion for the theater and for trying new things has helped fuel mine.  And I only wish there was place on the staff page of the program for all of you.  (I have no doubt that so many of you will be on your own staff pages and above titles before you can say "recoupment" anyway.)

So thank you.  

Oh, and by the way, I don't know what it is . . . but there's something special happening over at Circle in the Square . . . not only on that stage . . . but off as well.  

Maybe it's the energy from The People Of Godspell, or the incredible number of young people I'm noticing in the audience, or the number of Broadway debuts in our cast, or some of our marketing initiatives, or the number of new producing partners I have . . . but whatever it is, it doesn't feel like your typical Broadway show . . . and definitely not your typical revival.  It feels like . . . a beginning.

Now, I gotta go pace around my office and drive my staff crazy.  

 

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To rush or not to rush . . . and I'm not talking about a lottery.

There was a healthy sized article in yesterday's Times about the limited number of new musicals debuting on Broadway this year, and how if you were a Producer with a pubescent musical, you might want to speed up your development process, in the hopes of grabbing some easy Tony noms, and maybe even a win.  

Most of the shows that were mentioned in the article have actually had healthy pupa stages already, and were well on their way before the season turned out the way it has, so those aren't my concern.    

But for those Producers out there whose shows aren't on the radar that might think they should be injecting their shows with growth hormone, they might want to think again. 

Good business people look for holes in their respective markets that they can fill with product.  Good business people recognize when a lack of competition provides them with a market entry advantage.

But great business people never rush their development.

Sure, I'll admit it.  When looking at the upcoming slate of shows this past summer, I wished that one of the musicals that I'm developing was further along.  

But I also knew that if I put the pedal to the developmental metal I was much more likely to crash.

Yes, it's true that every show's gestation period is different and what takes one show a year may take another show ten.  But one thing is absolutely the same from show to show - if you rush it, you'll regret it.

Read the interesting article by Pat Healy here. 

 

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What's the one thing you would change about Broadway?

Yesterday's "Robot Vomit" poll got me in a pollin' mood.  So, I had Intern Emily and a few of her friends hit Times Square, armed with a clipboard and a question.  

This one was more general.  Emily et al asked 100 theatergoers in Times Square, "If you could change one thing about the theater . . . what would it be?"

We told the pollee, that they could answer anything except "lower ticket prices."  (I think it would have been a pretty boring set of responses without that restriction, don't you?)

I've decided to post all of the answers below, because I just find them so fascinating (since many of the people we spoke to were on the TKTS line, we also removed "shorter line" from the responses received).  

When looking at free form response polls like this, I always look at the similar answers that pop up more than once.  Those are the ones that tell you something.  So keep your eye open for that while you read.

Oh, and I'm giving it away a little, but I'll tell you that my biggest surprise from this list?  How many people said there was "nothing" they would change.  Makes you feel good, doesn't it?

Alright, enough of the warm-fuzzies . . . on to the data.  Here is what a bunch of theatergoers would change about Broadway if they could:

• Nothing!
• Make ordinary people stars (don't use celebs).
• More dancing shows
• Nothing
• More matinees for people here just for one week
• Nothing
• More discounts
• Getting a wrist band/anything that will allow you not to stand in line the day of getting tix at TKTS (Note from Ken - this is kind of brilliant)
• Nothing
• What does Partial View really mean?
• Dinner before the show including with your ticket price
• Nothing
• More original Stories
• Nothing
• Revival of Les Miz (bring it back!)
• Easier way to get tickets
• It's perfect!
• More leg room
• More intimate/smaller theaters
• Nothing, love it all!
• Comfortable seating
• Start selling TKTS tickets earlier in the day
• Big theaters
• Free cocktails
• More matinees
• More locations to get discount tickets
• Make an app for discounts
• Put Producers names to promote them (Note from Ken - I swear I had nothing to do with this one - but we did tell this person about this blog I wrote).
• Coupons
• Open the doors to the theater earlier
• More floor seating
• More discounts
• Nothing!
• More "Big" shows with dancing
• Easier way to get discounts
• Comfy seats
• Deal = buy one ticket get one free
• More coupons
• No intermissions
• Book TKTS tix online so you don't have to wait outside
• Nothing, it's great!
• Buy tickets on your phone
• Open doors at TKTS earlier
• More room in seats at the theater!
• More legroom
• Better parking
• Larger ladies rooms at theaters
• Less musicals (take out the corniness)
• Nothing
• Nada
• Seats while waiting in line for handicapped
• Nothing!
• More ways to get tickets online
• I wished people dressed up more to see the show (have dress code)
• Cocktails!
• Put more discounts online!
• Nothing!
• Better theater etiquette
• More hearing aids at the theaters

 What about you?  If you could change one thing . . . just one thing about Broadway . . . and you can't say, "cheaper tickets," what would you change???  Comment away!

 

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Why people will always go to a theater.

There's a chill in the air and a Ricky's "Pop-Up" Costume Shop on my block . . . so that can only mean one thing.

Halloween is almost here.

Along with the usual slutty nurses, and snack-sized Kit-Kats, Halloween also brings us a slew of scary movies at the cineplex.

This season, we've got a sequel that's scaring up some serious business . . . Paranormal Activity 3 . . . which shattered a record last week with its $54 million opening.

Why did this one do so well?

That's the question that was asked of Don Harris, Paramount's President of Distribution.  Don had a lot to say about sequels, reviews, and more.

But it was his final response that reminded me why all those who talk about the "death" of theater are just plain wrong.  

Ultimately, it gets back to why there's still a theatrical business, why people still go to the movies.  We want to laugh in a group, we want to be scared in a group, people like to cry in a group in the dark where nobody can see them crying. It's all the reason movie theaters exist and this genre has always been front and center.

Obviously, Don's talking about his industry of course, and not ours . . . but all the above is a primary reason why people go to our theater as well.  

We just have to work harder to make sure we don't lose any more of our audience to Don.

Because that, would be horrifying to us all. 

 

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