We are excited to announce the release of the app you’ve all been waiting for. iBroadway is finally here! It’s the easiest, most savvy way to access all things Broadway, all via you iPhone and iPod touch. Watch exclusive videos, read from Theater’s top bloggers (more on that to come), get show listings, and be able to buy tickets all from your phone. To download the app, visit http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibroadway/id349362702?mt=8. It’s fast and free!

A Little Night Music will be closing its doors after June 20th and therefore, won’t be recasting its lead women. It’s too bad.  We were having so much fun at surmising the possibilities. We know we were rooting for Betty White as Madame Armfeldt.

The Drama League and Drama Desk honored very different performances this year. We all know what this is leading up to, a massive battle of who will win the coveted MTV Movie Award (Best Kiss) this year?

Rumors were confirmed that Sutton Foster would appear as the new Reno Sweeney in an upcoming revival of Anything Goes, following in the footsteps of Ethel Merman and Patti Lupone. To which we wonder if soon Foster will soon be venting, half of America loves me, and half hates me.

Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith attended an after party thrown by 11-time Tony Nominee FELA! at the Palm last week. To which, Memphis replied, we got the guy from…Bon Jovi.

The guest appearances on Glee grew even more Broadway-ier with Neil Patrick Harris singing Aerosmith’s Dream On with Matthew Morrison. We really can’t wait to hear Boyd Gaines and Jonathan Groff’s duet of Love in an Elevator.

Finally, Pee Wee Herman comes to Broadway. Nah, too easy.

Sure, we do the pre-theatre announcements, usually done in a funny way, (Rock of Ages says it “it makes you look like a douchebag.”) I’m just not convinced that the “Please take this moment to shut off your cell phones” is enough for audiences. We need to do more. Check cell phones in the lobby? Or get the community together for an ad campaign!

Buy some television commercials, Do a live social etiquette lesson on ustream.tv, create videos and throw them up on YouTube. We can get the Ad Council and the FCC in on this. We need a public message that is funny and will stick. (Sure, there are more important things like Teen Dating Violence Protection and quitting smoking, but cell phone abuse is out of control, right?)

I think it would be great if we did a video series of regular life incidents where the cell phone is involved and throw in one of our theatre celebrities.

Scene 1: A family is enjoying a lovely conversation over a beautiful dining room table. Amidst light-hearted chatter, a cell phone goes off. Everyone is looking at the eldest kid who answers it. Kid says “Oh hey Bra, yeah, no, it’s fine, I can chat.”  Mom looks at Dad, Sister looks at younger sister. Then they all turn to brother. They know what’s about to happen. BOOM! Patti Lupone BUSTS in. She screams, “Who do you think you are? This is a dinner table. Everyone at this table has respect except for YOU. Get ‘em out of here (then an usher comes in, all dressed up, escorts the douchey kid out of the house.) Then, Patti sings “Here she is boys! Tell the world! Heaaaaz Patti!” Cue ad message.

Scene 2: A crowded, quiet subway. Next stop, Broadway/Lafayette. A super cute girl walks on and gets a call. She gets service! She picks it up and snorts and laughs “Omygod, I know, O-M-G-W-T-F, I knah! Omygod, I hate her! I knah! I knah!” Everyone on the subway gets quiet…you hear a rattling of the car; There’s a roar coming, but, it’s not the train. From the sea of passengers barges through a very angry Hugh Jackman. He grabs the cell phone and crushes it with his hands. He gazes at the shell-shocked girl. All he says is “You’re annoying everyone on the train.” Then runs out, Wolverine style.

What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions of ad ideas for this theatre cell phone problem? Leave your ideas in the comment sections below.

This is from an email from Telecharge.com: With the incredibly rapid adoption of the iPhone, as well as the growth of other “smartphones” such as the Blackberry and the Palm Pre, Shubert Ticketing wanted to ensure that customers had a quick and easy ticket buying experience, no matter how they were arriving at Telecharge.com.

Here is a screengrab of what the optimized site looks like on my iPhone: (Screengrab of Telecharge.com):

This will definitely spur Broadway shows to become more mobile, and I predict we’ll soon see shows using optimized sites to accommodate the ‘ticket-buyer-on-the-go.’ This is something we’ve been doing for ROCK OF AGES for a while–here’s the screengrab of the ROA mobile site on my iPhone (Screengrab of ROCK OF AGES mobile site):

Since ROCK OF AGES is a Ticketmaster show, we’re not able to offer users a buy tickets option from their mobile device. Instead we encourage users to call for tickets. Call. For. Tickets. C’mon Ticketmaster! Get on it!Tick Tock Tick Tock.

On the other hand, Telecharge.com, this is great! It gives users the same purchasing convenience on their mobile devices that they are accustomed to on their computers—and it allows us an increased ability to CAPTURE THE SALE! It also lets advertisers and marketers include this feature in their collateral, especially outdoor and flyer campaigns: “Buy Tickets on your phone! Go to Telecharge.com!”

It’s really fascinating to watch the rapid-fire evolution of social media that is happening all around us. Mark’s fellow commentator Pete Cashmore from mashable.com referred to something called the Gartner Hype Cycle, which describes the rise and fall of technology applications and led to some interesting discussion during the segment.

To me, it’s like living in a real-time time lapse photo. “Now they’re twittering . . . now you’re lame because you’re not . . . now you’re twittering . . . now they’re not . . . now you’re lame because you are . . . now they’re fill-in-the-blanking . . . ” You get the idea. And that whole cycle happens in about a month. Mayflies have a longer life expectancy.

What struck me most , though, was Mark’s observation that Twitter is fundamentally  antithetical to what he does at The Critical Condition, which is  devoted to criticism of popular culture. In his blog, Mark offers thoughtful analysis of everything from music to movies to advertising to books, and he does a terrific job of making the links between all of those things and the larger society that they are not only all products of, but that they are  producing. That can’t be accomplished in 140 characters.

But he does use Twitter to point followers to whatever conversation he’s facilitating on any given day, and that, to me, is the best use of a micro blog. Not as an end unto itself, but as  a means to an end, whether that’s highlighting an ongoing interaction or sowing a seed for a future interaction.

And that’s kind of a relief.  Fragmented thoughts that aren’t anchored to  more complete exchanges feel chaotic to me, like a radio that is picking up two different stations simultaneously. Discrete tweets leave me bemused, but looking at the Twitter application in a larger context shows me its place our cultural conversation. And that’s good (for me), because Twitter—or whatever the next big thing turns out to be—is here to stay.

Winner 2009 Lortel Awards
Outstanding Musical
Outstanding Choregrapher: Bill T. Jones
Outstanding Costume Design: Marina Draghici

Drama Desk Award Nominations
Outstanding Musical
Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Sahr Ngaujah
Outstanding Choreographer: Bill T. Jones
Outstanding Orchestrations: Aaron Johnson and Antibalas

Drama League Nominations
Distinguished Production of a Musical
Distinguished Performance: Sahr Ngaujah

New York Magazine: Best Play 2008

TONY Award Nominations
Best Musical
Best Actor in a Musical: Constantine Maroulis
Best Direction of a Musical: Kristin Hanggi
Best Costume Design: Gregory Gale
Best Sound Design: Peter Hylenski

Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations
Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical: Wesley Taylor

Drama League Nominations
Distinguished Production of a Musical
Distinguished Performance: Constantine Maroulis

]]> http://ibroadway.net/blog/2009/05/05/awards/feed/ 2 http://ibroadway.net/blog/2009/04/14/twitter-bits/ http://ibroadway.net/blog/2009/04/14/twitter-bits/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:44:25 +0000 Laurie Connor http://artmeetscommerce.net/blog/?p=601 Hey, it’s Laurie. Okay, okay, I confess . . . I’m not a tweeter. I know it won’t last, but for now I’m contented to sit on the twittering sidelines, because, honestly, I can’t think who could possibly care about my life’s minutiae.

Another reason I’m reluctant to jump onto this particular band wagon is a sort of vestigial suspicion I have about people knowing too much about me and my business. It all just seems a little big-brothery to me. I think it’s the pseudo-privacy of the medium: You know you’re communicating with your Twitter followers, however many they may be, but the experience is still solitary, like whispering into a microphone that is broadcasting to the world. You don’t really know how many people are tuning in, and probably more importantly, who they are. Just skeeves me out a little.

BUT! I am fascinated by the fact that Twitter is changing how business is done. Check out this NY Times article about the ways that companies are “listening” to customers to not only learn about their preferences, but also to tap into the nuances of the marketplace.

I’m just more than a little ambivalent about Starbucks, Whole Foods and Amazon sniffing around my virtual self to find out how I take my coffee, buy my groceries and read my books.