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Posts Tagged ‘Broadway’

It’s Like, a Total Movie into Musical Explosion: Bring It!

I would love to be in the room with producers or creators who decide to make movies into musicals. Personally I’m a huge fan of turning Adventures in Babysitting (David Stone, please don’t steal my idea) into a musical, but only if Anthony Rapp originates his role as the zany horn-dog Daryl Coopersmith.

This season, I’ve heard rumors of several movie-to-musical adaptations as Dancing With Wolves, Bring It On, and Clueless. I’m not saying that I’m not excited by these new ventures. After all, the original La Cage Aux Folles was based off of a popular French flick. I’m just curious to know why these films, and why now? Firstly, none of the above mentioned (and you can add Catch Me If You Can and First Wives Club to the mix) are recent blockbuster hits. In fact, with the exception of the death of Clueless star Brittany Murphy, I haven’t heard mention of these movies in quite some time. Similarly, I’m not even sure of the cult following that really exists for these films. It’s not like you see NYU kids running to Village East Cinemas with pom-poms and short skirts dancing to “there must be some Toros in the atmosphere” (Cheer-tators anyone?).

Of course, I’m hoping for the success of these pieces of art (and I would like to work on all of them at some point ☺). But, I’m still unsure of their relevancy on Broadway in “the tens.” Maybe in twenty years from now, Bring It On will command the necessary nostalgia for the hit Kirsten Dunst film. Maybe the time for “Virgins Who Can’t Drive” (Clueless) will have its day when the teens that watched Alicia with pure delight have teens of their very own. Since the day has already approached, I thought of a few other movies that could make fantastic musicals. You be the judge:

I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Horror Musical
Happy Gilmore, another Adam Sandler Musical
She’s All That, The Fat Boy Slim Musical (Check out the Funk Soul Brother This Spring)

Ok Broadway fans, start dreaming! 2020 is just around the corner. And once it comes, I’ll meet you in the orchestra section of Don’t Mom The Babysitter’s Dead, the I’m Right on Top of It musical.

April 19th, 2010 by Ian Weiss | Tags: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

We're Just Saying – Week in Review

What an interesting week it’s been on Broadway! It’s hard to keep up with who’s up, who’s down, what’s in and what’s out, isn’t it? Bet you cannot wait until this info goes mobile, so all you have to do is keep your phone on. (As though it isn’t already right next to your laptop, stuffed in your pocket or right by your fork at dinner. Don’t lie–we both know that’s true.)

Anyway, until that happily mobile day, here are the highlights. The weekend began with a bang, but not the good kind, with poor reviews for the $16.5 million musical adaptation of The Addams Family. It’s been widely reported that the ghastly notices aren’t phasing the box office, though. Go figure. Friends tell me the show isn’t half bad, or was it that half of it is bad?

Million Dollar Quartet opened to quite different reactions, with praise from most critics. The story of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins jamming together for one memorable day is now playing at the Nederlander Theater. I thankfully did get the chance to see this show, and the energy on stage is great, even though the storyline falls flat at times.

Yesterday it was announced, that the Tony Award-winning show, Next to Normal won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. I hear that’s pretty hard to do. But seriously, this is a great achievement and a joy for original musicals on Broadway. I’m sure the next Next to Normal is waiting in the wings somewhere, so keep on writing.

Stay tuned for more Broadway info, events, stories, etc. as we approach our launch. Join our Facebook and Twitter sites and sign up for the e-mail list as soon as you finish reading this. Now. Go on. Shoo!

April 14th, 2010 by Ian Weiss | Tags: Uncategorized | No Comments »

iBroadway – Coming Soon

Hey iPhone, iPod Touch, and new iPad users, get ready cause there’s a new app on the horizon that’s exclusively for you theater lovers out there. You’ll be able to buy tickets, watch videos, read reviews and blogs, all from your mobile device. If you want to find out more, sign up for the mailing list by going to iBroadway.net.

April 8th, 2010 by Ian Weiss | Tags: Broadway, In the News | 1 Comment »

Burn The Floor Extends

We are so excited that Burn The Floor is extending until January 3. The show has broken two box-office records and continues to do well.

We are working on a few promotions that are in the pipeline. In the meantime, watch the Live Stream of the dancers who will teach a Master Class at Chelsea Piers today at 10am.

Live video by Ustream

August 25th, 2009 by Jim Glaub | Tags: Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Tony Awards: Positive Feedback Only

It’s no secret that more products and services are embracing social media as a way to creatively interact with their consumer base. What might come as a surprise to marketers who are used to the one-way “conversation” of traditional forms of outreach is that–if they choose to use these new forums effectively–they are also opening themselves up to hearing points of view they might prefer to ignore.

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter are an extremely effective way to not only capture a fan base, but also to start a dialogue between your fans and the product associated with your fan page. For example, Rock of Ages (full disclosure: Art Meets Commerce runs the fan page) posts new status updates like YouTube videos of old 80s commercials, and other similar articles to keep fans entertained and informed. Posting song lyrics, fun facts, etc. creates an instant conversation. That interaction not only occurs between fans and the show, but between fans themselves: some ask questions, others answer. The goal is to create a sense of community with the show and let people voice their thoughts and views. In addition to a lot of fun–and positive–comments about the show, people also talk about things they didn’t like (an understudy played in the performance they saw, for instance). Although we have the opportunity to delete posts at will, we don’t. The point is to facilitate conversation, not control it.

I bring this up because I am a fan of a lot of pages, many of them theater related. One, The Tony Awards, posts videos, links, articles, anything and everything relating to the awards and theatre. It really is a great resource. I noticed something recently, though, that gave me pause.

The Tony Awards page posted an update announcing that the touring companies of Jersey Boys, Legally Blonde and Mamma Mia would be performing on this year’s show (along with the currently nominated musicals). Several people commented negatively, asking why Jersey Boys would be performing once again at the Tony Awards or saying that Mamma Mia is “stupid.” All negative comments were deleted. In my opinion, unless a commenter makes a threat, engages in hate speech or posts spam, the post should be allowed to stand. To use social media well, you must be authentic, open and transparent. Deleting negative (but not harmful) posts sends a message to users that they are partipating in a “canned” discussion, i.e. an extended advertisement, which not everyone wants to do. This kind of Pollyana editing will, in my view, ultimately diminish the brand and will cause users to turn away.

May 28th, 2009 by Mark Seeley | Tags: Broadway, Internet Marketing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Twitter Is About Leaders, Not Followers

A lot of folks new to Twitter make the mistake of assuming that beefing up one’s follower count is the entire point of the service. Truth: It means nothing.

Who could blame them? The number is prominently displayed, it’s understandably a bit of an ego boost when a new person signs on to receive your updates (let’s call it the “You Like Me, You Really Like Me” syndrome) and bigger numbers just look cooler (case in point: infinity+1). But if you’ve got something to market, it’s a big mistake to focus on this.

It’s about goals, really

If your goal is to get a ton of followers, well, that’s easy. There are dozens of services that create fake Twitter accounts to follow yours, and you can reach 10,000 followers in a couple of days without breaking a sweat. They’re reprehensible, and not worth linking to, but you can find them if that is truly your goal (and if it is, you can stop reading here).

But why the heck would that be your goal? Don’t you, uh, have something you want people to buy? Isn’t that the point? If it is, and your follower list looks remotely like this, you’re doing it wrong:

If you’ve got a show to market, a product to sell or a site to promote, millions of fake followers will be just as effective as never joining Twitter in the first place, and every minute you spend getting fake followers is a minute lost from focusing on the bigger picture. In Machiavellian terms, Twitter is not the end, it is the means. What you want is to cultivate a highly-interested, dedicated and engaged group of followers—real people who will interact with your brand, spread positive word of mouth, participate in contests, respond to requests to rate your stuff and vote for you in polls, and, more than anything, actually buy whatever it is you’re selling.

Lead, Don’t Follow

Rock of Ages (a Broadway client of ours) has seen incredible success from the Twitter account we created for the show. When we pose a question to our followers, we get dozens of responses. When we post a discount, we sell dozens of tickets. When we hold a contest, we get hundreds of entries. And yesterday, when we expressed (faux) outrage over being tied with Shrek The Musical on this NYTimes poll of Tony Award Nominees, the vote total in all five categories shot up dramatically (and ROA now actually leads several of the categories!). No hacking involved, simply motivating the most dedicated fans to spread the love on behalf of the show.

It’s a lot harder to build a community like that, which is why so few are doing it—especially in the marketing world where it’s relatively easy to impress clients with big numbers that mean nothing. But the payoff is real. Focus on leading, sharing, communicating, teaching and learning, and actual live people will find you and start to make your job easy.

May 6th, 2009 by Kevin M. Keating | Tags: Internet Marketing | No Comments »

Cat on a Brit Tin Roof

We are so excited that the sold-out Broadway run of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is headed to London. We’ll be handling internet marketing and spreading the word to fans that the show is coming to the UK. This marks AMC’s first West End show, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! Check out the website and join the email list!

May 1st, 2009 by Jim Glaub | Tags: Broadway, Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »

The Power of Movement and Silence

There are moments in theater that make a show go from good to extraordinary. For me, those moments happen when nothing is said, when a character is alone on stage and for that moment you are there with him or her in that world. Those moments rarely happen.

People applauded Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon for his drunken Nixon monologue (rightfully so), but for me the moment is when Nixon knows he is stuck in a corner and realizes that he has to admit his wrongdoing. There are no words, just Nixon and Frost on stage in silence, with Nixon’s face on the TV screens with the look of horror. That sent chills up my spine. A brilliant theatrical moment.

I had the opportunity to see Billy Elliot on Sunday afternoon. To be perfectly honest, I was never excited about this show coming to Broadway and I thought it would be just another tourist trap. I had seats in center rear mezzanine and to me seats far back can ruin a show. To my pleasant surprise, I loved it, I thought it was wonderful and although it’s very large (the cast is the biggest I have seen in a long time for a commercial production), it feels surprising intimate in the very large Imperial Theater.

To me what made Billy Elliot good was not the music (it was fine, but nothing to write home about), but the story, dance and lighting design. I haven’t seen the movie, but I just loved the story of Billy’s struggle to find himself in a narrow-minded community. The dancing was fantastic and the lighting design was amazing. Billy Elliot had two moments that, for me, made the show go from good to extraordinary.

Billy Elliot on Broadway

Both scenes occur act the end of the acts (spoiler alert!). The Act One finale is a long sequence with Billy dancing alone while riots occur behind him. It’s a chilling moment that beats out any flying witches or crashing chandeliers. There’s no song, just Billy expressing his frustration through dance. The other moment occurs at the end of Act Two when Billy says goodbye to his best friend, Michael, who rides a bike to the spotlit center of the darkened stage. You do not see Michael’s face, he is alone, watching his friend achieve his dream while he is left behind in a community that is crumbling. In the silence it is just Michael and in a moment Billy runs up to embrace his friend, probably for the last time.

January 26th, 2009 by Mark Seeley | Tags: Uncategorized | No Comments »

And the Oscar goes to…

bestpicture

I love the Oscar race and award shows in general I find them highly entertaining. Several Broadway alum’s are up for Oscars this year which is extremely exciting. Congratulations to Michael Shannon (from the Off-Broadway hit Bug) who gave an amazing, haunting and stirring performance in Revolutionary Road. Also a congratulations to Martin McDonagh (Broadway’s Lieutenant of Inishmore, nominated for In Bruges), Peter Morgan (Broadway’s Frost/Nixon, nominated for the film version), David Hare (Broadway’s Vertical Hour, nominated for The Reader) and John Patrick Shanley (Broadway’s Doubt, nominated for the film version). Now here are my predictions (and hopes) for the top Oscars:

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in Milk
Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road

Will Win: Heath Ledger Should Win: Michael Shannon Should have been nominated: Emile Hirsch

Michael Shannon has several amazing scenes in Revolutionary Road that send shivers down your back. It is believable and real. Don’t get me wrong though, Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker still haunts me.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in Doubt
Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis in Doubt
Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

Will Win: Viola Davis Should Win: Viola Davis Should have been Nominated: None

Viola Davis’ scene when she goes up against Meryl Streep. ’nuff said.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie in Changeling
Melissa Leo in Frozen River
Meryl Streep in Doubt
Kate Winslet in The Reader

Will Win: Kate Winslet Should Win: Kate Winslet Should have been nominated: Cate Blanchett

Anne Hathaway, if she makes smart choices will eventually win an Oscar. Meryl Streep is amazing in everything she does but she did not originate her role. Kate Winslet is amazing and this is her 6th nomination and it is her year. She had two power house roles this year that were heartbreaking. It is finally her year

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor
Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn in Milk
Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Will Win: Mickey Rourke Should Win: Sean Penn Should have been Nominated: Clint Eastwood

Sean Penn should win. He is amazing as Harvey Milk and as you Milk you believe that it is actually Harvey Milk on screen. He should take the prize but who doesn’t like a come back story like Mickey Rourke’s.

Best motion picture of the year
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire Should Win: Milk Should have been Nominated: Revolutionary road

Slumdog Millionaire could be this years surprise win but I think that this is actually a touch perdiction. If you go by who is freshest on Rotten Tomatoes, Slumdog inches ahead of Milk by 3%. I hope Milk wins.

January 22nd, 2009 by Mark Seeley | Tags: In the News, Uncategorized | No Comments »

It's Showtime!

The Broadway League has launched a new “economic stimulus” campaign via its website ILoveNYTheatre.com to help bring the butts to the seats. It’s a hip program that stresses the the fun, immediacy and affordability of seeing a show. There are ads running in the NYT print, TV spots on WCBS and WABC, online and phone kiosks around the city. You can also see banner ads on NYT.com as well as the Times Square Alliance, NYC & Co sites. Here’s the tv commercial on Youtube, check it out–and while you’re at it, why not buy a ticket for something?

January 21st, 2009 by Laurie Connor | Tags: Advertising, Broadway, In the News | No Comments »