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

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.

Broadway Grosses w/e 6/28/09

Show Name	GrossGross	TotalAttn	%Cap	AvgPaidAdm
9 TO 5	$783,435	9,929	77.04%	$78.90
ACCENT ON YOUTH	$163,039	4,477	86.10%	$36.42
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY	$414,600	7,029	89.75%	$58.98
AVENUE Q	$335,712	5,366	84.27%	$62.56
BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL	$1,424,911	11,368	100.00%	$125.34
BLITHE SPIRIT	$597,662	8,026	67.83%	$74.47
CHICAGO	$619,808	7,604	88.01%	$81.51
GOD OF CARNAGE	$972,967	8,799	102.03%	$110.58
HAIR	$1,131,458	11,385	100.79%	$99.38
IN THE HEIGHTS	$866,769	9,939	91.02%	$87.21
IRENA'S VOW	$337,100	6,622	87.41%	$50.91
JERSEY BOYS	$1,151,195	9,896	101.23%	$116.33
MAMMA MIA!	$988,427	11,610	96.88%	$85.14
MARY POPPINS	$845,067	11,426	79.48%	$73.96
MARY STUART	$313,219	5,080	55.22%	$61.66
NEXT TO NORMAL	$480,535	6,039	97.78%	$79.57
ROCK OF AGES	$655,962	7,882	98.82%	$83.22
SHREK THE MUSICAL	$957,694	12,074	87.09%	$79.32
SOUTH PACIFIC	$888,140	8,255	99.12%	$107.59
THE 39 STEPS	$198,535	3,768	79.97%	$52.69
THE LION KING	$1,371,436	12,656	95.65%	$108.36
THE LITTLE MERMAID	$863,745	11,044	90.88%	$78.21
THE NORMAN CONQUESTS	$315,992	5,053	80.98%	$62.54
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$935,392	12,284	95.08%	$76.15
THE PHILANTHROPIST	$296,284	5,736	96.89%	$51.65
WAITING FOR GODOT	$563,210	8,256	102.79%	$68.22
WEST SIDE STORY	$1,382,611	13,741	101.22%	$100.62
WICKED	$1,606,120	14,472	100.00%	$110.98
Totals	$21,461,020	$249,816	90.47%	$80.80

An article about Social Media.

In case you didn't get my tweet last week, here's a link to an article I was asked to write for Mashable about Broadway and social media.  

Special thanks to Mashable for having me. It's always an honor to be asked to be a part of a community that is outside of our little theater world bubble.  Broadway is such an insular industry, but we've got more in common with other folks than we think.  And the uber-smart folks at Mash (Thanks Sharon, Adam and Pete) understand that.

Speaking of social media, Typepad, my blog host, has changed its setup in the last few weeks, which could use some 'plaining:

If you want to share any of my blogs on social media (facebook, twitter, technorati, et. al), click on that blue "share" link with the green and white less-than sign next to it at the bottom of any of my posts.  A box will pop up with all of the social media options and you can share away (and thanks in advance for that).

And another nod of thanks to the Mashers. 

Was there ever a more theatrical performer?

From his moonwalkin' tipping point to his mini-musical, Thriller (soon to be a full fledged musical), to his performance in The Wiz . . . I don't think the world has ever seen such a man as Michael.  

The tragedy of his death is only overshadowed by the tragedy of the last several years of his life, when he seemed so compelled to be that performer, on and off the stage.

The words "rest in peace" were made for Michael Jackson.

A Tony Award that's not special enough anymore.

Nine years ago, the Tony Awards debuted a new award for Special Theatrical Event, to honor those shows that were slipping between the categorical cracks (like Contact in 2000, which won Best Musical, much to the shock of its own creators, who said so in their acceptance speech).

Earlier this week, the Tony Awards dropped it.

And everyone I know is wondering why.

The good money (and mine) points to the lack of consistent nominees in the category.  In the first year, there was only one nominee, and in three of the last nine years, there was no award given.

Could it also have been pressure to eliminate an award to slim down the telecast, allowing more time for the "creative awards"?  Could it be that the voters weren't attending these special shows (how many actually saw Soul of Shaolin)?

Whatever the reason, I'm going to miss the category.  Sure, I'll agree, if you can't even find one nominee 33% of the time, then obviously the category is a little thin.

But still . . . if we didn't have that category, then Elaine Stritch probably wouldn't have won a Tony Award.  And neither would Billy Crystal.  And Def Poetry Jam too. 

And Will Ferrell wouldn't even have been nominated (and therefore probably would have never showed up).

Despite the lack of a plethora of nominees, the category seemed to be working for me.  There were some tight races.  There were some emotional victories. 

And most importantly, there were some excellent performances and productions that deserved to be honored.

It will be a shame if the next Billy Crystal of Poetry Jam isn't.

The NEA has news for all of us. Spoiler Alert: it ain't good.

Five times over the past 25 years, the NEA and the US Census Bureau have surveyed adults in this country about their arts consumption and released the stats in what they call "the nation's largest and most representative periodic stuf of adult participation in arts events and activities."

The latest survey came out a week ago.

I wish I could be all rainbows and puppy dogs about the results, but unfortunately, I've gotta poop on our parade.

Here are some hard (to swallow) facts from the report:

Since 1982 . . .

• The number of adults attending musicals plays has dropped 10%. 
• The number of adults attending non-musicals plays has dropped 21%.
• The median age of adults attending musicals has increased by 6 years. 
• The median age of adults attending non-musicals plays has increased by 8 years. 
• The percentage of adults ages 18-24 attending musicals has dropped 13%.  
• The percentage of adults ages 18-24 attending non-musical plays has dropped 23%.  

To be honest, I didn't see one statistic that made me smile in the entire report.

If you want to read more of the report, click here.

We've got our work cut for us over the next 25 years, PPers.  We've got our work cut out for us.

But I'm game if you are . . . :-)

10 Things I learned about London

About a year ago, I blogged about three of the biggest differences I noticed about the London theater experience. Since I was there for a bit more time this visit, I was able to notice a few more things about the London theater experience that I thought were worth sharing.  

So here they are, in no bloomin' order!

1.  STANDING OVATIONS ARE HARDER TO COME BY.

It's not as easy getting a British audience to their feet (If you're curious, the quickest and biggest ovation I saw was for Priscilla).

2.  OLIVER IS THE UK ANNIE.

We may love Oliver here, but they LOVE IT, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH over there. You know how the Bald Eagle is the National Bird of the US?  Oliver is the National Musical of the UK.  (I also heard recently that the authors of Les Miz were inspired to write their epic after seeing Oliver.  Apparently, they wanted to write a French National Musical.)

3.  YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK ANYTHING IN THE THEATERS.

Take anything to your seat: ice cream, fancy pink drinks (Priscilla, again), even Coke brought in from outside (that was me).  Their theaters are older but they're happy to clean up after you if it makes you happy.

4.  CASUAL SHAKESPEARE IS MORE FUN.

In this country, Shakespeare seems to equal stuffy.  At The Globe, it was fun, and probably more authentic.

5.  SOMETIMES THE BRITS ARE SMARTER THAN WE ARE.

Look at this pic.  It looks like a standard cast board that you'd see in any theater, right?  Wrong.  It's actually a video cast board. In several theaters, the cast board and the understudy boards are on video monitors. More aesthetically pleasing, easier to edit, and cheaper in the long run.  Why don't all of our theaters have these?  I hate when we get beat.    

6.  BLOOMBERG LOVES LONDON.

Our mayor failed to get London's idea of congestion pricing passed, but he did manage to shut off traffic in Times Square.  Guess what other square doesn't have traffic?  Leceister Square.  I wonder what Bloomie will bring from Britain next?  Multiple TKTS booths, I hope.

7.  YOU CAN BUY ADVANCE DISCOUNT TICKETS AT TKTS.

Yep, they take the money anyway they can get it in the UK. If you're willing to offer a discount to your show for a future date, the TKTS booth will sell it for you.

8.  THE THEATERS ARE BIG.

Many of the larger theaters have room for large bar areas, where folks can sit, have a drink and socialize before their show.  It makes going to the theater more of an experience, to say the least.  At all of the shows I went to, the theaters let people in the building (but not to their seats), 1 hour before the show began.  I bet their bar revenues are bigger than ours.

9.  PRODUCERS OWN THEATERS AND ARE CELEBS.

Two of the largest theater owners in London are Cameron Macintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and you can feel their presence in their buildings.  And it helps that people actually know who they are (helped, no doubt, by their reality TV shows).  I also got a sense of a real attempt at keeping audience members within the theater chain.  Look at this picture of a wall of posters of shows. It was taken from inside the box office at, yes, Priscilla again, promoting all the shows playing at the Really Useful Group theaters.

10.  YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT TIME YOUR SHOW IS GOING TO START.

2 PM, 5 PM, 3 PM, 7:30, 8 PM, etc.  It's confusing and curious. 

And here's a bonus 11th thing I learned this trip . . .

11.  YOU KNOW WHAT?  I LIKE LONDON.

Maybe it's because I've been there a few times in the past few years, so I'm more comfortable finding my way around now. Maybe it's the fact that they speak English, so I don't feel like a tool because I'm uni-lingual.  

Or maybe I like London because there just seems to be theater on every bloomin' corner.