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I was recently asked about my theory on casting shows, especially when considering stars. Do I like one big blockbuster name? Or do I like to cast a "package" of lesser known names, but more of them?
In other words, if casting my show was like roulette, do I put my millions on one number, or do I spread it around?
Ideally, the way that I like to approach casting is the "buffet approach," which means there is someone in the cast that appeals to the many different demographics that might end up at my show. The more groups I can appeal to, the more potential there is for ticket sales.
For example, let's say my lead actor is someone that appeals to the primary 45+ female Broadway demo. I'm in great shape, right? So when considering who I'll cast around that lead, I might look for someone that appeals to the husbands of those 45+ females. So, when the female says to husband, "I wanna go see Ken's Show," the husband is more inclined to say yes.
But don't stop there. Maybe there's another name I can find that will appeal to a teen demographic. And maybe someone that can appeal to the teen's grandmother. And all of a sudden, I have a show that four people want to see, so the wife says, "Let's bring the whole family," and I've sold 4 tickets instead of 1.
The buffet approach . . . where no one goes hungry because there's an actor to satisfy everyone.
Of course, all of this calculation about casting must occur after asking yourself the following and most important question about casting anyone . . .
"Will they be any good?"
Because at the end of the day, you may get butts in seats with a certain name or with a package of names, but if they disappoint their audience, you'll be disappointed when you see your grosses.
(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)
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FUN STUFF
- Take the Broadway Investing 101 Seminar on May 3rd & May 17th! Click here!
- Win 2 tickets to see Blue Man Group Off Broadway. Enter the Sunday Giveaway here.
I tried to get into golf at least three times before I was twenty five. Just couldn't do it. I was way too impatient. I wanted more action. It was expensive. And it seemed like a "old guy's game."
In the last five years, I've picked it back up. And I've actually enjoyed it (!!!).
Golf, like wine, is one of those "acquired tastes." It's easier to enjoy and appreciate after you have a few decades under your belt.
Sure, there are a lot of young players that get into the game, but I'd bet the majority of new players every year are aged 45 and up. (I spent yesterday with an 87-year-old man who just picked it up last year and now plays every day.)
Could it be that theater is an acquired taste, as well? Aren't people more likely to start going to the theater more often once they have more disposable income, and maybe even more time . . . putting them in their 40s or 50s, after their jobs are more stable, their kids don't need babysitters, etc?
Makes sense, right?
So when we talk about "audience development," why do we automatically only think of getting kids to the theater?
I'll tell you why, because those kids are the audiences of 20 years from now, and it is essential to train them to enjoy the theater now . . . so they will see it and support it when they reach theatrical puberty.
But Marketing 101 says that if we want to develop a "new" audience in the near term we should focus on the group that is more inclined to come now . . . aka "the forties."
So in addition to an audience development program for young folks, we need an audience development program for middle-aged folks!
What could we do to reach this demo?
Is it partnerships with real estate companies that give everyone who buys a home two tickets to a show as part of their housewarming gift?
Maybe in addition to a Kids Night on Broadway, we need some kind of Take-a-40-Year-Old-to-Broadway initiative. It'd be like a Broadway buddy program where ambassadors get a free ticket to take a forty-ish friend that normally doesn't go to the theater to a show.
Singles events? 2nd marriage events? A direct mail to people who take fancy cruises?
How about . . . Get a prostate exam, get two tickets to a show?
(Ok, forgive the last one - I'm a teensy bit jet-lagged)
My point is that no one could have gotten me to even think about getting on the golf course 15 years ago. Now? If the right marketing initiative got in front of me, I'd buy the clubs, the balls, and maybe even the ugly sweaters.
There are lots of folks out there who are ready to acquire the taste of going to the theater. We just have to find them, and give them a reason to get started.
(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)
- - - - -
FUN STUFF
- Take the Broadway Investing 101 Seminar. Click here!
- Win 2 tickets to see Blue Man Group Off Broadway. Enter the Sunday Giveaway here.
The marketing gold star of the week goes to Theaterworks in Hartford, CT for reminding us that one way to get attention for your show is to look at what else your audience is paying attention to.
Check out this link.
Rather then sending their email subscribers the typicial, "Hey, we're doing A Steady Rain right now - you should come and see it - and oh, here's a discount because that's the most creative thing we can come up with right now," the marketing folks sent out a WikiLeaks email spoof called TheaterLeaks.
As you'll see when you click the link, it's a "cable" in the form of a Stage Management report that doubles as a marketing message about the fun, the laughs, the standing ovations, and that tickets are going fast.
I know, a whole lot of you are thinking, "smaarrrrrt."
It is smart. And it's smart for the following two reasons:
Cameron Mackintosh used to dress up his Cosette logos in Santa Claus hats at Christmas to try and keep his show seem current (and because the contrast of serious frenchie Cosette in "costumes" was just fun).
I've seen Tony congrats ads from shows, and most recently, even an email about The Royal Wedding (which I even blogged about on Monday).
Broadway shows can run for years. Keep saying the same things over and over and your audience will tune their attention to one of the many new shows that open each year.
But watching what else is capturing your audience's interest in the world outside of ours may just be the way to capture a few more ticket sales.
See the smaarrrrrt Theaterworks email here.
Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)
- - - - -
FUN STUFF
- Take the Broadway Investing 101 Seminar. Click here!
- Win 2 tickets to see Blue Man Group Off Broadway. Enter the Sunday Giveaway here.
Break out the thermometer and the Tylenol because I've got Tony Fever!
In just one week, all Hellzapoppin will break loose when the 2012 Tony Award nominees are announced live on NY1.
The prognosticators and theatrical handicappers have already started laying odds and placing bets on who is going home with Tony gold on June 12th. But in order to be up for the trophy, you've got to get nominated. And what many people forget is that a nomination (or lack thereof) can seal the fate for many a show that is holding onto their grosses, in hopes for the national exposure that a telecast Tony Award mention (or performance) will get them.
So who will be nominated?
I'm not going to even try to guess who the nominees will be in all the categories. It'd be too much like pin the tail on the Tony. Instead, I'm going to focus on two of the three awards that actually have an effect on the bottom line, Best Musical and Best Play (the other gross-affecting award is Best Revival of a Musical).
Here are my predictions . . . and remember, this is not who I think should be nominated, but who I think will be nominated:
Best Play
- Jersualeum
- Good People
- War Horse
And . . .
The fourth spot is always the tough one. I'd bet a pretty penny that the above three are locks. But what about the fourth spot? Possible contenders in my opinion are Motherf**ker with the Hat, Pitmen Painters and maybe even Brief Encounter. But when it comes down to it, the Nominators will forget those fall shows and nominate . . .
- Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.
Best Musical
- Book of Mormon
- The Scottsboro Boys
Those are the two locks in the musical category, and then the field is wiiiiide open. You've got Catch Me If You Can, Priscilla, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Baby It's You, Sister Act, Wonderland, People In The Picture, Elf, Women on the Verge . . . who said the new musical is dead?
But there are only two spots left! Who will be "Legally Blonded" this year? (Explanation: The Nominators tend to slap one commercial enterprise every year by snubbing them for the big award . . . Legally Blonde, Addams Family, Aida. I was shocked at the Blonde snub, so I turned it into a verb.)
And the third spot goes to . . . .
- Catch Me If You Can.
A classic, old-fasioned musical with a creative team like Catch Me's will not be overlooked.
The final and fourth slot?
- Bloody, Bloody, Andrew Jackson
Unfortunately, I think Priscilla, which is next in line for a nod, may be the Blonde of the year.
Now, I may be wrong about a bunch of these predictions.
But one thing I know for certain . . . if Spider-Man HAD opened this year, there is no way it would be have been nominated amongst this field.
Hmmmm . . . wait a minute . . . could that have been the reason for the final delay? Did the Producers of Spider-Man push it to next season in the hope that a bounty of new musicals this season could mean a lack in the next? Are they hoping that they could actually compete? Could be, could be . . .
What do you think of my predictions? Agree? Disagree? Who do you think will be nominated in this year's Tony Awards?
(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)
- - - - -
FUN STUFF
- Take the Broadway Investing 101 Seminar. Click here!
- Win 2 tickets to see Blue Man Group Off Broadway. Enter the Sunday Giveaway here.
Oh the royals, the royals, everybody is talking about the royals. Regardless of how stained with scandal the crown has been over the past decade, the wedding of Prince William and the future Princess Kate is still one of the most anticipated events of the last twenty years. Since Billy sprouted whiskers, everyone has been wondering when he'd take a bride.
And the time has finally come.
As I've been watching the preparations, I couldn't help but notice how the big day and Broadway have a blimey lot in common!
Here are four similarities:
1. Everyone loves an underdog.
Kate's a modern day Cinderella; a commoner plucked from obscurity who will soon wear a crown. It's the fantasy of just about every girl in the world (or at least the ones in my office), which is why it makes for such a wonderful story. Broadway loves when the hard-working, unheard-of hero gets his or her due, whether that's Annie or Jean Valjean or the kids on the Chorus Line. Why? Because if it can happen to them, maybe, just maybe, it can happen to us, too. (The ladies in my office have already turned their sights to Harry.)
2. Everyone loves a spectacle.
The dress, the church, the flowers . . . or in other words . . . the costumes, the sets, the props! Theatergoers and wedding guests alike have got a thing for the biggest and most beautiful. As Spider-Man has proven, if you build it BIG, they will come.
3. Not everyone can get in.
It's got limited seating and, therefore, is exclusive, which makes it that much more exciting. Just tonight I walked by the Book of Mormon and watched as 50 people in the cancellation line got turned away. Just watching them wait . . . made me want to see it again.
4. Everyone will want a t-shirt.
People like to commemorate memorable experiences, whether it's a show or a wedding, with . . . stuff. It reminds them of the fun they had, and it shows off that fun to their friends. Take a look at some of the . . . stuff . . . you can get to celebrate the wedding. Now take a look at some of the stuff you can get to celebrate Wicked.
Historical events are theatrical realism. What draws people to them is the same thing that draws people to the theater. We'd do well to create shows that have some of the same elements as these unforgettable moments in our history.
(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)
- - - - -
FUN STUFF
- Take the Broadway Investing 101 Seminar. Click here!
- Win 2 tickets to see Blue Man Group Off Broadway. Enter the Sunday Giveaway here.
One of the things I love about theater is that it's not permanent.
If you make a movie, you lock it down, and that's it. If you write a book, you publish it and it's done.
You can't make edits to either of those forms while they are out there in the world.
But a show can change . . . nightly.
You'd think that the creators of Blue Man Group would be satisfied enough with their 20 year run in NYC, their Intel commercials, and the countless companies all over the world to just sit back on some blue beach somewhere, sipping blue cocktails, and counting green money.
But nope, the revolutionary Blue Boys went back to their studio recently and cooked up some more super clever bits to make sure their show was still as cutting edge as it was when it debuted two decades go. And that's what being an artist is all about--always trying to be better.
And suprise, surprise, we've got two tickets for you to see the New Blue!
Here's how this week's giveaway is gonna work:
If you want tickets to see Blue Man Group, give me a comment below and imagine that it's 20 years from now, and Blue Man Group is still running, and they are going to change their name and their color.
What would you change them to?
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FUN STUFF
- Take the Broadway Investing 101 Seminar. Click here for dates in NYC and LA. Tuesday, April 26th - NYC -- SOLD OUT!
- Come to the Director-Writer Speed Date! RSVP here. SOLD OUT!
- I'm speaking at The Apple Store. Details here.
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