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

A star above the title . . . but not how you think.

Last week, in one of the biggest surprise announcements of the year, Elton John and partner David Furnish announced that they were joining the Broadway producing team of Next Fall.  

Before this announcement, many of us on the inside were wondering just how Next Fall, which lacks the marquee wattage of a Scarlett or a Denzel, would stand out in the year's busy Spring season.

Nabbing one of the biggest names in the entertainment industry is one way, that's for sure.

Celebrity producers have been around before, but ever since Oprah put her name above the title on The Color Purple (which put a lot of butts in the seats), putting the right producer on the right project has become a more sought-after way of gaining attention for our shows.

This fall, Fela! did it with Jay-Z and Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith (who have received a little critical drubbing for not stumping for the show like some of their counterparts).  Yet it still got a lot more attention for that show than it could have gotten on its own.

Whoopi Goldberg, who was a producer on Thoroughly Modern Millie, is also a Producer on the London and Broadway Bound Sister Act, which couldn't make more sense.  

Are these celebs investing actual dollars in the show?  Or are they investing the value of their names and their appearance at parties?  Only the show insiders know for sure, but I'd bet it's a little of both, depending on the project.

And whatever the case, as long as it's helping attract positive attention for your show and helping you break through the cluttered environment we work in, it's a win for all parties involved.

So when you're selling off places above your title, think about other names that might make sense for you and get you in a news cycle.

And it doesn't have to be the name of a person.

It was no secret that I was interested in moving the magnificent Our Town from Off-Broadway to Broadway last Fall.  One of my ideas was to get a bunch of small New England towns to go above the title.  Imagine . . . Sturbridge, Massachusetts, Brunswick, Maine and Stowe, Vermont present Our Town.  We would have had whole towns behind us!

Got a musical about Ice Cream?  You and Ben and Jerry present . . .

Got a play about Golf?  You and Tiger Woods present . . . 

Wait.  Scratch that.  Never mind.

There are more and more places on your production that you can turn into a marketing initiative than you can imagine.  Sometimes they're just not out in the open.

The great Producers never stop looking for them.  

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Gotta problem with star casting? Talk to Hugh Jackman.

I'm one of the lucky folk that got a couple of tickets to see A Steady Rain, and to be honest, that's only because I'm a Tony Voter. If I weren't a TV, I'm not sure I would have even tried to score seats to what is one of the most difficult tickets of the decade.  

(I mean, each one of these guys could have sold out a play on their own. Sort of seems like a waste having them in the same play!)  

At the end of this 90 minute Hunk-O-Mania, Hugh stopped the thunderous ovation to begin his BC/EFA fundraising speech.   

He started it with this question . . .

"How many of you are here tonight seeing your very first Broadway show?"

At least 100 hands shot up.

Star casting has taken a lot of swipes over the years, and believe me, I've had my issue with a number of no-talents that have struggled their way through a Broadway play or musical.

But the right stars could be doing more to develop new audiences than we could ever do on our own.

What happened after Hugh's question?  He and Daniel proceeded to live-auction-off signed t-shirts and backstage visits and photos, all to benefit BC/EFA.  They raised over $20k in about 10 minutes.

Thanks for joining us on Broadway, guys.  And thanks for your incredible generosity to the community. 

Today's audiences are lucky to have you . . . and so are tomorrow's.  

Three reasons why Glee is great.

There is no question that Glee is great for Broadway.  Here are three reasons why I love it:

1.  IT PUTS BROADWAY PEEPS TO WORK

The transition from theater to television is a lot more difficult now than it was in the early days of both industries.  Look at how many great Broadway actors are out there that you haven't seen headlining in movies and piloting pilots.

And then along comes a show like Glee, and the casting directors can't get enough from our pool: Lea Michele, Matt Morrison, Jonathan Groff, John Lloyd Young, Debra Monk and more.  

The longer it runs, the more our folks will get a chance to lend their talents and their pipes to that program.  And then they'll hopefully come back to Broadway and bring some fans with them.  

2.  IT PUTS SHOWTUNES NEXT TO POP TUNES

"Where Is Love," "Tonight," "I Could Have Danced All Night," and "Sit Down You're Rockin' The Boat," are just a few of the showtunes featured on Glee, and these classics are smacked right up next to songs like "Can't Fight This Feeling," "Rehab," and "Single Ladies."  

The line between pop and showtunes is being blurred.  

Who knows, maybe we'll go back to the days when major rock bands like, oh, I don't know, The Beatles, sang showtunes when looking to make a big splash on television.

3.  IT PUTS SINGING INTO STORIES

So often I hear people say, "I just don't get musicals.  People start singing.  What the?  People just don't do that!"

For the most part, Glee chose the Jersey Boys model (or Altar Boyz model, for that matter) where the musical numbers are actual performances and not "sung scenes."  Still, having a show like Glee helps audiences get used to the fact that music can be incorporated seamlessly into entertainment.
 

The movie musical has helped Broadway significantly over the past decade, with shows like Hairspray, Chicago, Phantom and Rent ALL adding years to their runs (and millions to their box offices) thanks to their movie counterparts.

Broadway now seems to be making its way into television, in a subtler way, but in a way nonetheless.

Let's hope shows like Glee continue to merge the two mediums.

The 50 Most Powerful People on Broadway

Patrick Lee, a fellow blogger and member of the ITBA, as well as the guy in NYC who sees more theater than anyone I know, published a byline this AM on BroadwaySpace titled, "The 50 Most Powerful People on Broadway."

Fun!

Patrick spoke to a bunch of Bway insiders, in order to determine who really is pulling the curtain on The Great White Way.

Click here to read the article.  It's fascinating!

The old theater mags, like TheaterWeek and InTheater, used to publish lists like these annually.  They were my favorite columns of the year.  It was always fun seeing who had the juice.

But you know what's even more fun?  

Taking a look at the list one year later, and seeing just who rose in the ranks, who fell, who appeared, and who disappeared completely.

Maybe we can get Patrick to do it again next year.

The real stars get stepped on.

I stepped on Big Bird today. And Thomas Edison. And even Pat Sajak (I enjoyed that one).

Yep, while in LA I took a walk down Hollywood Boulevard on the wondrous Walk of Fame. It's quite a big deal, you know. They have a big to-do when you get your star. And then people take pictures of it (even if they don't know who you are). And it gets a wikipedia entry.

And it's brilliant marketing.

Why don't we have we have a walk of fame? Anyone out there reading that controls that bit of real estate known as Shubert Alley? Or what about down our namesake street itself?

Seems like the perfect place to put down some permanent markers for our biggest stars, no? (We actually have a theater hall of fame, but it's at the Gershwin Theater, so only the Wicked audiences get to gaze on the names of the inductees).

I know what you're saying . . . that most people don't know our stars like they know Hollywood stars, so it wouldn't be as exciting since we don't have an "Elvis".

But that's my point. By creating a public and permanent honor we are saying to the world, "Hey, these people are significant, so you should pay attention . . . and take pictures".

You don't think that people would? Then try this:

Go out into the streets. Stop on the sidewalk and look up . . . at nothing. Soon enough, someone will walk up next to you, stop, and stare straight up in the air wondering what the heck you're looking at.

You can't tell your audience to pay attention. You have to do things that demonstrate that your art form deserves attention.

Do that, and your audiences will pay attention . . . and full price.

I was a Cub scout today.

And here's my merit badge to prove it.

There are two kinds of stars.

One that sells tickets and one that doesn't. 

And believe it or not, the one that doesn't sell tickets isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Have you ever wondered why a show cast a certain celebrity?  Have you ever said to yourself, "Why on earth would (insert Producer's name here) cast someone from an 80s TV series when they have no talent?" 

Here's are the two types of stars in our universe:

1. There's the type of star who sells a ticket regardless of the show, i.e. Madonna in Meet Me In St. Louis, or Jim Carrey in Barnum (my casting dream).  Obviously the costs associated with this type of star are high, because guess what?  If you know the star is going to sell tickets regardless of the show, then the star's agent knows it too.
2. The second type of star is the one that may not sell tickets right away, but one that gets press, and therefore gets the show editorial content which they may not have otherwise received, i.e. Jason Priestly in Falsettos or a Survivor finalist in The Crucible (my casting nightmare).  This type of star is often used in "stunt casting" to help get a show back in the papers.  They are also intended to be the straw that breaks the customer's back when the customer is deciding whether or not to make a purchase.  They add value to the show because of their name recognition so the customer can run back to Wichita and say they saw a show with "That guy from that show with the zip code.  You know, the old version of the OC."  These stars are much more cost effective, since they are not in as high of a demand, and because they usually are looking to use Broadway as a booster rocket for their career.

When you see celebrities in shows, try and determine whether or not they are Star #1 or Star #2. 

And when you're doing a show, try to not use one at all. 

More Breaking News About Elaine's Hair!

My apologies to one of my faithful readers who emailed me about my post congratulating Theater Talk for standing up to Elaine Stritch's demand for payment of her hair expenses.

It turns out that Theater Talk isn't the only one who refused to pay for Elaine's hair.

Here's the scoop:

In 2002, Elaine appeared at  The Drama League Awards.  She requested payment of her hair bill in advance.  They refused.

So, WDED?  (What did Elaine do?)

She protested the "frugality" of the show by showing up in curlers!  

Pictures below provided by my anonymous tipster:

 

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Booya! Elaine Got Called Out!

Someone finally stood up to Elaine Stritch and her expense antics.  Read about it in The Post 

 here.

I laughed out loud when I read this today, because it brought back a lot of memories.  

As the  former Associate Company Manager for the Broadway production of Livent's Show Boat, I can tell you that a lot of these exact same bills crossed my desk every week.  If Elaine went outside of the hotel room where she lived, we got charged for hair, limo, massages, the works.

My favorite Elaine memory was the day I got a letter from her with a receipt for close to $200 from Orso, at least six months after she left the show.  There was a note attached.  "Dear Steve," (she called me Steve, don't ask me why), "Garth  and I were supposed to have dinner this week, but he canceled his trip.  So . . . he told me to have dinner on him.  Here's the bill."

The real funny part?  We were instructed to pay it.  Maybe that's one of the reasons the company that produced some of the  grandest productions of its time went bankrupt. 

You gotta love Elaine.  Talented and ballsy. 

Maybe she should give up acting and produce, with mad skills like that.  I'd like to see what she would do if someone submitted hair bills to her.

And good for Michael Riedel of The Post (and of  Theater Talk) for slipping this tidbit to Page 6 on the other side of his office.