Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

This blog is for all the nervous parents of theater majors out there . . .

. . . and here's a spoiler . . . I didn't write it.

The blog was emailed to me by about three people . . . and I have a rule, whenever three or more people give me the same comment about anything, a show, a restaurant, or even a friend, I take heed.  

Before I get to that blog . . . 

There's a Dean of Drama at a university who makes a speech on orientation day for incoming freshmen and their jittery parents, who are afraid their children will end up waiting tables for the rest of their lives instead of taking the road more followed and becoming a doctor or . . . ick . . . a lawyer . . . or something just as "safe".  

The Dean gives it to them straight . . . and tells them how a very small percentage of their graduates actually end up working in the theater.  Just when half of the parents are about to demand tuition refunds, he goes on to read some of the other gigs that they got instead.  Some were politicians, salesmen, and some, even, were lawyers.

The blog that I didn't write, but am linking to below is called 10 Ways Being A Theatre Major Prepared Me for Success . . . and it reminded me of that very smart Dean.

A lot of people out there think that theater training is a joke.

Well, I got news for those ignorant folks.  We live in the biggest theater of them all, and we are just players.

Sure, we theater majors may not be able to perform surgery . . . be we can still get straight to your heart.

Read the blog here.

 

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Favorite Quotes Vol. XXXI: Let Shakespeare entertain you. Let him make you smile.

I talked to an angry author a couple of weeks ago, who was irritated that his “important” play had not attracted a wider audience.  I tried to explain in the nicest of all possible ways, but like his play, I also failed.  Then I stumbled upon this quote from Robert Greene's book that summed it up so much better than I ever could.

"Shakespeare is the most famous writer in history because, as a dramatist for the popular stage, he opened himself up to the masses, making his work accessible to people no matter what their education and taste."

It’s like a comedy of errors that Shakespeare is considered one of the great geniuses in the history of the written word, when his primary objective was to entertain. Obviously his work went way beyond making people laugh, cry and get angry, but he never let any message get in the way of the entertainment.  His plays are like a perfect cake – with delicious and beautiful frosting on the outside, but underneath is where the real buttery goodness begins. 

Writers today who forget why people go to the theater in the first place and put message first run the risk of having less people hear their voice.  There’s nothing wrong with that style, of course.  It’s the choice of the artist.  But you can’t complain when no one comes. 

The quote also made me wonder . . . 500 years from now, who will be considered a Shakespeare?  Stoppard?  Sorkin?  Stephen King? 

What writers today will be remembered tomorrow for their “baking” ability?

 

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Favorite Quotes Vol. XXX: How risk in real estate is related to us.

I was chatting with a very unqiuely intelligent two graduate-degreed guy today.  The degrees?  An MBA and an MD.  Yep, a Doctor who could tell you how to live an extra ten years, and then tell you how much those ten years will cost you.

He told me a story about his first class in Biz School, which focused on investing in real estate, whether that meant your own home, or something you were looking to flip.  He said one of the very first things the Prof. said was . . .

If you're not sweating just a little bit each month to make your mortgage payment, you didn't risk enough when you made your purchase.

This quote hit 'home' for me, because when I bought my apartment 15 years ago, I could have had a much bigger place for just a bit more.  I could have made it work, but it would have been a little tougher to make the payments, and I didn't want to risk it.  Well, 15 years later, that other apartment increased in value a lot more than my current apartment.  But I wanted to play it safe, and live comfortably, rather than challenge myself just a bit.  

And I lost out because of it.

It's a great real estate lesson . . . but isn't this quote also true about in everything in life?

If you want to do big things, whether that's write a musical, produce a play, make money in the stock market, or heck, even have a wonderful marriage and family  . . . do you think you're going to get it without a little bit of sweat on your brow every once in a while?  You think you can achieve your dream without that little nauseous knot in your stomach every so often  . . . you know, the one that scares the crap out of you . . .  but also makes you work a little harder to make sure you do get what you want?

Everyone gets scared.  And everyone sweats.

What that Biz Professor was saying, and what I am repeating, is that if you're not sweating, that's when you should really be scared.  

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Favorite Quotes Vol. XXIX: What does Microsoft have to do with us?

Poor Microsoft.  They just can't seem to do anything right these days.

Actually, that's not true.  They just can't seem to do anything first these days.

CNN had a great piece on the fall of Microsoft last week, and believe it or not, I found it relevant to Broadway.  The article described how this monster of a company, that led the charge into the computer age, has since fallen to the back of the pack, while their old competitor, Apple (whom they had previously easily bested), and their new competitor Google, jumped out in front.

Microsoft is getting beaten in search, in tablet computing, and, mark my words, Microsoft Office lovers, they will soon be beaten in software, when cloud office docs take off (my office recently dropped Outlook for Google Apps Gmail, and while it may not be the exact same experience, it's free, it's updated constantly, and it takes up no space on my servers.  That's 10 versions of Outlook right there . . . in one office.).

When asked why she thought Microsoft had fallen back, Analyst Laura DiDio gave us this gem . . .

In this age, the race really is to the swift. You cannot afford to be an hour late or a dollar short.

Now, I'm not sure about the dollar part.  I think a lot can be done with less in 2010 than twenty years ago, as long as you can make up for the cash in creativity.

But I do think Laura is so right on the moolah with the first part of her statement.  Because of the speed that modern technology allows, it's more imperative than ever that if you have a great idea for a piece of software or for a TV series or a new private sale solution for Off-Broadway shows (!), you act on it right away, before some else does.

Don't sacrifice quality, however.  You know what happened to Friendster when they jumped out too fast. (And if you don't know what Friendster is, I've proved my point).

Complacent companies (Microsoft) and industries (Broadway) can no longer sit back and let the customers come to them.  

The information age affords us the opportunity to be faster than ever before.  

And if we don't take that opp, someone else will.

 

 

Favorite Quotes Vol. XXVIII: How to plan publicity.

Cameron Mackintosh is to Broadway what Henry Ford was to automobiles.

The Mac Man came on to the scene in the '80s, and revolutionized how our shows were made, marketed, and merchandised.

So to quote a marketing phrase from the '80s, when he speaks, I listen.  

There was a nifty article about the 25th anniversary of Les Miz in the London Telegraph yesterday that had a great honest quip from Sir Mackintosh about how to get great press.

He was remarking on how Susan Boyle's YouTube shattering performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" (almost 50 million views) put Les Miz back on the map, and gave it a "popular" hit, which reignited interested in the classic show.  When talking about the unplanned performance, he said:

It was the publicity shot anyone would dream of, although of course it would never happen if you tried to make it a publicity stunt.

We've talked about this idea before when it comes to creating viral videos, and the same theory applies to press.  What gets a show press is not a press agent, so stop blaming them if you can't get your show in the NY Times.  What gets press is a great story.  And great stories are true, organic, and emotional. 

A press agent is just the conduit between the story and the outlet.  A press agent is like the fleet-footed messenger bringing news from the General to those on the front lines.  Yes, some run faster.  Yes, some know shorter routes to the right people.

But if the news about your product isn't worthy, no one will listen to them, no matter how fast they are.

Was Cameron telling us that we shouldn't even try to get a Boyle-sized press hit for our show?  No.  He was just suggesting that the best press stunt isn't a stunt at all.  It's a story.

And stories require Producers, not press agents.  

Favorite Quotes Vol. XXVII: The man behind Spider-Man.

Looks like I'm not the only one who had Spider-Man on his mind this week.

Patrick Healy wrote a great piece on Michael Cohl, the impresario behind Spider-Man, that appeared in yesterday's NY Times (now that everyone reads the Times online, can we kill the phrase "in the Times" already?  It's really, "on the Times" now, right?).

The Times feature is the first real glimpse into the mind of the man who took on this super-heroic project last year.  It's no coincidence that this exclusive appeared just 24 hours before the creative team (including Julie Taymor, U2 and the actor-formerly-known-as-Reeve-Carney-now-to-be-know-as-Spider-Man) made an appearance on Good Morning America.

The article would have been interesting even if Mr. Cohl wasn't producing Spider-Man.  It tells the tale of his rise to super-entrepreneur after dropping out of high school and facing an empty wallet many, many times in his illustrious career.  And now, he's behind the biggest Broadway musical ever.  Ever.  (He admits in the article that the budget is now up to $60 million.)

You know what's cool?  In the age of these super-sized budgets, and the influx of corporations into our business, our biggest production ever will be produced old-school-style . . . by one man.  

There are a few great soundbytes in the article, so I urge you all to read it yourself.

But the one I liked is the one that answers the question that all of us have been thinking since it was announced . . . "Are you nuts?  Why?"

Mr. Cohl answers unabashedly . . .

I got involved because I believed deeply in three artists:  Bono, Edge, Julie.  But there have been moments over the last year when I said, 'This isn't doable,' when I went home and thought: 'What am I doing?  I could be on a beach in Florida."

He knows it's a crazy enterprise.  But hey, so was that time he booked a 17,000 seat auditorium and didn't sell enough tickets to pay the band.  And he survived.  He'll survive this too, no matter what happens.  

Besides, he's passionate about artists and entertaining people.  Isn't that why we all do what we do?

Don't we all hope that we can find someone who is willing to break all the rules because they believe in us?

Here's to Mr. Cohl, and here's to you, for NOT being on a beach in Florida.  

Read the full article here.  

This blog written by the President of the United States.

Last night, some of Broadway's Best were invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to perform as part of the White House Music Series.  Nathan Lane, Elaine Stritch and Jerry Mitchell were just a few of the names that helped entertain the President, his family, and all the other West Wingers invited to the show.

Before the entertainment began, Mr. Potus shared a few words of his own about what Broadway means to him, and to the country.

And well, I think I'll just let him take it from here.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.  (You don't have to stand)
 

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, everybody.  Everybody, please have a seat.  Let’s put on a show.  (Laughter.)  Welcome to the White House.  I am just thrilled, and I know Michelle is thrilled, to host the sixth in a series of evenings celebrating the music that helped to shape America. 

Now, so far we have heard from some of the biggest names in jazz, in country, in Latin, classical, and the music of the civil rights movement.  And tonight we are honored to be joined by some of the biggest and brightest stars on Broadway.

And I notice -- I should just point out that I see a lot of members of the New York delegation here.  (Laughter.)  They take great pride in Broadway.  I want to start by thanking George C. Wolfe and Margo Lion for making this event possible.  So please give them a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  And I want to thank all of tonight’s performers for sharing their gifts with us.  They are just so generous with their time, and this will be a wonderful evening.

I also want to recognize my outstanding Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, who is in the house.  Here she is right here.  (Applause.)  As well as the other members of the administration  -- thank you guys for the hard work you do each and every day.  

Thank you to the National Endowment for the Arts, and the President’s Council on the Arts and the Humanities for their continued support.

And I finally want to recognize Jerry Mitchell and everybody who participated in the dance workshop earlier this afternoon and helped inspire the next generation of performers -- as well as my wife -- to do a few dances.  (Laughter.)  She was showing off backstage.

Now, as we’re about to see this evening, there’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music.  At its heart, it’s the power of a story -– of love and of heartbreak; of joy and sorrow; singing witches, dancing ogres.  Musicals carry us to a different time and place, but in the end, they also teach us a little bit of something about ourselves.  It’s one of the few genres of music that can inspire the same passion in an eight-year-old that it can an 80-year-old –- and make them both want to get up and dance.  It transcends musical tastes, from opera and classical to rock and hip-hop.  And whether we want to admit it or not, we all have the lyrics to a few Broadway songs stuck in our heads.  (Laughter.)   

In many ways, the story of Broadway is also intertwined with the story of America.  Some of the greatest singers and songwriters Broadway has ever known came to this country on a boat with nothing more than an idea in their head and a song in their heart.  And they succeeded the same way that so many immigrants have succeeded -– through talent and hard work and sheer determination.

Over the years, musicals have also been at the forefront of our social consciousness, challenging stereotypes, shaping our opinions about race and religion, death and disease, power and politics. 

But perhaps the most American part of this truly American art form is its optimism.  Broadway music calls us to see the best in ourselves and in the world around us -– to believe that no matter how hopeless things may seem, the nice guy can still get the girl, the hero can still triumph over evil, and a brighter day can be waiting just around the bend.

As the great Mel Brooks once said, musicals “blow the dust off your soul.”  So to everyone watching, both here and at home, here’s a taste of Broadway to help us do just that.

Thank you very much, everybody.  (Applause.) 

Favorite Quotes Vol. XXVI: How to get young audiences to see your show.

It's been 9 months since the theater-owner line up was shaken up big time when young gun, Jordan Roth, was called up to head the Jujamcyn Organization.

New York Magazine checked in on the young turk in a fantastic feature published a week or so ago, that describes how Jordan plans to take the theater into the 21st century (yes, I know we're technically already in the 21st century, but the theater has a habit of lagging behind, so in my mind, it's still 1998).  

So what is Jordan's advice on getting the younger audience to the theater?  He sums it up like this:

"What I believe in is product. Don’t waste your time trying to figure out how to get a young audience to see The Music Man. If you want a young audience, don’t f*cking do The Music Man.”

Great quote, right?  It's definitely hot enough to qualify for this FQ column. 

But it was Jordan's final comments in the article that really resonated for me.

"The shows that change the world do it because they offer something you haven't seen before."

Unique product is the key to any industry and any art form.  Marketing is great and fine and important and all that bologna and cheese.  I mean, give me a show, and I'll market the bejesus out of it with promotions and advertising and stunts and more.

But if you really want to be successful?  Give us something that we don't even know we need . . . but once we get a taste of it, we can't get enough and don't know how we ever lived with out it.
 

Read the feature here to learn about Jordan's renovation plans, how he chooses product, and the secret door that leads to the St. James Theater.

Favorite Quotes Vol. XXV: The definition of frugality.

The biz page of The NY Times had an interesting article the other day about pharmaceutical giant Teva, a company that doesn't have the brand name of a Pfizer or a Merck, but is the biggest generic drug maker in the world.

The opening of the article described how its competitors' (mentioned above) executives both had private planes to shuttle them on both corporate and personal trips.  The CEO of Teva, however, flies commercial flights when traveling domestically in the US and when he heads overseas?  He flies business, not first.  And Teva is a company with a market capitalization of 51.92 BILLION bucks!

There were two quotes that jumped out at me that all of us can learn from.  The first was from Ronny Gal, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein who said this about their travel methods: "The day they get their own plane, is the day I downgrade them."

But it was William S. Marth, the biz class travelling CEO who said the sound bite of the article for me.  

When describing the company's incredible success over the past decade (their profits have jumped from 135.5 million to a whopping 2 billion dollars), along with his business practices up and down the balance sheet, Mr. Marth had this to say . . .

"Frugality doesn't mean doing less.  It means doing as much or more with less."

There's a big difference between cheap and frugal.  

You don't want to be cheap.  

But when faced with a business that has economics like ours, frugality is a necessity.  

(Not So) Favorite Quotes Vol. XXIV: Won't you be my neighbor?

One of the couples on my floor loves the theater.  They go on a regular basis, have great taste, and are always asking me for recommendations on shows to see.

Oh, and get this . . . they always pay full price.  (insert "whoopee!" here)

Last week, I ran into them in the elevator and they told me they were on their way to see Red.  I started asking them my usual string of mini focus group questions:  how they heard about Red, if they could describe the artwork, and then I landed on my finale of, "Where do you go to get your tickets?"

Their answer was Telecharge . . . but then the husband's eyes widened and I could tell he wanted to share some sort of secret.  Here's what he said:

"Yep.  We buy on Telecharge.  And pay full price.  But we never buy in advance."

My heart sunk . . . and I kind of wanted them to move to another building.

He continued:

"Yeah.  We find we get better seats when we buy last minute. Whenever we try to get something in advance, we always get crap. But if we go online the day before or even the day of, we usually find gold."

When I heard this, I wanted to move . . . to Tallahassee. There's something wrong with a ticketing purchase process that reinforces full-price buyers to wait until pulling the trigger.  

So what's the problem?

There are probably a few issues at work here, but I'd bet a couple of full-price tickets to Red that the issue most at work is that theaters and shows are holding too many of their best locations for House Seats, etc.  House Seats (or quality locations held for use by the Producers, Theatre Owners, Actors, Designers, etc.) that are not used get dumped back into the general pool of available seats 2-3 days before each performance, which is why there is sometimes a flood of good seats available closer to the performance.  My neighbor was probably getting the tickets held for the Set Designer, or one of the Principal Actors, etc.

The problem is . . . there are so many people that have House Seats in their contracts, that up to 75 prime orchestra seats can be held . . . for every performance.  I mean, is the Set Designer or Principal Actor really going to use 2 or 4 seats every night???   

In survey after survey, our audiences tell us that the #1 thing that they want is a great seat . . . and we're holding them back.  

By serving our own selfish needs, we're causing our customers to do one of three things:

- Not buy at all (there's really no better seat than on your own couch).

- Wait until something better opens up, thereby decreasing our ability to build advances.

- Find better locations elsewhere . . . translation:  they are going to brokers.

That last one is the most ironic.  Everyone in our biz has been concerned about the huge amount of business going to third party ticket brokers.

Well . . . news flash:  we're part of the reason our audiences are seeking them out.  

We've got to find a way to give our customers as much access to the best seats possible.  And one of those ways is to decrease the number of house seats we all hold.

Then, after we've decreased the number of house seats . . . we can start charging for them.  (For more on house seats, click that link)