The folks at 2AMt (AKA 2am Theatre) recently asked me to participate in a podcast about the ever-evolving world of social media. And, since it's a hard subject to get me to shut up about . . . I did!
You can listen through iTunes here, and you'll hear what I used to do at the mall when I was 10.
If you're not familiar with the work that David L. and his army of 2AMers are doing over there, check it out. They are part of the revolution.
I feel like a proud papa sending out a birth announcement. And while the gestation of this offspring didn't take nine months, at times it sure felt like it! (Then again, I'm about as patient as a kid on Christmas Eve.)
On January 26th, I wrote a blog about the Top 10 Broadway and Theater iPhone apps, only to find out that there weren't even 10 to choose from.
So, my staff and I hit the whiteboard and came up with some ideas, and I also put a call out to all of you for your ideas, and said that if I found one that we liked, we'd make it . . . and share the profits.
Well, lo and behold, my staff . . . and several of you (you know who you are) . . . expressed interest in an iPhone app that tells you what's available at the TKTS® booth, and at what price, etc.
So, we made it!
Introducing . . . The At The Booth™app, your guide to what's half-price on Broadway today! Download it now!
At The Booth™includes:
The app has been on soft-launch for a couple of weeks, and we've gotten great feedback already. We gave a few away to some folks in Times Square and here's what they had to say . . .
"This is exactly what I was looking for. It helped me plan my day better and I knew I was going to save money." - Karen, Texas
"If I can find out in advance that a show is available, I'll come to TKTS® more often, because I know my trip down won't be wasted." - Tom, NYC
So, if you've ever wanted to know what was up at the booth before you got in line (or even while you're in line), download the app today. It's a must-have for any savvy Broadway and Off-Broadway theatergoer.
Get it here.
Special thanks to my staff, especially Melissa and Blair, who supervised the development, and special thanks to all of you who submitted your fantastic ideas for all different types of apps. You helped inspire us to make something where there was nothing before. Now, if you've got another idea for an app (or a dog food, a book, and hey, even a musical), go make it. It ain't brain surgery.
(And while you're downloading apps, don't forget you can get my blog in app form as well. Get The Producer's Perspective blog app here. I'm funnier on an iPhone. Really. It's true. If you were reading this on your phone, you would have laughed . . . a lot.)
The thermometer hit 100 degrees last week, which can only mean one thing . . . it's Fringe time, baby!
This post is a revival of a post I did last year about the 10 shows that grabbed my attention as I flipped through the Fringe Festival catalog of shows.
With over 200 shows in each year's festival, the challenge facing all the writers and producers out there is getting their shows to stand out in a catalog that looks more cluttered than a NYC diner menu (does anyone ever order the Broiled Boston Scrod Filet at these places?). So how do you get a Producer's and a Ticket Buyer's attention with just a 100-word blurb?
Rather than just babble on about what I think makes a good blurb, I thought I would 'show not tell' by showing you which 10 shows stood out to me as I flipped through the catalog.
Here we go, in alpha order.
1. 23 Feet in 12 Minutes: The Death and Rebirth of New Orleans
Katrina is still on so many of our minds, especially in light of what that area of the country is now facing. This docu-drama based on "interviews with over 60 Katrina survivors" sounds like it has the potential to educate and thrill, simultaneously. Most audiences only witnessed Katrina on TV. This show could get them closer. And that's intriguing.
The beginning of the Bunked blurb starts like this . . . "Sponsored by LogoTV, Bunked . . . " They had me at Logo. I'm not sure of the depth of this "sponsorship," but a Fringe level show garnering any kind of attention from a cable network will certainly get attention from an audience. Plus it takes place at a camp. I mean, come on, camps are just funny. Meatballs, Wet Hot American Summer, Friday the 13th. Oh. Wait a minute. www.bunkedthemusical.com
Got Milk? Then you'll probably get tickets to Dear Harvey. There's nothing wrong with allowing the popularity of another form of entertainment to help you find your audience, as long as what you're doing is unique and presents the material in a new and interesting way. After Guitar Hero, there was Rock Band. After Coke, there was Pepsi. And after Academy Award-winning Milk, comes Dear Harvey, which promises to tell you some stories that the movie couldn't. www.diversionary.org
4. Faye Lane's Beauty Shop Stories
Christopher Durang may have started the "put the title character in the title" trend with Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All To You, but this show sounds like a fun addition to the canon (along with another show heading to NYC this fall). In addition to the 'teasing' title (get it - beauty shop - tease), the blurb offers a great quote from NY Magazine and screams out IN CAPS, "BEDAZZLING TRUE STORIES! HILARIOUS SONGS! FREE PRIZES!" The free prize line is what got me. People love free, but what people love even more is unique, and free prizes definitely make this show sound different from all the rest.
The best marketers on the planet will tell you to lead with your strongest asset, or, in cliche-speak, always put your best foot forward. Have A Nice Life certainly took that advice when composing their blurb. Rather than start with what their show is about (a musical group therapy session), the first sentence starts with, "Direct from a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe . . . " It continues with quotes, but the words 'sold-out' combined with the reputable EF made me sit up in my chair and circle this show. www.nicepeopletheatre.org.
Do you know who Terryl Daluz and Mann Alfonso are? Me neither. But they were given an NAACP Theatre Award for Best Playwright. And that makes them important. Awards, even if they're not from organizations as esteemed as the NAACP, always attract audiences. And where there is an audience, a Producer will soon follow. If you're a writer, try to win something while you wait for a production. Enter the many playwrighting competitions online. Doors will open faster for you with somebody's, anybody's, seal of approval. www.masksproductions.com
"WARNING: This play contains nudity." Need I say more? Yes, lines like this will turn off a few folks (although probably not many Fringe festival attendees), but a Warning, or a Not For All Viewers disclaimer has a way of getting people . . . er . . . titillated . . . into buying a ticket. www.mobiustheplay.com
Chicago was a much maligned musical before it was revived on Broadway in 1996. Since then, every Producer I know has combed through the catalogs of old shows, looking for the next musical that could be rediscovered and prove to be more valuable now than it was when it originally opened. Platinum is a musical with a book co-written by Hollywood Squares and Academy Awards writer, Bruce Vilanch, and UnsungMusicalsCo., Inc. has revised it for this year's Fringe. www.platinumthemusical.com
People like what they know, and most people know A Separate Peace. It has been screaming for a stage adaptation (I hear there's a musical in the works). Add in a quote from the LA Times, and this show says, "Come down and say hello," just like an old friend you haven't seen in awhile. www.aseparatepeace.info
Did you ever have a swearing jar? I bet someone around you did. There's something about this title that we can all understand, and that is inherently funny. And once again, a title does half the show's marketing for them. That makes me F***ing interested. Ahh, darn it. Here's a quarter. www.thebridgetheatrecompany.com.
So there you have it. This year's 10 stand-out shows (with honorable mentions to My Broken Brain, The Morning After/The Night Before and Veritas).
For tickets and info on all the shows in the Fringe, visit www.fringenyc.org today.
Now, it's important to note, that these are the shows that stand out to me from a marketing perspective. I have no idea whether they'll be any good. These are just the shows that have great potential to get butts in seats.
Then we'll see what they can do with those butts.
(Hmmmm, this blog could be retitled, "The strangest sign off line in the history of blogs.")
We're halfway through the first year of the Davenport Developmental Reading Series, and we've had two great dramas so far.
So what do you do after you've been through the Civil War and a violent psychological thriller?
You play Bingo!
Next up on September 13th is a new comedy from the midwest's Ian Kennedy about that famed form of legalized church gambling known as Bingo (not to be confused with the Off-Broadway musical of the same name from several years ago).
Now I'll admit . . . I got semi-obsessed with bingo on a cruise several years back. It rained 5 out of the 7 days, so Bingo was about all that we could do (except watch the movie version of Titanic which they played in the lounge - no lie - they played Titanic - on a cruise ship).
Here's what this Bingo is about . . .
"There is nothing fiercer than a game of Bingo. Tensions are high and competition FIERCE. In Mr. Kennedy’s new play BINGO!, amidst the competition, gossip flourishes and secrets are revealed. Who knew a Bingo game could contain hidden sexualities, illicit affairs, matching heart-shaped tattoos, AND good luck dollies?"
I even hear there is a touch o' interactivity involved.
Sounds fun to me. I'll be there. Will you?
For more about the reading series, including how to submit, click here or visit www.DavenportTheatrical.com.
The first play in the Davenport Developmental Reading Series, Alex Webb's Civil War drama, Amelia, was, well, as much fun as Civil War Dramas can be.
We had a great time, learned a lot, and the post-reading survey results on the play demonstrated that Alex was really on to something. I look forward to giving you updates on what he's up to next with the play.
It's already time for the second date in our free reading series. This time, we found our writer north of the border. Steven Owad hails from Calgary, Canada.
And next Monday, June 14th at 8 PM, at the Mint Theater thousands of miles from his home, some great actors will read his new play, Heartland.
Steven describes Heartland as "a drama about three men on the brink of self-destruction in middle America. Loners in a small community, they form a deadly triangle tempered by violence, revenge and a ruthless alpha-male need for control."
I describe Heartland as a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode . . . before Vincent D'Onofrio shows up.
The reading of Heartland will be directed by another kanuck, Mr. Stafford Arima, known for Altar Boyz, Tin Pan Alley Rag, and an Olivier nominee for the West End Ragtime. Stafford was also lucky enough to be the first to get his directorial mitts on Carrie, when he staged the reading of that horror show earlier this year.
Stafford got some great actors to play the three alpha males in Heartland, including Greg Stone (Pirate Queen, Miss Saigon, Les Miz), Peter Lockyer (South Pacific, Phantom, La Boheme) and Wes Seals (The Quest for Fame, Sex Drugs & Rock 'n Roll).
Seating is very limited so if you'd like to come and support a new writer and his work, RSVP ASAP to rsvp@davenporttheatrical.com. We expect the seats to go very fast, because, well, it's free.
See you there!
Heartland
Written by Steven Owad
Directed by Stafford Arima
Featuring Greg Stone, Peter Lockyer and Wes Seals
Monday, June 14th
8 PM
The Mint Theater
311 West 43rd St. (between 8th and 9th)
#307
See you there!
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Play today! Click here!
And don't forget to RSVP for my Tony Party!
I'll admit it. I've got app fever.
My iPhone is filled with everything from subway maps to free wifi finders to a blackjack card-counting trainer.
So, when I found out that I could turn my blog into an app, I jumped on it faster than I pre-ordered my iPad.
If you want The Producer's Perspective app, click here.
Or search for "Ken Davenport" or "Broadway" in the app store, and look for the TPP icon. It's free!
And speaking of apps . . . remember this post that called out for ideas for new apps? Well, we've got an app in the works.
Stay tuned for its pre-summer release.
This Friday, April 30th, at 12 PM & 3 PM, I'm doing my first readings of a brand new show I've been working on called Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage!
And you're invited!
Feedback from intelligent audiences is crucial for getting new shows off the ground (especially shows like this, as you'll soon see). So who better to get that feedback from than you!
Unfortunately the midtown theater we're doing the reading in is petite, so I can only hold 10 seats for each performance for blog subscribers.
If you're a subscriber, send an email to RSVP@missabigailsguide.com from the email address that you subscribe with and give us following info (if you're not a subscriber, subscribe now by filling in the box in the upper left hand corner of the site before you email):
- Full Name
- Whether you want to attend the 12 PM or the 3 PM performance
- Whether or not you'd like to be on the waiting list if you are not one of the first 10 people to RSVP.
You will receive a confirmation with the location details, if we can find you a seat!
Hope to see you there!
For more info on the show, visit www.MissAbigailsGuide.com.
Theater, by nature, is an unrealistic art form. Unlike film which, generally speaking, tries to capture events in as authentic an environment as possible (on an actual city street, in a house, etc.); in theater, we're putting events on an elevated stage, and scenery and such is never 101% realistic (in fact, I'd argue that the better sets are those that suggest the locations, rather than try to duplicate them).
Our audiences accept and embrace our suggestions of reality. It's part of the 'suspension of disbelief' of going to the theater. Our audiences know that they can never see a car blow up like they can in a movie, but they'll see a creative way of symbolizing that act.
And this is exactly why when we DO give them a spoonful of reality, it usually excites the audiences enough to remember and talk about that reality.
For example...
I saw Red last Friday, and one of the moments that got the biggest audible response from the audience was when one of the actors poured real red paint from one bucket into another. You could actually hear everyone thinking, "Wow, there's actually real paint in there!" Then, of course (spoiler alert), the actors actually painted with it!
The set of Time Stands Still at MTC was a New York apartment, with a full-on kitchen . . . and it was a working kitchen! Yep, when Laura Linney turned on the faucet . . . gulp . . . water came out! They had plumbing!
In David Cromer's Our Town, they fry up some real bacon, and the scent goes wafting through the air and gets even vegans craving a slice.
Theatrical design will never be able to compete with film design or any other "realistic" design medium, so why bother trying.
But, at key moments in your show, a designed-dose of reality can amplify an important issue.
It's raining good news over at the Booth Theatre on Broadway.
Less than two weeks ago, the unlikely hit, Next to Normal, defied expectations and announced that it had recouped its investment.
Yesterday, in another "shocking" turn of events (get it?), N2N took home the biggest drama prize of them all . . . The Pulitzer!
To say that this was a surprise, would be like saying Alice Ripley's character in N2N is just "in a mood."
From the sound of the fallout, the choice was a surprise to the prize-pickin' insiders as well.
First, Charles McNulty of the LA Times, and a member of the Drama Jury that was chosen by the Pulitzer Board to give recommendations on nominees, ripped the board a new one for ignoring the Jury's recs in his article entitled, "On The Year's Drama Award, The Pulitzer Board Blew It."
Then came Patrick Healy's revelation that "a lot" of Pulitzer Board Members saw N2N the night before their important vote for the winner (and you and I both know that awards are most likely to go to shows that are "fresh" in voters' minds, right?).
And this morning, the HE in DidHeLikeIt Himself, Mr. Ben Brantley, wrote a very interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times expressing his frustration about the process, having been the Chairman of the Drama Jury in 2007, when the board overrode the Jury's recommendations as well.
Whatever happened, it's a fantastic story for a show that almost didn't make it to Broadway and has now not only recouped, but also been awarded an incredible distinction.
Will this big prize have an impact at the BO? Let's watch and see . . . (my guess is that the people who the Prize means the most to have already seen the show, although I'd also bet that the ad agency is designing a big sign for the front of the theater to trumpet this news to all those tourists).
Congratulations to everyone involved for this incredible honor. I'm sure they are all thrilled.
In fact, I heard a rumor that that lead character was so happy about the big win, it cured her depression.
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Normal is only the 8th musical to take home the P Prize, and it's in great company. Can you name the other seven? Give it a shot, then click here for the answer.
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