Why can’t we be like the Yankees?
You know what this past Monday was?
That’s right . . . it was opening day for the 2015 Major League Baseball season.
Everywhere I went, people were talking about it. I woke up to DJs chatting about it on the radio. It was on the interwebs. And there were dozens of people in the subways on their way up to Yankee stadium to see this official start of the “boys of summer” season.
My favorite story was the employee who wrote a very well worded letter to his boss, explaining why he needed the day off to attend his local team’s home opener. There’s even a movement to try to make the day a holiday! And the request went all the way to the White House.
That’s never gonna fly, of course. If it did, every sport out there all the way down to the Tiddlywinks Association of America would be on the government’s doorstep looking for a holiday.
But it doesn’t matter if baseball’s opening day actually gets the holiday.
They already get the attention.
A coordinated and celebrated opening day puts a big spotlight on the sport, which of course, markets it like crazy.
Which made me think . . . why doesn’t Broadway have an official opening day? Our industry is a little different, of course, in that we don’t have coordinated openings of shows to point people to the official start of our season. But so what? We could do something . . . something to signal the beginning of a brand new season. I know I get excited when the new season begins . . . I bet a lot of other folks would. All that we need to do is pick a date and call it that. Maybe celebrate it with a concert, or a parade, or simply a press release. It doesn’t matter, as long as we announce it.
The beginnings of anything are always exciting. But only if we tell people about ’em.
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Podcasting
Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.
