Tuning In To Live BroadwayWhen I flew to Tokyo, the ride on
Continental Airlines went by relatively fast thanks to the Boeing 777's excellent on-demand entertainment system. With over 300 movie selections from which to choose, there was not a dull moment to be had.
Unfortunately, the carrier didn’t offer the same level of entertainment (or, regrettably, the same level of service) for my return flight -- there were only a dozen or so flicks. But on the plus side, they did offer their “
Live Broadway” station for Great White Way listening (Continental is the “official airline” for Broadway). So I whiled the hours enjoying an eclectic mix from the following playlist:
“As We Stumble Along” –
The Drowsy Chaperone“Hell No!” –
The Color Purple“All I Ask of You” –
The Phantom Of The Opera“Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” –
Monty Python’s Spamalot“Medley” –
Jersey Boys“Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind” –
Spring Awakening“Someday” –
The Wedding Singer“There Once Was a Man” –
The Pajama Game“Statues and Stories” –
The Light In The Piazza“For Good” –
Wicked“Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” –
Hairspray“So Much Better” –
Legally Blonde“Sue Me” –
Guys And Dolls“’Til Him” –
The Producers“Forget About the Boy” –
Thoroughly Modern Millie“Run, Freedom, Run” –
Urinetown“Love, Look Away” –
Flower Drum Song“Javert’s Suicide” –
Les Misérables “The Music and the Mirror” –
A Chorus Line“Way Back to Paradise” –
Marie Christine“What You Own” –
Rent“Around the World” –
Grey Gardens“Show People” –
Curtains“Guido’s Song” –
Nine“Not the Boy Next Door” –
The Boy From Oz“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” –
Mary Poppins“Pandemonium” –
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee“The More You Ruv Someone” –
Avenue Q“Happy Holiday/Let Yourself Go” –
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas“You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” –
AnnieSeems apropos that the last tune was from the very first Broadway show I ever saw. It certainly made me smile on the long journey home.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Continental, Live Broadway, Tokyo
Billion Dollar Broadway Baby? Almost.Last year was a banner year for Broadway, particularly considering its record-setting grosses that came in at close to $1 billion.
According to
Playbill, the League of American Theatres and Producers has tallied up the 2006-07 Theatrical Season and found that box office grosses were at $939 million, up from last year's total of $861 million -- a 9.3% increases year over year. Attendance was also up by nearly 300,000 paying customers to 12.311 million theatregoers. Five million tickets were sold to tourists -- and I know at least a couple of them who made their tracks to the Great White Way for the very first time and loved every minute of it.
With several potentially strong blockbusters waiting in the wings for the new 2007-08 Theatrical Season (
Young Frankenstein would surely rank as the most anticipated), Broadway may well be on track to eclipse this year's record-setting pace.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: American Theatres and Producers, Box Office, Broadway, Live Broadway, Young Frankenstein
Broadway Is Downright ContinentalAs a public relations professional (that’s my
day job), I read with great interest a
July 2 article in The New York Times regarding the relative effectiveness of Live Broadway, the coordinated marketing campaign by the League of American Theatres and Producers that champions Broadway as a brand. The article debated, among other things, the value of enabling corporate sponsorships like that giving Continental Airlines bragging rights to being the “Official Airline of Broadway” -- a distinction for which the New York area’s largest airline coughs up a cool $3.75 million for a five year contract.
One Broadway advertising executive, Nancy Coyne, is apparently against such efforts and is quoted saying, ''I don't think you can find a show to say that the association with Continental has helped their bottom line."
I beg to differ. The exposure that the Broadway brand receives from Continental is anything but minor.
As a very frequent flyer, I know all too well how captive an audience an airline passenger is. Most are looking for something --
anything -- to make the flight go by more quickly. Thankfully, as someone who flies Continental very often, including virtually most of my trips in and out of New York, I can personally vouch for the various touchpoints the airline provides passengers with Broadway messages via its entertainment.
At the moment I’m writing this, I’m flying from Houston to Chicago and listening to “The Wizard and I” from
Wicked on Continental’s dedicated “Live Broadway” station on its in-flight entertainment system. Scanning through this month’s playlist, I find songs from other current Broadway shows including
Rent,
Spamalot and
The Lion King, but truth be told, they are playing everything from
Hairspray to
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee to
Sweeney Todd to
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Songs are punctuated by an enthusiastic announcer who dutifully announces key Web sites and toll-free numbers to contact for more information on top shows and the Tonys.
Additionally, Continental’s in-flight video presentations include promotions for Broadway fare.
In
Continental -- the in-flight magazine -- I count no less than five separate, prominent Broadway mentions. There’s a page 20 story touting the Touring Broadway Awards that recently named
Wicked as the Best New Musical and
Golda’s Balcony as the Best Play. On the calendar page (28), there’s a plug for New York’s Theatre District Festival, scheduled for Sunday, July 23 (and an incidental plug for
Jersey Boys to boot). Look on page 42, and you’ll find a story devoted to the Lincoln Center Festival (running July 10-30). There’s one entire page (46) devoted to quarter-page ads for
The Drowsy Chaperone,
The Producers,
The Phantom of the Opera and
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (the last one announces that Lucie Arnaz has been welcomed to the cast).
I’d much rather see corporate sponsorships like Continental Airlines’ promoting the overall Broadway brand than that of the garish schilling of other corporate sponsors like Cadillac, which have shamelessly renamed theatres with their less than theatrically relevant monikers. Maybe, just maybe, someone from those hundreds of daily Continental flights into Newark each day will be inspired to take in a Broadway show. I’d say Live Broadway and the shows it represents are benefiting tremendously.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Live Broadway
