Thursday, November 01, 2007

One Short Hour In The Emerald City

One Short Hour In The Emerald City

Last month, Legally Blonde landed in its entirety on MTV recently and caught the attention of 1.27 million viewers during its initial broadcast alone. While it didn't experience any significant upward bump at the box office -- yet -- it certainly counts as an ingenious way of reaching out to a potent new (read: young) audience.

But that remarkable cross promotion may be eclipsed tonight as ABC's popular "Ugly Betty" features the über-popular Wicked within its storyline in an episode entitled, "Something Wicked This Way Comes." The hour-long weekly comedy attracts audiences of over 14 million viewers, including a substantial number in the target audience.

According to Access Hollywood:


In Thursday’s episode, Betty Suarez, played by America Ferrera, heads out to the hugely popular musical with her beau Henry, played by Christopher Gorham.

“This is a date, or what is supposed to be a date between Henry and Betty to come and see Wicked,” Gorham explained of the episode. “Of course, things end up going awry and Henry and Betty end up on stage, so it’s amazing.”

Tonight's episode features Eden Espinosa (Elphaba), Megan Hilty (Glinda) and Kristoffer Cusick (Fiyero) from the current Los Angeles sitdown production of Wicked. The LA production opened in February.

While I'm the furthest thing to any of these show's much sought-after demographic, you can bet I'll be tuning in. Nevertheless, my hunch is that ticket sales for each of the Wicked productions will spike after tonight's broadcast among the age groups they're seeking.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for Wicked Broadway tickets.
Click here for Wicked Chicago tickets.
Click here for Wicked London tickets.
Click here for Wicked Los Angeles tickets.
Click here for Wicked U.S. Tour ticket information.
Related Stories:
One Short Day, In Universal's Emerald City (June 26, 2007)
Wicked To Finally Land In Oz During 2008 (May 16, 2007)
Wicked (The SOB Revisit) - London (April 17, 2007)
Theatre For A New Age (April 8, 2007)
Wicked World (March 19, 2007)
For Good: Wicked Wins LA Critical Praise (March 1, 2007)
Hollywood Becomes Wicked (February 27, 2007)
Were London Critics Mourning West End Wicked? (September 28, 2006)
West End Wicked Opens Tonight (September 27, 2006)
Wicked Witch of the West End Takes Flight Tonight (September 7, 2006)
Jaaku or Neikan? Wicked Set for Japanese Translation (July 24, 2006)
Five Times More Wicked (July 17, 2006)
Wicked's West End Witches Update (May 17, 2006)
Worldwide Wicked Casting News (May 5, 2006)
Encore: Spotlight Week Ending April 30, 2006 (April 30, 2006)

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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Putting The Music Back In MTV

Putting The Music Back In MTV

New York Post's Michael Riedel reports this morning that Legally Blonde will steal a page from the Disney playbook (read: High School Musical) and put its production on the cable network formerly known as Music Television (MTV) come October.

With inane shows like "My Super Sweet 16" and "Laguna Beach," MTV's ever-devolving demographics make it the ideal place for Legally Blonde to gain a little extra mojo (last week, the tuner was down to 84.4% capacity with an average ticket price of $78.82 going into the fall doldrums). Plus, MTV is practically across the street from the Palace Theatre -- home to Elle & Co. -- so most of those screaming tweens from TRL are likely find their way.

Just one overriding concern: won't the MTV audience be surprised when they actually hear music coming from their television sets?

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:
The Night Legally Blonde Wasn't (May 25, 2007)
Legally Blonde (The SOB Review) (May 8, 2007)
Did Critics You Know Like Totally Blonde? (April 30, 2007)
Legally Blonde Comes Of Age Tonight (April 29, 2007)
Dye Is Cast For Legally Blonde Reviews (February 8, 2007)
Coming Of Age: Legally Blonde Opens In San Francisco (February 6, 2007)
M-G-M: Movies-Going-Musical (January 3, 2007)
Which New Broadway Musical Are You Most Enthusiastic About Seeing? (October 16, 2006)
A Place Where Nobody Dared To Go...Until Now: They Call It Xanadu (July 18, 2006)
Broadway Bound to Get Nuttier with More Movie Adaptations Turned Musicals (June 7, 2006)

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