What's In a Name?

Posted by Bruce Miller
If someone were to ask me to name the #1 reason TheatreVirginia went out of business way back in 2002, I'd say declining ticket sales. If he or she further asked why TVA sales decreased from a peak of 12,000 subscribers in the early 90s to 2,300 subscribers on the date of closing, I'd speculate that the main reason (not the sole reason) was that TheatreVirginia allowed Broadway Under the Stars (the touring road show season at the Landmark) to "own" the name and the perceptions associated with "Broadway."

Not only do I believe this mistake was fatal, I think it was unnecessary. Had TheatreVirginia continued to do big musicals (perhaps two a year) and bring in actual Broadway actors (as they sometimes did), they could have been just as deserving of the name "Broadway" as was the so-called Broadway Under the Stars.

The great secret in mid-size markets around the nation, markets like Richmond, is that many of the so-called "Broadway" road shows that come to town are produced in neighboring states like Maryland, and feature performers who have never worked on a Broadway stage. Ticket buyers don't know this because tens of thousands of dollars are being spent to convince them otherwise. Theatre marketing is an art as well as a science. The fine folks who market the various "Broadway series" around the country are doing exactly what they should be doing. They're doing everything they can to sell tickets. That's their job, and they're good at it. I commend them.

Wicked, I hasten to add before someone seeks to correct me, was an exception. It really was a national tour of a Broadway production. But some (not all) of the touring shows that come to mid-size markets like Richmond represent "Broadway" more in name than in reality. There is nothing wrong with this. That's just the way it is.

No one should be surprised that ticket buyers misunderstand. When one subscription series is labelled "Broadway in Richmond" and commonly called "the Broadway series," and countless ads tout "Broadway is Back," ticket buyers naturally believe that the actors they will be seeing in this series have appeared on Broadway. Certainly the prices are high enough.

So what is a resident professional theatre to do, when it produces big Broadway musicals, staged and choreographed by Broadway directors, and starring actual Broadway performers? The one thing we mustn't do, and shouldn't do, is roll over and play dead.

In a metro area the size of Richmond, the resident professional theatre must market to the general audience with just as many bells and flourishes as are employed by the road shows. The word "Broadway" is not owned by one company and off limits to another. Firehouse Theatre has been marketing itself as Richmond's "Off Broadway" theatre for years--and with great effect. TheatreVirginia should have held on to that magic word, "Broadway," because in many ways, their Broadway musicals were more connected to the Great White Way than the road shows that came to Richmond for a weekend and then headed on to the next burg.

At Barksdale, we're hoping not to repeat the mistake. In anticipation of what was to come, we began producing major Broadway musicals in the Empire in 2008. We're promoting these major productions (Guys and Dolls, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sound of Music, White Christmas, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, etc.) as "Broadway at the Empire." Or perhaps we will use some other, similar catchphrase. Our marketing department is working out the language, and there will be more details forthcoming regarding our specific Broadway connections.

We invite and encourage anyone who cares about professional theatre in Richmond NOT to cede the word "Broadway" to any and all shows that are booked in from out of town. In my opinion, it's in ALL of our interests to celebrate and elevate the excellent, professional, "Broadway"-caliber theatre that is created right here at home.

We applaud CenterStage and its work. We respect them enough to take them seriously. They're doing their jobs quite well. Our JOB is to keep Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV growing and going strong, even as CenterStage also thrives.

A commenter to a previous post referred to Wicked and CenterStage's "Broadway in Richmond" season, saying, "Behold, the Broadway behemoth is back." I would phrase it differently. The road shows are back. Many of Richmond's strongest connections to Broadway never went anywhere.

--Bruce Miller

Broadway Shut Down by Labor Dispute

Posted by Bruce Miller

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Well, it’s happened. Broadway is on strike.

This past Saturday, IATSE (the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) stunned just about everyone by directing their NYC chapter (Local One) to call a strike for 11 a.m., shutting down most of Broadway. IATSE is the same union whose members handle stagehand responsibilities for the largest venues right here in River City, including the Landmark Theatre and the Carpenter Center. None of Richmond’s independent theatres, including Barksdale and Theatre IV, work under IATSE contracts.

This strike affects Broadway only, and not even all of Broadway. Disney theatres have their own contract with IATSE, as do all of Broadway’s nonprofit venues (Circle in the Square, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout). Consequently a few Broadway shows are still up and running: Young Frankenstein (which just opened at the Hilton), Mary Poppins, Xanadu, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Mauritius, Pygmalion, The Ritz and Cymbeline. And Off Broadway is also still going strong.

The strike shut down approximately two dozen Broadway theatres that are owned and operated by the members of The League of American Theatres and Producers. The strike began with Saturday’s matinee and will continue until … no one knows when. It was called for 11 a.m. to shut down an early family matinee of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Apparently no one saw the irony.

Local One has never called a strike before. And in late October, they promised to give advance warning before calling a strike now. On Saturday morning they broke that promise. This meant that thousands of tourists who had made their plans weeks in advance showed up in New York on Saturday, checked into their hotels, and then learned at the last moment that the shows they had come to see would not be taking place.

Refunds will be given for previously purchased show tickets, but the considerable transportation and accommodation expenses will have to be eaten by the audience members. And the ability to get last minute tickets to those few Broadway shows that are still running, or to Off Broadway shows, is extremely limited. On Saturday, internet tickets for Young Frankenstein were selling for $1,500—each!

Depending on which side you listen to, the strike is a self-serving folly or a defensible stand for fairness.

The heart of the labor dispute is not the amount of the wages paid to the individual worker, but the number of workers that the union requires the producers to hire. The last contract between The League of American Theatres and Producers (they’re the ones who own the majority of Broadway’s theatres and the strike is targeted at them) and Local One (representing the stagehands) expired in the summer. Since then, the League and Local One have not been able to agree on the number of workers required for load-ins, load-outs, and daily operations of a running show.

The expired contract required the League to hire, in many cases, more union workers than were actually needed to get the job done. The producers call this “featherbedding,” and they refuse to allow any future contract to include provisions that require the hiring of unneeded workers.

Before you agree 100% with this reasonable position, consider the stagehands’ point of view. When Broadway is running at capacity, the producers require approximately 2,500 stagehands to get the jobs done. The union has limited its membership to approximately 3,000 highly skilled workers. It’s a TOUGH union to join, and those who are members have years of experience at what they do.
The problem is that, due to the vagaries of show business, at any average point in time, only 500 or so of the union’s members are employed full time. And that was under the old contract. Shows open and shows close—and those decisions are all made by the producers in their own best financial interests. The “featherbedding” that was written into the previous contract (or, as the union would prefer me to say, the “job security provisions” that were written into the previous contract) simply take one small step toward ensuring that hardworking stagehands have the opportunity to earn a living wage even after the producers have decided to close a show.

I can understand and respect both points of view. Broadway requires the infrastructure provided by the 3,000 stagehands and their union. And it's foolhardy to require something and then refuse to pay for it, one way or another.

Hopefully, this labor dispute will be resolved soon. The ones suffering the most are all the theatre artists who won’t be paid while the strike continues, and all the audience members who will be disappointed by the cancellation of their holiday plans.

Perhaps now is the time for both sides to enter into the arbitration that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has offered, but, thus far, the warring parties have refused. And while that arbitration is going on, why not let the Broadway shows keep running? Let the Grinch who steals Christmas be a fantasy with a happy ending, not an ongoing reality with no end in sight.

--Bruce Miller