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
6 comments:
I have no issue with Barksdale being a proud regional theatre. I have more of an issue with Barksdale feeling it must compete with the Broadway roadshow, or use the term Broadway at all in it's advertising. Sometimes out of town actors with Broadway credits( and good for them) are hired to fill roles that could not be cast otherwise (a matter of opinion), but generally most people in Richmond, or Virginia don't know who they are. At the very least you should hire and celebrate every single one of your local--and very talented actors and actresses--as much as "Broadway's so and so". Barksdale was here when TVA was thriving. Barksdale was here when TVA sank. Barksdale is STILL here. For a reason. I think you could market the QUALITY of what you produce with pride and not bring the Broadway thing into it all. How about how long you've been doing theatre for Richmonders and Virginians. As an artist and patron, I sort of hate drawing the comparison. We're good at we do here.
The last sentence should read: "We're good at WHAT we do here". Sorry for leaving that word out. So much for proofreading.
I basically agree with what you say, my anonymous friend. But consider this. You say "I think you could market the QUALITY of what you produce with pride and not bring the Broadway thing into it at all." I hope we always market the quality of our work. But marketing "quality" is hard when we can fit only one, two or three words into very expensive ad space. In every marketing test we've ever done, when we ask ten people to say the one, two or three words that signify quality in theatre, the first word out of nine of their mouths is "Broadway." When we ask ten people if they'd rather see a "Broadway" production of "The Sound of Music," or an excellent regional production of "The Sound of Music," nine will choose the one labeled "Broadway." "Broadway" is the most powerful marketing word in our toolkit. It is viewed positively by almost everyone. It speaks volumes in two syllables. When a regional theatre produces major musicals on par with or better than many "Broadway" road shows, that regional theatre is ill advised, in my opinion, to cede the word "Broadway" to the competition.
Why do we always seem to equate "Broadway" with the big shmaltzy musicals? What about those of us who aren't into musicals? How's about a "Broadway" production of Fences, The Lieutenant of Inishmore or MacBeth? One of the reasons, I believe, theatre is struggling is that our beloved blue hairs are fading away. Young people now adays have fios, digital cable and plasma TVs. They rather see things blow up than plop down $40 to see another production of Sweet Charity. We need to stop trying to bring back the Broadway of old and create a new Broadway. Broadway these days is so pathetic and desperate that the majority of what they produce are rip offs of old TV shows like The Addams Family. Frankly, I'm sick of it. Be original! Create new theatre. Find a new audience (the 20-45 year old kind). Find something other than old warhorses to get folks to put down they're remotes. We need to educate audiences to new and exciting theatre. I'm not saying Barksdale/Theatre IV doesn't do this, so don't get offensive. They do. I'm just saying that we shouldn't assume that audiences primarily want to see another "Broadway production" of Damn Yankees. If they say that in a poll it's no doubt because they don't know any better. That's why they stay at home and watch House on the tube and save themselves forty bucks. We need to wake up, smell the coffee and realize that if we don't create and cultivate a new generation of theatre, a new generation of theatre audiences that we'll all be out of a job. I saw Footloose when I was in High School. I don't need to see it again on stage. Broadway is dying. Maybe we should realize that and move forward, create our own Broadway. We have somehow got to find a way to recharge our theatre batteries instead of desperately doing CPR on a dying patient. We are all so afraid to lose the established theatre audience(50-75 year olds)that we aren't finding and challenging a new one. Bruce, I'm just curious, have you ever made an estimated count of the ages of your audiences over the span of a year? Besides the children's shows (and God bless what you do in the way of children's theatre-keep it up)and the kid's parents, I'm just wondering what the average age of today's theatre goer is? The majority of the time when I go to the theatre I amuse myself by counting the number of folks I see under the age of 40.
I agree, mostly, with the sentiments of the last Anonymous commenter. I'm proud that Barksdale is producing three new plays on Signature Season, and we'll do everything in our power to ensure that lots of 20 to 50-year olds come to see them: "Shipwrecked!," "The Legacy of Light," and "Circle Mirror Transformation." All three are great new works. Two are by playwrights never produced previously in Richmond, and the third ("Shipwrecked!") is by one of my favorite contemporary playwrights, Donald Margulies. In addition, Barksdale will be co-producing with Theatre VCU "The Bluest Eye," Steppenwolf's new adaptation of the great novel by Toni Morrison novel. When rights are released, we hope to mount "August Osage County," directed by Keri Wormald. What I believe is that a metro area's leading professional theatre should not be an either/or operation. Our job is to serve the existing audience AND develop a new audience. My big regret is NOT that we do too few new plays, and NOT that we don't seek to attract new audience members from 20 to 50 (I think we do both of those things pretty well), it's that we do so few classics, like "Fences" and "MacBeth," as alluded to in the comment. When I was growing up, the great regional theatres consistently produced the great works of Brecht, Chekhov, Euripides, Goldsmith, Ibsen, Lope de Vega, Lorca, Maugham, Arthur Miller, Moliere, O'Neill, Pirandello, Rostand, Shakespeare, Shaw, Sophocles, Wedekind, Wilde, Wilder, Tennessee Williams, etc. I LOVED seeing these great works brought to riveting life. But few regional theatres present these masterworks anymore because they cost more money (large casts, multiple sets, period costumes) and they sell fewer tickets. And at the end of the day, survival is the name of the game. A major objective of mine is to try to find a way to change that. I love that Henley Street did Goldoni and Ibsen last year, and of course Richmond Shakespeare did Shakespeare. Next July I will celebrate my tenth anniversary as artistic director of Barksdale. In all that time, I will have produced only three plays (four if you count "Scapino") by any of the great playwrights noted above.
I agree, mostly, with the sentiments of the last Anonymous commenter. I'm proud that Barksdale is producing three new plays on Signature Season, and we'll do everything in our power to ensure that lots of 20 to 50-year olds come to see them: "Shipwrecked!," "The Legacy of Light," and "Circle Mirror Transformation." All three are great new works. Two are by playwrights never produced previously in Richmond, and the third ("Shipwrecked!") is by one of my favorite contemporary playwrights, Donald Margulies. In addition, Barksdale will be co-producing with Theatre VCU "The Bluest Eye," Steppenwolf's new adaptation of the great novel by Toni Morrison novel. When rights are released, we hope to mount "August Osage County," directed by Keri Wormald. What I believe is that a metro area's leading professional theatre should not be an either/or operation. Our job is to serve the existing audience AND develop a new audience. My big regret is NOT that we do too few new plays, and NOT that we don't seek to attract new audience members from 20 to 50 (I think we do both of those things pretty well), it's that we do so few classics, like "Fences" and "MacBeth," as alluded to in the comment. When I was growing up, the great regional theatres consistently produced the great works of Brecht, Chekhov, Euripides, Goldsmith, Ibsen, Lope de Vega, Lorca, Maugham, Arthur Miller, Moliere, O'Neill, Pirandello, Rostand, Shakespeare, Shaw, Sophocles, Wedekind, Wilde, Wilder, Tennessee Williams, etc. I LOVED seeing these great works brought to riveting life. But few regional theatres present these masterworks anymore because they cost more money (large casts, multiple sets, period costumes) and they sell fewer tickets. And at the end of the day, survival is the name of the game. A major objective of mine is to try to find a way to change that. I love that Henley Street did Goldoni and Ibsen last year, and of course Richmond Shakespeare did Shakespeare. Next July I will celebrate my tenth anniversary as artistic director of Barksdale. In all that time, I will have produced only three plays (four if you count "Scapino") by any of the great playwrights noted above.
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