Ken Davenport - Opinions from a Broadway Producer

One Secret to Finding New Audiences, or What I Learned from Mohegan Sun.

2012-01-27T11:00:00-05:00

Casinos have a lot on the ‘line’, which is why there is a lot to learn from everything they do.

I stumbled upon a simple little trick that I’ve started using for my shows already, and it has been so successful, I had to share it with you.

It’s simple . . . if you want to get a new audience to the theater, you may have to get that new audience to the theater.

The Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut needs people to come to its casino constantly. And they do. But to really fill their craps tables they know they need a bigger market than the natural adopters . . . they need people who may have always thought about going to a casino, but would never make the effort on their own.

So they have buses . . . for free . . . or with cash back incentives that are scheduled to pick people up from places like NYC and take them to the Indian lands of Connecticut for a little blackjack and maybe a little Jimmy Buffett.

I started thinking about all the people in my hometown and nearby that would love to see a Broadway show (especially if they knew me), but the thought of planning it, figuring it out, and getting over the fear of coming to the city, was just too much on their own. New York and Broadway seem far away, even when you’re just a few hours by car.

So . . . knowing that these folks would never come to a show without a little catalyst, we decided to make it easy for them.

We created BroadwayRoadTrip.com, and on Saturday, February 4^th, a bus full of people will depart Sturbridge, MA, come to see the Godspell matinee, get a talkback from me, and then return home that night.

The local papers have done stories on it (the hometown boy connection always helps), and this pretty small town is a buzzin’ about Broadway.

You know what I love about this simple casino-concept? This bus will sell out . . . and on board will be 56 people who never would have seen Godspell had we not set it up for them.

And you know what else? We will take a survey, but I bet over 90% of them will have never been to a Broadway show before.

My hope and my dream is that they enjoy their day with us so much, that when we ask them if they want to come see another show in a month or two that they don’t have a personal connection to (translation: that I’m not producing), they’ll fill up another bus again, and bingo, bongo, we’ve got brand new multi-musical buyers.

By the way, there are a few more spots left on this bus, so if you’re from Massachusetts and want to come to NYC for the day, see the show, and meet my Mom (who will be on board), click here.

Has this been successful so far?

Ahhh, yeah. So much so that we’re doing another BroadwayRoadTrip from Washington DC on February 25th.

What’s so special about the DC area? That’s where cast member, Nick Blaemire is from (Hometown boy angle again). And if you know Nick, or have even seen the show, I’d bet money that the Nick Express Bus from DC is going to be one heck of a party. Click here to get tickets for that trip.

We have to remember in this business that if we want new audiences, sometimes we gotta make it real easy for them to get here.

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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What if Ghost The Musical was written by a Ghost?

2012-01-26T11:00:00-05:00

A friend of mine wrote a book.

Wait, that’s not entirely accurate.

A friend of mine made it look like he wrote a book. The truth is, he had it written by someone else. A ghost. (Insert spooky music here, or this from the upcoming musical version of Ghost.)

And in the publishing world, hiring a ghostwriter is a lot more common than you think. It’s what a lot of people do if they (or someone else) think there is a market (translation: money to be made) in the written word of that individual or in a particular subject.

Bill Clinton’s bio, Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father, and yep, sorry to burst your bubble young female detectives, but even the Nancy Drew books.

And that’s what amazed me as I’ve been reading on the subject lately. I always knew that business books and biographies were written by poltergeists-for-hire who for a fee will write your book and turn over ownership to you. And in those genres, it makes a heck of a lot of sense, because without a Casper, the books probably wouldn’t have ever been written in the first place.

But fiction?

Yep. And a lot of it. (Some folks say as much as 40% of today's books are ghosted.)

Ever wonder why your favorite mass paperback author can turn out a book a year 20 years in a row? They might be incredibly prolific . . . or they might have a little supernatural aid.

So, of course, I wondered why it doesn’t ever happen in the theater?

What if someone like Neil Simon hired the brightest young comic mind he could find to churn out a new play for him. The play would be produced, there would be a built in audience and a lot of press, and maybe it would get a head start in the market.

And I’m not saying the young comic Turk wouldn’t have Neil’s guiding hand along the way. He’d be involved and it would have to meet his approval before it saw a day on the stage.

Could a successful songwriting team do it? With as long as it takes a show to develop, maybe this is a way to have more musicals by some of our favorite writers?

Why doesn't it happen?

Is it ego? Is it that our genre of entertainment is more complicated than the novel and requires more collaboration?

Maybe a little of both.

But the real reason that we don’t have ghostwriters in the Broadway biz is that . . . despite a lot of cracks we take for being commercial . . . our art is too pure for that. Sure, we’re the commercial theater, but we’re not in the mass commercialization business as much as it may seem.

Our passionate writers wouldn’t let someone else touch their ideas for all the gold in the world.

And that’s why ghosts don’t haunt Broadway, I'm proud to say, and never will.

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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- Win tickets to see How I Learned To Drive! Click here.

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Last chance for you to see Chinglish.

2012-01-25T11:00:00-05:00

Chinglish, the very funny and very timely play by David Henry Hwang that I produced on Broadway this Fall, is closing up shop this Sunday, January 29th. And yep, it's closing earlier than we had all hoped.

And you should go see it before it does.

Why? Because it's a very good play (Time Magazine named it the Best American Play of the Year.)

But also because it is that very rare thing . . . a new American play . . . and my co-producers and I tried hard to buck a trend and put it up without stars. (Although I guarantee you'll leave the Longacre saying that Jennifer Lim deserves her own constellation after seeing the performance.)

Unfortunately, in this Fall's star-packed season, that may be one of the reasons we couldn't quite attract enough of an audience to make it to the Spring.

But we tried.

And that's something that I'm very proud of, and thankful to all my investors for, and I know they are proud of too.

Because we produced a great play, and we did it the way we wanted to. And no matter how disappointing our abbreviated run may be . . . I'll always be able to sleep at night knowing that.

See Chinglish before it closes on January 29th. Get tickets here.

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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FUN STUFF:

- Win tickets to see How I Learned To Drive! Click here.

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10 Takeaways from TEDxBroadway

2012-01-24T11:00:00-05:00

What a day.

Damian, Jim and I had high expectations for the first ever TEDxBroadway, but we were blown away by the presentations given by our big-brained speakers. It was an exciting and inspiring day and all of us were so thankful to each and every presenter, and especially to each and every audience member who gave up a day's worth of work and $100 to focus on what Broadway could be in twenty years.

The talks will be online in the near (or so) future, so if you're not a New Yorker, then you'll be able to catch them all in their entirety.

But in the meantime, I thought I'd give you one quote from each of the 16 speakers' presentations that I found memorable/insightful/funny. And let me tell you, distilling it down to just one was haaaaaaard.

Here goes.

1. Jordan Roth - "No one sets out to create something unremarkable."

2. Randy Weiner - "Different is my favorite word."

3. Neil Patrick Harris - "I find that the more I drink the more I enjoy the show."

4. Patricia Martin - "We are poised for another renaissance."

5. Joe Iconis - "I've never actually seen a Powerpoint presentation."

6. Matt Sax - "I hate to say this, but Broadway is looking a lot like Vegas."

7. Frank Eliason - "Customer service is about a simple human connection. We've lost that connection in business."

8. Kara Larson - "Create the future and let other people adapt to you."

9. Steve Gullans - "The opinion of 1000 people is better than the opinion of 1."

10. Damian Bazadona - "Think of Broadway as an idea factory."

11. Barry Kahn - "What if all Broadway theatres worked out of the same box office?"

12. Vincent Gassetto - "Schools + Broadway = Infinite Possibilities"

13. Juan Enriquez - "You would be doing a disservice to the theatre to ignore today's medical questions."

14. Joseph Craig - "Do not ignore the male audience for Broadway."

15. Greg Mosher - "You can't Google a broken heart. That's what we need Shakespeare for."

. . . and finally, in my "prologue", I ended by saying . . .

16. Ken Davenport - "People create ideas, and ideas create the future."

And I am so thankful for all of the people and their ideas that are what made the first ever TEDxBroadway a success.

I am going to make a prediction now about our future. You ready?

There will be a TEDxBroadway next year.

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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FUN STUFF:

- Win tickets to see How I Learned To Drive! Click here.

- SEMINAR ALERT: Get Your Show Off the Ground Seminar: 2/18. Only 2 spots left! Sign up today!

Forget CDs and MP3s, Broadway needs more Records.

2012-01-23T11:00:00-05:00

And I'm not talking about the vinyl kind.

Although I'm not a huge football fan, whenever the Patriots are in the post-season, my New England roots kick in, and I find myself cheering my head off for Tom Brady, with a wing in one hand and a Coke-filled cozy in another.

And while watching the games over the last few weeks, I noticed that those color commentary guys come up with a lot of records. And they can be records about anything . . .

Most TD passes ever thrown in a post-season game.
Coldest regular season game.
Longest punt return by a rookie.

You get the pic.

Some of these Most/Longest/Baldest statistics are a bit much, actually, and are only crunched to give the sportscasters stuff to fill the time.

But a lot of it is fun, because the NFL knows that people respond to records. And they make each game unique, and therefore memorable . . . so it stands out from all the others that the viewer may have seen.

And isn't that one of the rules of marketing?

As a Producer, look and see what is unique about your show and let the world know. Maybe you have the youngest cast on Broadway, or the most ethnically diverse, or maybe one of your songs has the highest note ever sung, or the longest note ever held.

None of these by itself are going to get you to the Superbowl of Success, but they just may help keep you top of mind, when you don't have much else to talk about.

Go Pats.

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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FUN STUFF:

- Win tickets to see How I Learned To Drive! Click here.

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Broadway Grosses* w/e 1/22/2012

2012-01-23T10:45:00-05:00

The following are the Broadway Grosses from the week ending January 22, 2012:

Show Name	GrossGross	TotalAttn	%Cap	AvgPdAdm
ANYTHING GOES	$594,934	6,723	81.91%	$88.49
CHICAGO	$422,782	5,686	65.81%	$74.35
CHINGLISH	$250,298	4,488	52.09%	$55.77
FOLLIES	$878,880	10,387	80.54%	$84.61
GODSPELL	$307,842	4,486	76.29%	$68.62
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING	$1,319,824	10,795	94.76%	$122.26
JERSEY BOYS	$915,982	9,057	92.19%	$101.14
MAMMA MIA!	$574,950	8,104	67.62%	$70.95
MARY POPPINS	$621,391	8,879	61.76%	$69.98
MEMPHIS	$520,530	7,827	66.56%	$66.50
ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER	$574,605	7,573	69.25%	$75.88
OTHER DESERT CITIES	$477,883	4,917	80.77%	$97.19
PORGY AND BESS	$878,884	9,404	87.14%	$93.46
PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT	$625,052	8,829	65.34%	$70.80
RELATIVELY SPEAKING	$332,496	5,712	66.36%	$58.21
ROCK OF AGES	$375,419	4,165	88.39%	$90.14
SEMINAR	$408,410	5,005	77.81%	$81.60
SISTER ACT	$462,966	6,865	48.90%	$67.44
SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK	$1,433,241	14,575	94.40%	$98.34
STICK FLY	$267,255	5,038	58.36%	$53.05
THE BOOK OF MORMON	$1,425,488	8,752	102.63%	$162.88
THE LION KING	$1,445,999	13,409	99.95%	$107.84
THE MOUNTAINTOP	$693,128	7,801	91.56%	$88.85
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA	$684,134	9,644	75.11%	$70.94
THE ROAD TO MECCA	$175,792	4,415	75.91%	$39.82
WAR HORSE	$960,191	8,521	99.64%	$112.69
WICKED	$1,534,111	13,944	96.35%	$110.02
WIT	$182,848	4,744	91.23%	$38.54
TOTAL	$19,345,313	219,745	78.88%	$82.87

*Broadway Grosses provided courtesy of The Broadway League.

The Sunday Giveaway: A ticket to see How I Learned To Drive with me.

2012-01-22T11:00:00-05:00

There are just a few shows that have played on or off Broadway in NY that I have always regretted missing . . . and one of them is the show we're giving away tickets to this weekend.

The winner of today's giveaway is going to see Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Reaser in Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize Winning How I Learned To Drive at 2nd Stage!

How I Learned is one of those Off-Broadway plays that I thought would end up on Broadway the next time around. But nope, 2nd Stage snapped it up and decided to do it the way it was intended . . . intimate and Off-Broadway.

But here's the little wrinkle. Since I never saw the original, and since I'm dying to see this one, you have to take me. :-)

Deal? Deal.

How do you win?

Simple.

Tell me the show that has played Broadway or Off-Broadway that you regret missing . . . and it doesn't matter if you lived here or not when you missed it. Was it Angels in America (another of mine) or Once On This Island (you missed something incredibly special). Whatever it was, comment below and you could win a ticket (with me, remember, so get over it) to see the show!

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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FUN STUFF:

- TEDX Broadway is tomorrow! Get tickets today.

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Who won the free ticket to TedX Broadway?

2012-01-21T11:00:00-05:00

Wider seats, digital distribution, holograms . . . these were just a few of the answers you came up with for the question, "What will Broadway be like in 20 years?"

You can read them all here . . . but the winner to this week's giveaway, and the guy that's going to Monday's TedX Broadway is . . .

Danny!

Here was Danny's answer, in case you were curious:

In 20 years, it will be the norm for Broadway shows to release a video recording of the show in the way that it is now the norm for a musical to release a cast album. It would be recorded with the original cast but not released until after closing night, so as not to compete with ticket sales. It would be an easy way for producers to continue making money on the property after the show has closed, and a way to preserve amazing performances forever. (And make them accessible to anyone anywhere, unlike the Lincoln Center archives.)

(It was the comparison to the cast recording that I loved about this answer. I mean, do you think people argued against releasing cast albums years ago?)

Congratulations, Danny! Email me and we'll set up your ticket. We'll see you on Monday.

If you're interested in hearing more of what Broadway will be like in 20 years, then come to TedX Broadway. There are a few tickets still available, and it's going to be awesome.

Read these articles about the conference in the NY Post and the Associated Press then Buy Your Tickets.

See you there.

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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10 Questions for a Broadway Pro: This guy cleans up on Broadway.

2012-01-20T11:00:00-05:00

Bruce Barish and his wife Sarah could be the busiest couple on Broadway. What do they do? Well, you know how most theater folk are night owls? Well, these two can't be . . . because if they slept in, 80% of Broadway would be naked.

The Barishes are Ernest Winzer Cleaners . . . THE Broadway dry cleaners. I know, you've probably never even thought about who dry cleans Broadway costumes before, have you? Well, someone has to, believe me, because after a few Fosse-like dance numbers, these outfits can be so soaked with sweat, they could practically do pirouettes on their own.

Why does Winzer control such a large part of the market? Well, they do a great job, duh, but more importantly, they care. Period. And Bruce, Sarah and the entire staff at EW care about every costume they work on like they designed it themselves and they have to wear it themselves.

It's my pleasure to introduce you to Bruce Barish, this week's Broadway Pro!

1. What is your title?

Owner/Operator of Ernest Winzer Dry Cleaner.

2. What show/shows are you currently working on?

We normally dry clean 75-80% of the costumes for all Broadway productions, as well as Radio City, television, movies, concerts and mascots.

3. In one sentence, describe your job.

I am the Captain of the Ship that makes sure my entire staff of 17 employees not only dry clean the costumes properly but makes sure they are delivered back to the theaters in time for the daily productions.

4. What skills are necessary for a person in your position?

Time management would be number one on the list that would also include multi-tasking skills as well as organizational know how. I also understand the science and chemistry behind the dry cleaning process and stain removal process and the delicate fabrics that we see on a daily basis. Lastly, I possess the knowledge behind the mechanics of the equipment in my dry cleaning facility.

5. What kind of training did you go through to get to your position?

I have worked here my entire life learning every aspect of the business from the front office to picking up the shows to cleaning and spotting the assortment of costumes we see every day.

6. What was your first job in theater?

Ernest Winzer Cleaners has been dry cleaning Broadway costumes since 1908. We are the longest running production on Broadway.

7. Why do you think theater is important?

It is an important part of the fabric of New York City history. I can relate to “The city that never sleeps.” Just this past year, we delivered in the Christmas Blizzard of 2010 and the Hurricane of 2011, both of which shut down NYC but not Ernest
Winzer Cleaners.

8. What is your profession’s greatest challenge today?

Continuously trying to find the best ways to get costumes cleaned in a green environmentally conscious way. If it’s Green, but does not clean properly or safely then it is not for me and my customers.

9. If you could change just one thing about the industry with the wave of a magic wand, what would it be?

This does not apply to the industry as much as to the city that we work in, but it would be nice if when I was delivering an entire production of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular that a New York City police officer would not write my trucks parking tickets.

10. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to do what you do?

Be prepared to be fully committed to the industry 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Our job is to take the worry of caring for the costumes away from the wardrobe department. You have to love what you are doing and who you are performing for because “The Show Must Go On”!

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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FUN STUFF:

- Win a FREE admission to TedX Broadway. Click here to enter!

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How a crane reminded me about a call to action.

2012-01-19T11:00:00-05:00

How many of you have played The Crane game? You know, that crazy coin-operated carny-like game where you spend megabucks trying to win stupid stuffed animals worth about seventy-five cents just to show "your skill"?

Ok, as you can see, I have a hate-hate relationship with The Crane . . . because I have never beat that little b*tch, and I've known too many people that could populate a small New England town with the number of stuffed animals they've won.

I bumped into The Crane on a recent stop at my favorite Friendly's Restaurant (yummmm), and while I lost about $7 trying to win a purple dinosaur, at least I did learn something.

If you've been in marketing for any length of time, you know that a call to action (ex. Buy Now, Download Today, Get Tickets) is a mandatory part of any copy. But sometimes it's such a simple thing I've seen it forgotten.

Well, leave it to The Crane to remind us all that if you don't tell your customers what to do, there's a good chance they won't do it. Being passive aggressive doesn't work in relationships and it doesn't work in marketing.

"Play till you win." That's what The Crane was telling me to do. Don't just play. Play till I win.

Simple, straightforward, and damn it, I listened.

The theater is filled with smart and clever people that come up with intelligent copy and tactics that could probably win a lot of awards.

And while I love clever, you can't forget the two most important steps in any marketing initiative are:

1. Ask yourself what you want your customers to do.

2. Tell your customer to do it.

Oh, and one more tip . . . trying to tip over the entire machine so that the purple dinosaur just falls into the win box gets Friendly's managers really, really irritated.

(Got a comment? I love 'em, so comment below! Email subscribers, click here, then scroll down, to say what's on your mind!)

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FUN STUFF:

- Win a FREE admission to TedX Broadway. Click here to enter!

- SEMINAR ALERT: Get Your Show Off the Ground Seminar: 2/18. Sign up today!