Cara Joy David - Page 8

About ten-and-a-half years ago, Paper Mill Playhouse was in such financial trouble it was on the verge of closing. This season the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony-winning theater is hosting two world premiere musicals and two east coast premieres. How did the turnaround happen?

It's been five-and-a-half years since Broadway 4D was announced and many barely remember it. Those that do however frequently ask me about it. Will that ever happen? What even was it? What was recorded for it?

In summer 2010, something described in a Variety article as a 'melding of a Broadway show and a Gray Line bus tour' was announced and I was very confused. And maybe appalled. In late fall of that year, when the giant buses labelled THE RIDE hit the streets, none of these feelings subsided. Now, seven years later, THE RIDE is a hard-to-describe but well-known fixture on New York City streets, even being parodied on THE SIMPSONS and, more recently, DIFFICULT PEOPLE. Yet, despite the long lines to board, it still has yet to make money.

The early success of Disney on Broadway led other successful entertainment companies to believe that conquering the Great White Way possibly was not that hard. But, as Warner Bros' first foray into the lead producing game, LESTAT, proved, it's not as easy as opening and tossing some money at marketing. And now, after a sole Broadway show, PARAMOUR, Cirque du Soleil has essentially shuttered its theatrical division, Cirque du Soleil Theatrical. A spokesperson for Cirque confirmed that former head Scott Zeiger is no longer with the company.

We all think we know a lot about Broadway financing. We read capitalization numbers in stories. The Broadway League puts out weekly grosses and, even though we may not know a show's exact weekly running cost, those in the know can approximate. It is obvious when a show opens and closes on the Great White Way. Tours get into murkier territories.

Social media is an increasing part of every business, including the theater business. There is some debate about what it means for ticket sales, but it is clear that it can mean a lot to increase actors' profiles. Actors who would have only been truly known by a select group of theater insiders have thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram. Some report being asked about those numbers, and Facebook fan page likes, by casting directors and directors. But it's not necessarily easy for actors to share on social media. There are some impediments.

For a community dependent on tourists, Broadway does not like outsiders. So it is no surprise that when in 2013 Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), a large theater owner and producing conglomerate in the UK, paid approximately $60 million for a long-term lease on one of Broadway's largest, but most troubled, venues, the industry took notice.

A show is a product of design-from the lights that you see to the sound that surrounds you to the hair on top of the actors' heads. Hair and wig designers help define characters, though their work largely goes unnoticed.

It is 7:04pm on a Thursday. To the average audience member of THE COLOR PURPLE, the most important person waiting backstage is one of the above-the-title stars (Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Holliday or Danielle Brooks). But those in the industry know that, at this particular moment, the most important person is a woman sitting stage right in front of three monitors. That woman, with a headset on and binder in front of her, is Stage Manager Sharika Niles. She is the one who will soon give the word to start the show. She is the one who tonight is in charge of 'calling the show.' She is the one who will dictate the show the audience sees by giving the word for a spotlight, sound effect, set movement, etc..

Who helps an actor to sing material a certain way? If you ask the majority of people outside the theater industry they would say people simply sound the way they sound or maybe credit the composer or director. In truth, in the majority of cases in the musical theater world it is the Musical (or Music) Director. This person, who is not eligible for a Tony Award and rarely gets mentioned in reviews, is integral to the product you see and hear.

Typically, Broadway shows play eight shows a week with a maximum of two shows a day, usually on Wednesdays and Saturdays. And then there's Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas in its 15-performance-per-week limited holiday engagement. It's hard over in Whoville! No one leaves the theater from morning arrival until after the final curtain has come down.