BROADWAY COMES TO THE MOVIES

Photo Credit:Felicia Boswell (Felicia) in the National Tour of Memphis; Photo: Paul Kolnik

In 1975, Bob Fosse changed theatrical marketing forever.

He simply took a one-minute snippet of his hit Broadway show “Pippin” and filmed it to appear on TV. It was the first Broadway TV commercial that showed scenes from the actual performance.

The show had played since 1972 and needed a boost in sales. The TV commercial brought in new audiences.

Marketing Broadway
Today, we often see commercials for performing arts events such as concerts, operas, comedians and national tours, and it all stemmed from Fosse.

Marketing strategists today have taken it a step further by filming live performances and showing the film in movie theaters across the nation.

The model for filming live performances is the “Live in HD” series of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Now in its sixth season, this series brings the Met to all parts of the world.

Of course, theatrical producers at first balked about putting a show, in its entirety, on the silver screen. They thought it might compromise the live show.

But Theater Mania’s Solange DeSantis noted, “the fact that Broadway's Phantom of the Opera, Chicago and Mamma Mia!…not only continued to run – but… thrived - after the release of traditional film versions has perhaps caused some producers to reevaluate their thinking.” MEMPHIS producer Randy Adams agreed claiming, "those films certainly didn't hurt those brands."

Then, producers realized a limited release of the show on film could not only boost sales on Broadway, but also help boost sales for the National Tour, especially for a show that is not well known or features big name stars.

Filmed Shows
Legally Blonde, Rent, Jekyll and Hyde, Smokey Joe’s Café and Putting It Together are just some of the shows that have been filmed to air on PBS’ Great Performances, Live at Lincoln Center or on HBO. A pattern had been set.

Groundbreaker
Usually shows that have been filmed are released after they have closed in New York, but MEMPHIS is a groundbreaker. The showing of MEMPHIS on film is the first time a Tony-award winning Best Musical was seen on movie screens nationwide while it was still playing on Broadway!

MEMPHIS was filmed during five live performances with the original Broadway cast. The final cut, professionally edited from nine cameras and re-mastered from the sound of 96 tracks, put the film audience right in the middle of the action.

Is Filming A Mistake?
MEMPHIS, the movie, is amazing, but of course, there is nothing like seeing the production live according to David Bryan, MEMPHIS composer and lyricist, “Some people think it's a mistake, that it will hurt the Broadway production ---- that people won't want to go see it in New York if they've already seen it on screen, but we don't believe that theory. The live experience is something that can't be duplicated. This just gets the word out. Also, (the movie) is only for four nights in 530 theaters across America, so it's not over-saturating the market. Plus we get a DVD out of it, so it will be memorialized for all of us.”