Theatre: Producing and the Theatre Business »

Countless Stars and Executives of the Stage have participated in the American Theatre Wing's Working in the Theatre programs. Well known for creating The Tony[Registered] Awards, the American Theatre Wing has sponsored these programs for more than thirty years. In wide-ranging and dynamic conversations, these great talents talk not to an interviewer but with each other, exploring every aspect of the behind-the-scenes world of some of the greatest shows ever produced: the fascinating process of creating and financing them. What is a Producer? How is a Broadway or Off-Broadway Show Financed? What are the strategies in Marketing a Show? How Do Producers and Unions Interact? What are the Special Issues of Not for Profit Producers? What is the Role of the Critic?

An Added Feature of this book is the edited In Depth excerpts from seminars on the financial and artistic challenges faced and overcome in bringing these recent hits to the Broadway stage: Avenue Q, The Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, Mamma Mia![Trademark], The Producers, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. For the First Time in the thirty-year history of the Working in the Threatre programs, this book gathers the insights of more than 100 top professionals-producers, advertising and marketing executives, union officials, critics, writers, and actors-on the business of a creative enterprise. These people speak directly to us about what it is really like to work in the theatre.

Foreword   Elizabeth Ireland McCann     9
Introduction     11
What Is a Producer?     17
In Depth: The Producers     28
In the Beginning     38
In Depth: The Drowsy Chaperone     46
What about the Money?     53
In Depth: Mamma Mia!     59
Marketing     68
In Depth: Hairspray     76
Going out of Town     82
The Revival     86
Unions     91
Broadway and Off-Broadway     97
In Depth: Avenue Q     102
Not-for-profit and Regional Theatres     112
In Depth: Thoroughly Modern Millie     125
The Critics     136
Final Illuminations     148
Cast of Participants     153
Index of Names and Titles     168
On the American Theatre Wing and CUNY TV     173