By Jim McCarthy May 29, 2009 0 comments

Best…Broadway Season…Ever…

Gross Sales-wise, at least.

Hmmm.  Wasn’t I just saying something about this?  Why, yes, I was…here, here, and here.  My basic point all along has been that people don’t need to get hysterical about the condition of Broadway, but that long term, it’s a segment that needs to change to adapt to a non-tourist driven reality.

Meanwhile, the media got itself into hysterics about “Black Tuesday” when a bunch of crusty old shows closed, didn’t know what to say and therefore ignored it when even more shows opened a couple months later, and are positively speechless about the announcement of record gross sales.  It doesn’t fit the narrative of “Broadway is dying!” and it doesn’t give culture writers the opportunity to have a case of the vapors in print, so it must simply be ignored.

The alternative would be some actual reporting and a somewhat harder-headed look at what’s really happening, but where’s the fun in that?

This buoyancy, despite the stronger dollar, a drop in tourism, and a general sense of economic apocalypse, says something not just about Broadway, but about live entertainment overall, and it’s at the very heart of the Live 2.0 philosophy:

The demand for Live Entertainment in a long-term, secular way is robust.  It will fluctuate up and down, but relative to other goods, the demand (and the value-capture from that demand) will remain high.

That’s why I’m so bullish on this industry, and it’s why I think it’s so important for marketers and programmers to get this right.  We can begin to think of customers first and build our venues and companies around them, or we can keep dithering.

Fortunately, we’ve got a tide that is running in our favor, but a leaky boat floating downstream still may not get where it’s trying to go.

Keep coming to Live 2.0 to get daily tips on keeping your craft high and dry!

P.S.: It would appear that somehow this was a more productive meeting than it seemed!

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