2,070 stories by "Ken Davenport"
When I was about 15 years old, I started writing a musical version of Oedipus Rex. I even wrote a letter to Andrew Lloyd Webber suggesting that he should write the music for it (in hindsight…
P.T. Barnum was a showman, that's for sure . . . but sometimes his best shows were the stunts he pulled to get audiences to see his shows. He was an expert at the unexpected. He knew the bes…
Oh wait . . . there is. www.MyBroadwayDeal.com. Like Groupon but for Broadway! 1st deal in 5 days. And it's a good one. Sign up today and get entered to win a $500 Broadway ticket gift certi…
We all knew it was coming. The parent company of the NY Times has been bleeding money for years. Putting the online version of the paper behind a paywall was inevitable. And now it's a reali…
I preach pretty much daily about how Broadway and the Arts could afford to take many a cue from the big business world. Well, I forget sometimes that we've got a lot to offer too, and our re…
The following are the Broadway Grosses from the week ending March 21, 2011: Show Name GrossGross TotalAttn %Cap AvgPdAdm AMERICAN IDIOT $510,458 8,799 64.36% $58.01 ANYTHING GOES $539,509 8,…
I was in the back seat of a car this past weekend, driving through LA with three non-theater, not techie-type people (which, by the way, is the majority of the world). We happened to drive b…
Twist and shout, KEVIN SCHOONOVER, because you are going to see Rain on Broadway! Email me and I'll get you hooked up for the show, yo. Remember, I give away something every Sunday, so check…
The "graying" of audiences has been of concern to arts producers of all kinds for years. The big question has been. . . what happens when that audience disappears? And will there be another …
There's an article in today's Wall Street Journal in which I, and several more of my Broadway Producer peers are quoted about the attention that Spider-Man is getting. The crux of the compla…
Our 3rd Annual Will It Recoup contest closed up a few weeks ago, and it will be a few months before we find out who won the Kindle. But in the meantime, I thought it would be fun (for some).…
Starting a blog is one of the action items I give when I consult with executives at non-profit theaters. I'm a big believer in putting a face and a voice behind a brand. Simply put . . . a c…
The following are the Broadway Grosses from the week ending March 13, 2011: Show Name GrossGross TotalAttn %Cap AvgPdAdm AMERICAN IDIOT $508,202 8,368 61.21% $60.73 ANYTHING GOES $381,680 5,…
Since Broadway and Off-Broadway shows can't afford to have marketing laboratories trying every idea we come up with, I often look to other industries to see what they're doing, in the hopes …
There is a major show that's about to start previews this week, that frankly, doesn't seem to have the amount of advertising out there that some of the others debuting this Spring do. I've s…
The first concert I ever went to when I was a kid was Beatlemania. And I got so hooked on The Beatles that I bought The Blue Album, The Red Album, and The White Album. If they had an album,.…
Ok, before I get to this week's winner, can we take a moment to look back at the comments this contest received? We had 120+ of your chime in about what song they thought could crossover to …
If you see a musical (and you like it), what is the first piece of "merch" that you're most likely to buy? The cast recording, right?. If you're a brand new musical previewing on B…
Have you flown recently? The beleaguered airline industry has been very busy over the past few years, drumming up all sorts of ways to stabilize their fragile business by charging for so man…
Common wisdom will tell you that Broadway is fueled by the "traditional theatergoer"; the 45+ female who is in charge of the entertainment dollars in her household. So, extrapolati…
As promised, the first reading of our 2011 Reading Series is another musical! This Monday, we'll get a chance to hear the latest tuner from the very prolific (and very talented) Paul Gordon,…
The following are the Broadway Grosses from the week ending March 6, 2011: Show Name GrossGross TotalAttn %Cap AvgPdAdm AMERICAN IDIOT $395,275 7,023 51.37% $56.28 ARCADIA $321,143 5,292 73.…
Last Monday saw the debut of "The Show I Want To See This Week" blog, and I picked as my first S.I.W.S, a big splashy Broadway musical in Times Square that deals with subject matte…
Ok, so I'm driving home to see a production of Urinetown at my high school alma mater this weekend, and a song pops on the top 40 radio station I was listening to you. The song was "Goo…
Congratulations to Emily, aka @stagemaven! Your retweet got you two free tickets to see Billy on Broadway! Email me and we'll set you up. If you didn't win, and want to check out the show, t…
