All stories by Ken Davenport on BroadwayStars

Friday, March 8, 2013

A Startling Stat on the State of Print. by Ken Davenport

It’s trivia week here at the Producer’s Perspective!  Yesterday a Sondheim stat and now take a look at this: We all know that print advertising is on the decline, right? Well, c…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Thursday, March 7, 2013

When was the last time there wasn’t a Sondheim show on Broadway? by Ken Davenport

Everyone knows that the great Mr. S. has had a major impact on the Broadway stage, right? Well, get this. Our office just noticed that there isn’t a show with songs by our “Shake…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Why JOBS Act Crowdfunding won’t work on Broadway. by Ken Davenport

There’s something you never thought I’d say, right? Well, I didn’t. But Gary Emmanuel, who happens to be one of the brilliant lawyers that made my crowd-funded Broadway pro…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Tuesday, March 5, 2013

5 Things I learned from the Academy Awards (and the Tonys could learn too). by Ken Davenport

It’s been over a week since Seth MacFarlane offended a whole bunch of people (did people expect less?) and Anne Hathaway pi$$ed off a whole bunch of people (did people expect less?) at…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Monday, March 4, 2013

10 Questions for a Broadway Pro: Treasures from a Box Office Treasurer. by Ken Davenport

I remember when I was just starting out in the biz and thought I knew everything about sales. And then I met a box office treasurer and realized I didn’t know nuthin’. Why sure, …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Friday, March 1, 2013

Someone Wrote That Song by Ken Davenport

Musical theater writers out there are facing the exact same problem that popular music writers/artists faced years ago:  the internet has made it waaaaay too easy to steal their work. See, …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM

The most popular posts of the month: February by Ken Davenport

Time for that monthly summary of what got your attention last month here at The Producer’s Perspective The most read post of the month: Wanna be an Associate Producer? Introducing the …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 10:45AM
Thursday, February 28, 2013

Now let’s see how revivals are trending! Part II by Ken Davenport

Yesterday we refuted the notion that the number of new plays and new musicals were on a precipitous decline over the last thirty years. Today we’ve got a couple more graphs for you, bu…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Are new plays and new musicals really on the downswing? Part I by Ken Davenport

I read a quote recently which lamented the fact that there weren’t as many new plays on Broadway anymore. At first, my head started a-nodding in agreement.  It’s easy to jump on…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Broadway’s 2012-13 Quarter 3 Report by Ken Davenport

I love a Broadway Q3 Report.  Cuz it tells me that spring is right around the corner. And spring brings warm weather, warmer hellos from formerly frigid NYers, and higher grosses thanks to …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Monday, February 25, 2013

An Oklahoma Goodbye. by Ken Davenport

I first met Larry Peyton, the President of Celebrity Attractions, a Tulsa based Presenting and Producing house, in 1999, when I was the Company Manager of the National Tour of Jekyll & H…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Friday, February 22, 2013

Why don’t I rate for that rate? by Ken Davenport

Spoiler alert:  If you work at or run a non-profit, I’ll bet you your endowment, you’re not going to like this post. Yesterday I put in a call to a vendor I have not worked with…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Thursday, February 21, 2013

The ultimate Book of Mormon ad campaign. by Ken Davenport

When The Book of Mormon was prepping for its first performance, a lot of folks thought the Mormon Church was prepping for a protest to take place outside the theater. Many industry insiders …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wanna be an Associate Producer? Introducing the DTE AP Scholarship. by Ken Davenport

On my birthday last August, I wrote a blog about my concern for the lack of Broadway Producers under the age of 40.  Our research indicated that only 8% of the Producers in the Broadway Lea…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Favorite Quotes Vol. XXXVII: Why the Book of Mormon authors think theater ain’t going anywhere. by Ken Davenport

The Authors of The Book of Mormon were featured in a NY Times article a few weeks ago.  If you only read Arts and Leisure then you probably missed it(,) because this 1000 worder was in the …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Monday, February 18, 2013

Why writers are like Indiana Jones. by Ken Davenport

The best stories I’ve read, watched, and listened to have high, obvious and dramatic arcs.  The writer(s) start you off slow, and then over the course of a number of pages or a number…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM

Broadway Grosses* w/e 2/17/2013 by Ken Davenport

The following are the Broadway Grosses from the week ending February 17, 2013: Show Name GrossGross TotalAttn %Cap AvgPaidAdm ANNIE $954,565 10,386 76.01% $91.91 CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF $957,7…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 10:45AM
Friday, February 15, 2013

Just how many Star Vehicles recoup anyway? by Ken Davenport

You know what everyone is saying these days, right?  If you want to make money on The Broadway, then you gotta have a gimmick star. We here at the ol’ office don’t believe in an…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Thursday, February 14, 2013

How to ensure Broadway’s future audiences and actors. by Ken Davenport

My high school didn’t have a football team.  And when I tell people that, they’re shocked.  ”How could you not have a football team?”  Well, we just didn’t. …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Their business really is a Circus. by Ken Davenport

Who doesn’t love a little Cirque du Soleil? I remember the first time I saw “O” in Vegas (and yep, I said first time, because I’ve seen in multiple times).  I spent …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Is the Grammy Award for Best Show Album like a Student Election? by Ken Davenport

I was thrilled that Once won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album on Sunday night.  But it got me thinking . . . is it just a coincidence that the Tony Award winner for Best Musical a…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Monday, February 11, 2013

Boston makes a play to become a tryout for plays. Again. by Ken Davenport

Boston used to be one of THE tryout cities (along with New Haven and Philly)  for big Broadway musicals.  Shows like Funny Girl and Anything Goes all tapped their toes on a Boston stage fi…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Friday, February 8, 2013

Just who do you think you are? by Ken Davenport

Back in Mid-January, I asked all of you to take a survey about yourself and this blog with the promise that, like in previous years, I’d publish the results right here where you’…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Broadway League Conference Day 3: You can’t build anything without a plan. by Ken Davenport

There were no panels today.  No keynotes.  And no lectures. Why not?  Because it was time for all of us to take what we learned over the past few days and figure out what we wanted to foc…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Broadway League Conference Day 2: Broadway goes global. by Ken Davenport

The 2nd day of the conference was a potpourri of panels with a lot of exciting topics and inspiring ideas about variable pricing (and even more important – how to set the right price f…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Broadway League Conference Day 1: Gilty as charged. by Ken Davenport

The Planning Committee of this year’s conference made a fantastic choice of starting off the week with speakers from outside our industry in order to inspire us with cutting-edge-comme…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Monday, February 4, 2013

Overheard at Angus Vol. XIV: Shows are like kids. by Ken Davenport

I’m at the Broadway League conference for the first half of this week (watch the next couple day’s blogs for some takeaways from this year’s speakers and panelists).  In…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Friday, February 1, 2013

Why I’m producing Macbeth on Broadway. by Ken Davenport

Remember when I tweeted this? If you saw last night’s late NY Times or Playbill announcement, then you’ve prob put two and two together and realized that the “#NewShowThisS…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM

The most popular posts of the month: January by Ken Davenport

Time for that monthly summary of what got your attention last month here at The Producer’s Perspective The most read post of the month: 5 Tips to Getting a Job on Broadway The most com…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 10:45AM
Thursday, January 31, 2013

Could our unions host award shows too? by Ken Davenport

While I was watching TEDxBroadway ‘trend’ on twitter the other day, I noticed another interesting trending topic . . . #SAGAwards. Yep . .  . you know where I’m going with…

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM
Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Panel Alert: Are There Alternatives to the 8 Performance Week? by Ken Davenport

I’ve produced four Off-Broadway shows. Three recouped. One did not. Three did less than eight performances a week. One did not. Guess which three recouped? The Off Broadway market has …

SOURCE: The Producer's Perspective at 11:00AM