Opening Night Playbills

[bananamilk]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 12:34am

Hi! 

I apologize if this isn't the right place to ask this question, but I wasn't sure where else to put it and don't have anyone else I can ask! I'm a new theatre fan and recently saw & Juliet and KPOP on their opening nights. I noticed the playbills I got didn't have the silver "official opening night" stickers, though I later saw on the Playbill Instagram that they had ones that did. Is this a sticker that Playbill puts on their own playbills? Or did I just get unlucky and get the ones without? 

Thanks! 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 2:08am

Yeah, I'm guessing that Playbill put the stickers on themselves. You'd think it might be a nice courtesy/opening night gift for shows for Playbill to provide the stickers, but shows actually have to pay for them and their ushers have to apply the stickers to every single Playbill. Many shows choose not to do that. 

I'm a bit surprised &Juliet didn't do it because that show is pretty flush with cash, but not at all surprised KPOP didn't because they are not. 

I'm also not surprised that the Playbill social media team comes armed with their own stickers. It makes for a great photo-op and they actually sell them online (even ones that never had stickers). They also have a bunch where the actual shows used non-branded stickers or put them in a different place than the Playbill shop does. It's really funny, actually. 

[Fosse76]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 6:07am

Opening night stickers on Playbills are actually not that common. I've attended over 15 opening nights, and the only performance to ever have a sticker on the cover was for Phantom's re-opening after the pandemic closure. 

[JuneJune]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 7:14am

A friend of mine went to KPOP opening night and grabbed me a set of playbills since I'm a fan. They don't have the seal in front, but if you open them up to the giant cast/production page (not sure what it's called exactly), it will still say "OPENING NIGHT: NOVEMBER 27, 2022" 

You may have already known this, but I wanted to point it out just in case. Should be the same deal for &Juliet :)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 9:37am

jkcohen626 said: "Yeah, I'm guessing that Playbill put the stickers on themselves. You'd think it might be a nice courtesy/opening night gift for shows for Playbill to provide the stickers, but shows actually have to pay for them and their ushers have to apply the stickers to every single Playbill. Many shows choose not to do that."

Which is it? 

Also: why should playbill GIFT them anything?  They are already providing the playbills free of charge!  (Unless a color cover or extra pages.)  They have bills, too.

[veronicamae]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 11:10am

Shows can pay for the generic Playbill Opening Night sticker (pay Playbill and, I believe, pay for the ushers' application of them just as they have to pay to have inserts added to Playbills) or shows can design their own and pay for them to be applied.

They also don't necessarily sticker enough for everyone, i.e. if someone takes 5 that are stickered, they've taken 4 from other people. My coworker and I both went to the same Opening Night, sat side by side - she arrived a bit late and mine was stickered and hers was not.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 11:29am

Also, that Opening Night headline on the title credits page has no relevance.  I have countless Playbills with that on there and I didn’t attend the Opening Night performance. 

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 11:32am

I know that within the Playbill collecting world the sticker is conflicting. Some feel the sticker, along with the date on top of the credits page signifys it wa from the actual opening night performance. On the flip side, there are those who feel that without the sticker, and only the date page are truly opening night performances, because you can buy the stickered Playbills from their website, and it has nothing to do with the performances themselves. 

Imagine if we still did weekly Playbills like in the 1950's?

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 11:38am

Quoted wrong message, correct one below. 

Updated On: 12/2/22 at 11:38 AM

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 12/2/22 at 11:43am

dramamama611 said: "jkcohen626 said: "Yeah, I'm guessing that Playbill put the stickers on themselves. You'd think it might be a nice courtesy/opening night gift for shows for Playbill to provide the stickers, but shows actually have to pay for them and their ushers have to apply the stickers to every single Playbill. Many shows choose not to do that."

Which is it?

Also: why should playbill GIFT them anything? They are already providing the playbills free of charge! (Unless a color cover or extra pages.) They have bills, too."

The Playbill social media team put stickers on the Playbills themselves for their photo ops. Shows that want to distribute stickered Playbills must purchase and self-apply them. Sorry if that was confusing. 

For your second point: I don't know, I don't spend much time contemplating Playbill's financial situation. I just think people don't realize that it's not something that's included because they also don't spend much time contemplating Playbill's financial situation. They just get a Playbill when they take their seats and don't think much about who paid for it.