Something Ben Brantly help me realize

[winston89]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 7:52pm

I was reading the review by Brantly for Legally Blonde. He made a good point when he spoke about how this show shows that if you have good looks you can do anything and that looks are all that matter. He then compared it to wicked and how all the tween fans of that show were unhappy that the beautiful girl didn't get the guy like in every typical fary tale and how Blonde is the opposite of that.

There was also an article in the current time Time that spoke about how they are making a lot of musiclas that have a fanbase of tweeen girls and that because of shows like wicked, hairspray and now Blonde it has been a favorite actiivity of young girls to go to the theatre when it once wasn't before.

I was wondering something. Do you think that if they made more shows that were male orented that teen guys would start going to the theatre more often. Keep in mind that there were a few articles when Spamalot opend about how it is the first show to have its ticket buyers to be mostly male whereas for other shows it is the other way around.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 8:02pm

It's possible. I don't mean to be rude, but I think it's easier to write a "girl power" musical and pack in the tween girls since they've figured out, now, that's what gets them. They haven't yet found the "surefire" something that attracts the teenage boys. I don't think "boy power" will do it. Perhaps if Galinda or Elphie took their tops off...

Updated On: 4/30/07 at 08:02 PM

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 8:04pm

When did going to the theatre become a popular hobby for tween girls? Just because Wicked, Hairspray, etc. have a large tween girl fanbase doesn't mean going to the theatre is a popular activity.


And I agree with Cats. Unless Green Day writes a musical (HA!) theatre won't be a popular activity with teen boys.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 8:10pm

Like Green Day's American Idiot.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 8:20pm

Unfortunately, I don't think ANYTHING can get some teen boys into a musical- they think they're too "dorky", "corny", and "gay".

[istillbelieve24601]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 8:40pm

LOL... as a teenage girl who lives near NY, I can say that a lot of teenage girls who otherwise would be all like "Musicals are so boring" end up going in to see Wicked, Hairspray, Legally Blond, Pirate Queen, Mamma Mia, Phantom of the Opera frequently, including some multiple times. It's actually quite amusing. I love talking about theatre to those girls. They think I don't know anything about theatre at all because I haven't seen Hairspray yet, and then when I say "Sondheim" they give me completely blank looks.

There aren't many shows you can produce to get guys into theatre seats. It's not just the idea of having male leads with "guy power" either. Phantom has quite a bit of guy power yet I know many girls who don't like much theatre besides Phantom. I've yet to meet a regular, non-theatre-geek guy my age who like it.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 9:49pm

Maybe if they stopped writing shows that were dorky and corny it would attract a larger teen male audience.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 10:05pm

According to the 2005 study of Broadway audience demographics by The League of American Theatres and Producers:

"Sixty-five percent of the audience was female. Moreover, women continued to be the primary decision-makers in show selection."

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 10:30pm

I've actually seen a fair amount of teenage boys at the theater. In RENT there was a whole row behind me, and at Wicked a father and his sons sat in front of me. But, it's just not what a teenage boy is into. I remember when my parents took me, I was like "ugh." But now I beg them to come to shows with me.

[wicked_mimi]

Posted: 4/30/07 at 10:44pm

I don't think it is so much the shows but more the fact that most teenage guys could care less about theater. Look at high school musicals, they tend to always struggle to get guys in the shows whereas there are more than enough girls. Musical theater is just much more of a girls thing and with boys that are in their teenage years and worrying about "being cool", musical theater is not seen as "cool" for them. Atleast in my experience...

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 2:14am

There was also an article in the current time Time that spoke about how they are making a lot of musiclas that have a fanbase of tweeen girls and that because of shows like wicked, hairspray and now Blonde it has been a favorite actiivity of young girls to go to the theatre when it once wasn't before.

Well this does explain the general "dumbing down" of nusical theatre! It also explains why highly prised "adult" musicals (COMPANY, GREY GARDENS) are playing to half-empty houses.

Movies have been targeting teen-boys for years..ever since STAR WARS pointed the way to getting them to see it repeatedly. So more and more movies are basically elaborate video games. If they want teen boys to go to Broadway musicals they will have to write a "video game" show with a lot of vioence, hard rock music, explosions and special effects. And who would want THAT???


I think it's great that teen girls (and boys) get exposed to theatre and learn about different ways of telling stories. But why do they just go back and see the same shows over and over? With 30+ shows running on Broadway (and plenty more off-Broadway) why would they just go see WICKED for the 20th time??
And, how to they get the money to support their habit?

[RadiGal2]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 2:37am

I'm not sure about that...my son has a deep appreciation for musical theater, and while he accepts people think he is a gay theater geek because his radio (and mine) is almost constantly tuned to Sirius 77-- his standard response is "it's a lot better that the crap that's on channel 01.".

He has no problem revealing what's on his iPod which is full of Ave Q, Fiddler, Cabaret (soundtrack and 1998 recording), Mame, heck I've lost track of what's there anymore --- the point is well over 50% of the music is from Broadway recordings. It's a generalization he refuses to allow bug him. My younger son only likes a few...where my oldest will give anything a try, and my youngest daughter loves a few show dearly namely RENT and Chicago, and while we haven't seen Wicked none of them are very impressed with the recording of it at all.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 3:50am

I've loved musical theatre since I was 12. And I'm straight...hard to believe huh? lol.

[Mistress_Spouzic]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 4:39am

its also a marketing problem...

advertising The Lieutenant of Inishmore as merely a gun filled blood bath mightve caught the eyes of young teen boys, but probably no one else.

Avenue Q could certainly entertain young boys, maybe if they filmed a commerical solely displaying the puppet sex in a bad porn style of filming, theyd get them in the door.

Thats really the hard part, I think boys would like theatre just as much as everyone else, its just catching their interest thats difficult without alienating the established market.

[Den]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 5:13am

I think the problem is that most teenage boys who are taken to musicals are probably taken to something like "Wicked" which likely won't change their perception of what musical theatre is like.

Instead, if you want to make a musical theatre fan out of a teen boy, start with something like Avenue Q or Evil Dead. Maybe follow up with The Wedding Singer, Spring Awakening, We Will Rock You, or Rent. (Any other suggestions?)

Just make sure that the things that really matter in life are represented: Dick and fart jokes, rock music, liberal use of the f-word, sex, chainsaws, spurting blood, etc.

Save Wicked, Hairspray, Mamma Mia and the like for later on when they realize they actually love musicals.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 6:03am

HELLO! You're all generalizing! Lord.

"Teenage boys" is not one entity. You're all describing the macho, straight, homophobic, uncultured, sports cultured teenage boys, and that is NOT even close to every teenage boy.

Tons of gay male teens attend the theatre regularly and I would say almost the same amount of gay male teens are "into" theatre as teen girls are, if not even to a greater degree.

[Weez]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 6:57am

It's fair enough to do this kind of generalising though. The gay male teens are already attending theatre, this thread's about attracting the kind of teen boys who would ordinarily go "oh hells no, theatre is gay!" without actually giving it a chance.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 7:06am

"I'm not sure about that...my son has a deep appreciation for musical theater, and while he accepts people think he is a gay theater geek because his radio (and mine) is almost constantly tuned to Sirius 77-- his standard response is "it's a lot better that the crap that's on channel 01.". "

That kinda sounds like me

""Teenage boys" is not one entity. You're all describing the macho, straight, homophobic, uncultured, sports cultured teenage boys, and that is NOT even close to every teenage boy."

As I am a straight, not-macho, not-homophobic, sports-hating, theatre-loving teenage boy, I know that. And the majority of my friends love theatre, too. However, this is NYC. I can assure you that the stereotype mentioned above is EXTREMELY common in subburbia, at least in my experiences and in what I have heard, and even what I see on the street in Westchester (a NYC suburb).

[Jellylorum]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 9:02am

There are quite a few teenage guys (who otherwise wouldn't watch theatre) who like a few musicals. A lot of guys I know like Avenue Q, Rent, Spamalot, and Chicago.

While none of these guys I know are theatre-loving gay guys, neither are they homophobic sports-loving beer drinking guys. When you think about it, the majority of teenage guys fit into neither category perfectly. I think the reason there doesn't seem to be many stereotypical teenage guys liking musicals is that we're taking the stereotype of the typical teenage boy to the extreme. The same goes for girls too. Maybe it's just where I live, but none of the Wicked and Rent fangirls I know are the stereotypical trendy make-up obsessed girls who have major crushes on Leonardo DiCaprio and want to be like Britney Spears.

Updated On: 5/1/07 at 09:02 AM

[EdmundOG]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 9:07am

"Tons of gay male teens attend the theatre regularly..."

Okay, so we shouldn't try to attract the 98% that aren't gay? And I love that you get indignant that they're lumping all tenn males together, and then you (intentionally or not) stereotype theatregoing teen males as gay.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 9:28am

Excuse me, Edmund. But where did I stereotype any male teens as gay? I said "Tons of gay male teens attend the theatre regularly." I didn't say "tons of teenage fairy freak boys attend the theatre reguarly."

Updated On: 5/1/07 at 09:28 AM

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 10:17am

If BWW had taught me anything, it's that musical theatre is a haven just brimming with heterosexual man, second only to (if not surpassing) professional sports. To suggest otherwise is tantamount to treason.

Updated On: 5/1/07 at 10:17 AM

[Den]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 12:14pm

Well, marketing is all about generalizations (that is, "targeting a demographic"). And it's painfully obvious that this particular demo is under-represented in theatre audiences.

Here are a few more generalizations about the teen boy demo:
1) They do not have the disposable income required to buy theatre tickets on a regular basis so they will only be going when taken by their family or as a big date with a girlfriend. (Yes, I'm generalizing that the non-musical-going teen is straight.)
2) They do not know enough about musicals to know which ones would appeal to them.
3) When their parent or girlfriend tells them that they are being taken to Wicked, their response will not be a squeal of delight.
4) They prefer R-rated over PG-13.
5) They think "musical" automatically means G-rated (i.e. they make generalizations of their own).
6) They will not tell their friends that they saw Mamma Mia. If their friends find out they saw Mamma Mia, they will say that they were forced to go and that it sucked even if they loved it.

I think if a parent/girlfriend wants their son/boyfriend to go to musicals with them, they should select their first show carefully. Pick something that will destroy his preconceptions of what musical theatre means.

[lildogs]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 12:29pm

Here's another thing: what teen guy wants to sit quietly in a theatre for 3 hours, spending $40-100 a ticket on something he might not like when he can Playstation for free at home or go see BORAT in a theatre where he can eat and act up?

I would imagine that most guys that age see going to the theatre like going to a museum or church.

[Den]

Posted: 5/1/07 at 1:46pm

Also, just about any time I see school groups at an evening show (probably not matinees), the girls look like they are going to their prom and have clearly spent hours during the day getting hair and makeup done. The guys generally look like they just threw on a clean shirt (more in keeping with the rest of the audience), but they stand around the lobby looking sullen as if they've been chastised for not putting in enough effort.

So another generalization: girls like dressing up; boys don't. But theatre-goers aren't expected to dress up to the extent that highschool girls seem to believe.

I think it would be easier to get guys out if they didn't have to dress up at all (and for some shows that's actually the case).