25-26 season 1st Preview gifts/merch

JEFF ROSS: TAKE A BANANA FOR THE RIDE

A banana on exit.

BEETLEJUICE (re-re-opening)

Full size cartoon poster/showcard of Beetlejuice & Lydia falling? in front of the Palace theater poster with "Third Time's the Charm" & "Starts October 8"

QUEEN OF VERSAILLES

Full size poster/showcard of 3 characters (Chenoweth eating etc.) with "First Preview October 8, 2025" & listing a few creatives.

French fries & diet coke on exit.

Updated On: 2/22/26 at 11:39 PM

ART (revival)
white baseball hat with gold title/logo on front.

RAGTIME (revival) - NOTHING

MAMMA MIA ("revival" / tour stop) - NOTHING

LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD - NOTHING

Updated On: 2/22/26 at 11:49 PM

Art gave out hats right?

I hope people are not expecting first preview gifts to be a norm, but I am curious about shows that do have them.

The first preview gift thing really took off last season, right? I really only recall it happening sporadically before then.

MemorableUserName said: "witchoftheeast2 said: "I hope people are not expecting first preview gifts to be a norm, but I am curious about shows that do have them."

I wasn't expecting anything from Little Bear since the marketing for the show has been so spare and uninspiring (and since the main purpose for the gifts is for marketing, sending people out in the streets with bags with a show's logo or with things to post on social media, it makes sense there would have been none). But I'll admit I was hoping for that First Preview Playbill sticker. (But no, they didn't owe me that.)"

If you want to spread the word about a show, buy the merchandise. Don't just buy a ticket to the first preview thinking- "I'll be able to promote this show more because they're going to give us something with the show logo on it". You have the ticket, you can buy the merch.

MemorableUserName said: "witchoftheeast2 said: "MemorableUserName said: "witchoftheeast2 said: "I hope people are not expecting first preview gifts to be a norm, but I am curious about shows that do have them."

I wasn't expecting anything from Little Bear since the marketing for the show has been so spare and uninspiring (and since the main purpose for the gifts is for marketing, sending people out in the streets with bags with a show's logo or with things to post on social media, it makes sense there would have been none). But I'll admit I was hoping for that First Preview Playbill sticker. (But no, they didn't owe me that.)"

If you want to spread the word about a show, buy the merchandise. Don't just buy a ticket to the first preview thinking- "I'll be able to promote this show more because they're going to give us something with the show logo on it". You have the ticket, you can buy the merch."

a) I don't want to spread the word about a show. I'm not a marketer. It's not my job.

b) Most audience members buy tickets to see the show, not to promote it.

c)SHOWSwant people to spread the word about them, which is the whole reason they give out the first preview gifts. No show gives out gifts out of kindness, or generosity, or a thank you.They do it to market the show. They are not required to, but that is the sole reason they do it.

d) I literally said I didn't attend expecting a gift. I was simply pointingout that ashow already doing such a poor job with marketing, with a bad, basic website (they finally upgraded it with cast bios, etc. within the past few days)andbland photography of generic imagery, was unlikely to do the gift, which, again, is a marketing ploy that is on them, not the audience.

e) Did a show that's doing such a poor job of marketing already really have merchandise for sale anyway? I have no idea, because I wasn't looking for it, and can't imagine why anyone would have wanted to buy it. (Oh, that's right. You think the audience buys tickets intending to promote the show and is required to buy merch to do so. Okay.)"

Let me see if I have this right. I understand you don't expect an opening night gift. That I get. But are you somehow implying the only way someone will know about a show is if they give out first preview gifts? Give the audience/ticket buyers a little more credit. I've never seen first preview gifts and then bought a ticket. If you buy tickets for first previews with one of your main reasonings being a first preview gift, that's a bit sad. Are you telling me you don't post anything on social media when you attend a show? Because when you do that, you're doing a bit of promotion there. If I ever implied buying merch is required, I revise that statement, because it is not. I would like to revise that to "a first preview gift is not required no matter what the show marketing looks like"

quizking101 said: "Going to the C point, I actually think the first preview gift can be both a marketing tool AND a thank you because, more often than not, the audience is coming to see a production on its first run out with a public audience - and with prices as they are, it’s actually kind of nice.

Also, often times the gifts are subsidized by partnerships to offset the cost. OPERATION MINCEMEAT’s first preview tote bag was sponsored by Audience Rewards."

My main points are 1. there are tons of ways to promote a show aside from a first preview gift, that's not even on my top 5 list of ways to promote a show 2. no one should ever expect one 3. if you resell a first preview gift for a ton of money you're scum

MemorableUserName said: "witchoftheeast2 said: "
Let me see if I have this right. I understand you don't expect an opening night gift. That I get. But are you somehow implying the only way someone will know about a show is if they give out first preview gifts?

No. Nothing I wrote implies that or says it explicitly. I said the first preview gift is a marketing opportunity for the show, which is its primary justification. Quizking101 (who is far less cynical than I) has a good point that maybe there is an element of thanks in the gift from some shows to the audience for coming out to the first preview. But any organization (theatrical or otherwise) that gives away anything with their logo splashed all over it (especially a T-shirt or a bag that turns the recipient into a walking billboard) does it for a reason: marketing. There are certainly many other ways for shows to get the word out (though this show has been bad at it. In addition to the everything mentioned above, they also started selling tickets so late people were asking online if the show was still coming to Broadway). They've done such a lackluster job with those other ways of marketing the show it seemed unlikely they would do this one, and they didn't.

If you buy tickets for first previews with one of your main reasonings being a first preview gift, that's a bit sad.

Your second sentence said youyou understand I don't expect an opening night gift, and now you're saying if I do the thing I specifically said I didn't, it's sad? (I also don't see anyone in the thread saying they bought tickets for a first preview for a gift.) Again, I went innot expecting any kind of gift, because the gift is a marketing ploy, and this show's marketing has been poor, so they in particular seemed unlikely to try it.

If I ever implied buying merch is required, I revise that statement, because it is not. I would like to revise that to "a first preview gift is not required no matter what the show marketing looks like""

Again, no one is claiming it is required, so we seem to be in agreement on that. The discussion of this show's marketing was simply a reflection of whether the show was likely to make useof this non-required, entirely-for-their-benefit marketing opportunity (they were not and did not, so I was correct). If the show's marketing were better,I wouldn't have expected a giftor thought onerequired; I just wouldn't have dismissed the possibility beforehand or figured there definitely wouldn't be one like I did with this show (which I still went to, even correctly deducing there would be no gift, because I wanted to see the show)."

So can we just stop here and agree it's wonderful if they do have them, but it's never a requirement? At the end of the day, that's my bottom line.

ROMY & MICHELE (off-Bway ) - NONE

CHESS - NONE

Updated On: 10/16/25 at 11:54 AM

gleek4114 said: "From everything I’ve seen there was no gift at Romy and Michele. Missed opportunity for some show branded post-its!"

Isn’t it off Broadway? Maybe they’re waiting to give out a first preview gift when it goes on Broadway.

Wick3 said: "gleek4114 said: "From everything I’ve seen there was no gift at Romy and Michele. Missed opportunity for some show branded post-its!"

Isn’t it off Broadway? Maybe they’re waiting to give out a first preview gift when it goes on Broadway."

What would give any indication that this is moving to broadway, unless you're /s?

TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK)

fortune cookie (on exit)

Other STRANGERS MERCH

Updated On: 11/2/25 at 01:20 PM