Broadway Posters vs. Movie Posters

Howard Sherman raises an interesting question about how Broadway posters are starting to resemble film posters, and I don't think it's for the better.

https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/the-art-of-publicity-why-theatre-posters-are-stealing-a-trick-from-the-movies-the-last-five-years-jason-robert-brown-musical-howard-sherman?fbclid=IwY2xjawJLrD9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHadiJgm-61eAzpar7TrYRw2LY7C2VvysfmK2hOdluHcehRm7n44ek1CuTA_aem_EzgR4wo0l9RS2xm4SpDXpA

Nor do I think it sells more tickets or establishes a brand for a show the way iconic logos can from Follies to Cats to Phantom.

The first use of photos I remember on a Broadway poster was for the revival of Chicago where it was of a style and looked great. Maybe there were other instances earlier that I don’t know of.

I think the Broadway production of Hedwig really started this current trend of ‘photos of the stars’ as the key art.

It is really sad. I used to collect window cards but I have not bought one in a long time. I was hoping to see McMullan's new poster for Floyd Collins but that did not happen. I thought there'd be some fun character driven stuff available at Dorian but no such luck.

Broadway has a big logo problem. When you only have 3 agencies, everything starts to look the same.

That said, it's 2025, and people are drawn to seeing people, and advertising must work across all sorts of platforms. If you have a star, it helps to reinforce the name with the face. Hand-drawn logos were a necessity in an age when shows were doing print advertising and a lot of it would appear in b&w. Also: one cannot criticize this industry's changes without examining how ALL products are advertised now vs 10, 25, 50+ years ago.

I find the photo-based key art for GN&GL and John Proctor to be both artful and an effective sales tool.

What's NOT attractive is advertising via headshots (Glengarry, Our Town), or overly busy photo art (Smash, DBH, MHE), or whatever the hell Gypsy is doing. But some of those shows have still sold decently well –– better than shows like Last Ship and Swept Away that had gorgeous, painterly art.

Long-running musicals benefit from evergreen artwork that can be replicated regardless of who is in the show. Hamilton, Wicked, Mamma Mia, Lion King, CamMack's big shows, etc...there's real iconography. But a lot of shows nowadays would be thrilled to surpass one year. DBH probably thinks "if we're lucky to last beyond Megan & Jen's contracts, we'll figure the art pivot out at that time."

Updated On: 3/23/25 at 01:06 AM

Some of that Korean art work is incredible. I used to buy show T-shirt, haven’t for years. Just give me the shows name in small font on the breast area. That’s it, simple.