How important is BroadwayWorld to Broadway?

We've been name-checked on Smash, and other than possibly ATC and a few sites too underground to mention here, we appear to be the premier theatre site out there. But are we important?

Are we a major cultural force in the art form, that people in New York genuinely pay attention to? Here within the board we have our famous figures and our celebrities- respected characters like Pal Joey or Whizzer, wits and wordslingers like like Jordan Catalano and Phyllis, arch and gleeful grouches like Newintown and After Eight, and self-styled experts, some legitimate like the beloved BK, and others of dubious authenticity.

Do we matter to anyone but ourselves? This weekend we have seen 4chan shut down over possible criminal confessions. News stories have broken on twitter, and Reddit has caused minor movies to be successes. Are there cultural reverberations emanating from our site?

Updated On: 4/14/13 at 11:57 PM

I'm serious, not being snarky. I'm genuinely wondering where the line between "internet word of mouth" and "real world word of mouth" is drawn.

As a long-time poster on this board, over the years figures like Jordan, After Eight, the various trolls, and so on have become as real and as significant as Ben Brantley, Michael Riedel (who seems LESS real now, because of his caricatured appearances on Smash), etc. The appearance of songs like "Good Morning Broadwayworld" and "Tweet" make it appear that people outside the site's usual suspects are aware of us.

But to what extent does our influence extend? We are a niche site in a niche art, which means that it is more likely that anyone who reads the site is probably either a devotee or a participant in the arts. Every day, different Reddit users rise to prominence and disappear. Jordan will be funny and a fixture next year, like he was last year. So will the other "main characters." The memes are largely fixed- Real Housewives gifs, Jordan's musclemen, jokes about After Eight being crabby. Our net community is shockingly stable compared to... just about anywhere else.

You'll have to forgive me- I'm an academic as well as a theatre person, and one of my current classes is on digital cultures. Sitting down and trying to dissect this one is fascinating, because it's one of the few that I know of that genuinely sits still long enough to take a photo of it.

"I'm serious, not being snarky. I'm genuinely wondering where the line between "internet word of mouth" and "real world word of mouth" is drawn."

Any reason then that you chose to single me out in your little "I wonder who he really is but he certainly isn't..." speech? You don't know me. Should I start a thread talking about what you certainly are or aren't that had absolutely nothin to do with anything being discussed? Because seriously if you can't see how offensive what you wrote is, then it's time to turn off the computer for the night and let the grown ups talk.

You are a very rich bitch.

"I'm an academic"

This is what's turning BWW into the SS Poseidon.

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Sondheim's definitely on here somewhere posting GIFs of Teresa Giudice.

Updated On: 4/14/13 at 12:27 AM

Without BroadwayWorld.com's message board, Broadway would crumble. We're not just important, we are VITAL.

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You're welcome.

The truth is -- industry professionals read these message boards. They're curious about the reactions to shows, and what's popular amongst us. After all, if you are a BWW member, you are a person who loves theatre. This is a collective of probable ticket-buyers. Our voice is much more accessible than out-of-town tourists.

Now, do we IMPACT shows? Are creative changes made based on our reactions, either in the show's writing or its marketing? Likely not.

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lol @ CapnHook

Perhaps what I wondered about the most was, how do we impact the preview period, if at all? We discuss the development and revisions of shows in great detail here, and gauge our reactions to the same. Do the creative teams take these sorts of discussions into consideration the same way they do talkbacks?

In my original post I had made a comment (intense as glib but, in my addled state, merely catty at best) contrasting an alpha poster here to press figures. The poorly conceived point remains- given that we have seen shills and theatre figures on here to promote or defend their works, are we able to command what Reddit users call karma (in Internet terminology, the respect a poster gains from continued useful or entertaining postings), and be genuine artistic barometers?

I think this board is used by the creative teams to gauge preview reactions from theatergoers (Cinderella, a case in point) but I'm also happy that most people do not use this board as a basis as to whether or not to see the show. Anyone I know that goes to theater does not read this board or any critic's review of a show. They just go if it interests them, and I feel that's how it should be.

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