Opening Night Playbills

[thekaoboy]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 8:57am

Are the opening night Playbills any different from the regular Playbills? The ones advertised on Playbill.com have a special "Opening Night" sticker but I was wondering if that is on all the opening night playbills or just the ones being sold on the website.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 9:40am

Not all opening night playbills have the "Playbill" sticker that you mention.

On the page where it has the show name and the credits, on the very top above that black horizontal line, it will give the opening night date. For example, all things going smoothly, the opening night playbill for Chorus Line will have at the top "October 5, 2006" because that is the set opening night.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 9:43am

Yup, it's just a date on the title page. Drowsy was giving theirs out early so I have one from that, some others too.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 9:54am

I pulled out the Playbills for a couple of the early opening nights that I attended. For ME AND JULIET, the only indication that it is for the opening night is the statement "Beginning Thursday Evening, May 28, 1953" on the title page just above the instructions concerning what to in case of an air-raid.

The PIPE DREAM Playbill has the same "Beginning....." but the next line says: "Opening Night November 30, 1955."

The ticket envelope for both shows has Opening Night and the date on the top line, followed by the title of the show, and then, in red, the time that the curtain rises, 7:30pm for Me and Juliet, 8:00pm for Pipe Dream.

[myManCape]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 10:59am

Very few shows use the sticker now because it costs more. They give out playbills that say "Opening Night [date]" on the title page. Ive gotten many of these by attending shows during the week of opening night. The actual opening nights I have been to are no different from the playbill you gey the day or week before.

[latheatrelover]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 12:22pm

Actually, the older Playbills where you see something like "Week Beginning October 4th" or whatever are NOT Opening Night Playbills but are really regular run Playbills. In the past, they would issue Playbills each week for a show, and each one would be "Week Beginning October 4th" or Week Beginning October 11th", etc.

The Opening Night line above the title page is the best indicator of an Opening Night Playbill.

Stickers have been around for a few decades, too, but are not always used.

Another thing that would happen back in the Fifties time period (maybe later and earlier, too) was that there would be a gold-looking cover around the Playbill with the title of the show and with the words Opening Night.

I have seen some sellers with no knowledge of Playbills look at the last interior page of the Playbill and see the little announcement of "Opening Night December 3, 1956" or "Opened December 3, 1956" and believe it was the Opening Night Playbill. Not true. Generally, Opening Night Playbills, to my recollection, would forego it that week because it was the opening week, but it would be added later. Most Playbills now have somewhere at the end of the cast and crew list a date that play opened.

Opening Night Playbills are more sought after than regular run Playbills, so rise in value if the play is a hit. But there are any number of shows out there that you can pick up an ON Playbill for next to nothing if it was a flop. And sometimes Playbills from flops, if they get a cult following, will be worth lots more.

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 2:53pm

I believe shows have to pay extra for the opening night sticker, and it is optional to have it. I know there have been some shows that have used the stickers on their opening night playbills but most dont. All opening night playbills should have the "opening night line" on the title page.

If you buy an opening night playbill from playbill.com, you automatically get the sticker though.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 3:10pm

You can actually get Opening Night Playbills for about a week before and a week after the actual opening date. Wedding Singer was giving them out until early May! It's just about the number of copies printed.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 8/18/06 at 3:16pm

When I attended the Opening Night of Drowsy Chaperone, the playbills did not have the little cirles on them specifying opening night. The usher claimed that it was an opening night playbill because it had the opening date atop a title page for the show within the Playbill. I have since observed that that date is listed inside on every playbill.

I sat upstairs. I wondered if the folks in Orchestra got the little circles on their Playbills downstairs. I also wondered if someone at the theatre or its management had copped our Playbills to make a buck.

I sense a scandal!