Piazza tour advertising - bummer!

[IssaMe]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 7:53am

With large half-page ads running in local California papers for the opening engagement of the "Piazza" tour in San Francisco - it is a disgrace that the ads feature photos of Victoria Clark, Aaron Lazar, Katie Clarke, and Michael Berresse when they aren't even in the touring cast (and none of the actual tour cast is shown).

This misrepresentation in advertising is made more serious and ludicrous because all of these actors were in the widely seen TV broadcast, so is the public to expect to see the same cast they just saw on TV???

This is not fair to the touring cast, nor to the New York cast members shown inaccurately, nor to the public (some of whom might be led to believe they are buying a ticket to see the Tony Award-winning actress Victoria Clark...well, according to the ad in which she is prominently featured, they are!)

The ad is based on the most recent poster and NY advertising campaign for the show - just lifted.

Ironic is that Berresse is shown in the "Piazza" ad since the ad next to it on the same page is for "A Chorus Line" which is in San Francisco at the same time and DOES actually have Berresse in its cast. Right guy, wrong show.

While TV commercials for touring shows sometimes show original Broadway cast members (WITH A DISCLAIMER SHOWN instead of reshooting an expensive TV commercial for the road), why does the print advertising (easy, fast, and inexpensive to update) feature the wrong "Piazza" cast - particularly when the tour has long been cast, the cast has been assembled for rehearsals for weeks, and there has been plenty of time to use their photos in a new - and accurate - advertising campaign.

Come on, Gentry, you guys can't be THAT cheap...or unprofessional.

Not nice.

Updated On: 7/12/06 at 07:53 AM

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 7:58am

er... right

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 9:16am

It happens that way all the time with tours fresh on the road. Anyone paying attention will understand that the cast will more than likely be different. They just want the word out that the tour is on it's way and coming soon.

Hopefully they'll adjust ASAP as things get closer.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 9:18am

Perhaps at this point they haven't done a photo shoot with the touring cast yet?

[IssaMe]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 9:41am

They have done photo shoots...

...and the point is that this is misrepresentation and sloppy, lazy marketing. The is the First National Equity tour of a Tony-winning show with a high profile (how many other Broadway shows have been telecast live lately?). This is San Francisco. This is not some penny-ante generic tour.

What may "happen all the time" doesn't make it right. And, audiences usually don't pay that much attention to figure out such things. (And because of that, it probably doesn't matter). Still doesn't make it right.

If I had seen the show on TV, then saw the ad and bought a ticket thinking I was seeing the same cast, it wouldn't be quite cricket. Luckily, the tour cast (and the show) is so exceptional that people will still get their money's worth.

And the advertising indeed will eventually be changed.

But still, it's unprofessional when the already-existing logo artwork (as seen on T-shirts, mugs, etc.) or a totally redesigned print & graphic ad (using critical quotes but without the wrong actors being shown) would have been just as easy to produce until subsequent ads were ready. They have had months to plan and prepare this.

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy...and stupidly uncharacteristic of a show for which precision, integrity, high quality, and expertise has been the hallmark from its inception.

A minor thing at best - but disappointing.

[Bdwy24]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 11:06am

Unfortunatley, a majority of the people who will see that advertisment will not realize who is in the photo. Of course, there will be the handful that will.

[IssaMe]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 11:43am

If I were Christine Andreas (a name Broadway star), I would sure notice.

She and other cast members have given a year of their lives and careers for a very strenuous road tour under the special Equity contract (look at the schedule - it is a really tight one).

The least they should be able to expect is respect.

Particularly in a show which has been a class act from the get-go.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 11:46am

The Kennedy Center also had the same poster up, and I don't believe I saw a disclaimer on the bottom of it stating, "Broadway cast".

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 11:52am

Boston is doing the same thing, but their brochures state "Victoria Clark and Katie Clarke" in the Broadway Cast.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 11:58am

i just think it was the worst move to go with the current posters rather than the glorious yellow ones with a girl running frantically towards the light.


a) it looks better
b) it's a generic girl, not from one cast or the other.
c) it better represents the show (in my opinion)

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 12:05pm

I agree, it's more romantic...which is what the show is.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 12:11pm

I had always thought the advertising would have played up the romanticism of the piece, like, "Fall in Love at Piazza".

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:20pm

Well, the fact is IssaMe, that most people a) Won't notice or b) Won't care. Perhaps technically it is false advertising, but I doubt many people are going to see the show simply because they think Victoria Clark or any of the other Broadway cast members are in it. I too sometimes have to remind myself that most people don't care about theater even a fraction as much as we do.

[thespian geek]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 2:27pm

Well, when the Rent tour last came through here, they used that TV commerical they filmed back with the SECOND Broadway cast. This is the commercial with Norbert Leo Butz as Roger. Is that false advertising or them just using a cast to represent the show?

[Bdwy24]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 3:29pm

It's not false advertisment. They never say in the commercials "come and see this cast perform....."

The Light in The Piazza is still in rehearsals....
They don't have any production photos of them to use.

And really. The normal Broadway Subscribers do not care enough for them to shell out thousands of dollars for a new picture RIGHT AWAY while they are in rehearsals. Frankly, the normal Broadway Subscribers around the country don't even know what The Light In The Piazza is let alone who is in the advertisement photo.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 3:31pm

There is a thing called press shots...

Which can be done before the production is ready. All they need is costumes.

[Zachary Goldfarb]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:18pm

IssaMe, you need to calm it. Although I, too, love it when "current" or "accurate" photos are used for promotional hoopla, it's not a priority. The only people who care are the people who already know the difference. And there is in fact a difference between photos taken during the rehearsal period and the photos taken once a show is on its feet. Considering this company has not even left their studio in New York yet, this is what I have to say: Take a nap and then examine your use of the word "sloppy."

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:25pm

Idina and Kristin were all over our brochures for last season but at the bottom it said the pictures were from the Broadway production.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:30pm

Uhhhh....almost all tour/sit-down flyers and ads use the OBCs...it's expensive to do photo shoots, and it can't be done when they aren't even in rehearsals...or what not.

Chicago's Spelling Bee has some photos in their lobby, but the flyers that are for the cast have the OBC on it.

The Movin' Out Tour is using pictures of Michael Cavanaugh and co.

The Little Women Tour used OBC

Spamalot!'s recent return to Chicago had LOTS of pics of the OBC....

Just about EVERY souvenir program you can buy is nothing but OBC

it happens ALL the time...and 99% of people don't even realize that the people in their program and on the pictures ARE NOT the ones they are seeing on stage.

[kyle.]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:38pm

I thought for sure they would get costumes together for the 3 leads and do a photo shoot for the tour poster on the LCT set before the show closed.

And the BETTER make a tour poster....

Anyone know why they never made new posters for the LCT production using the photo they used in the papers or the CD cover art? They went from the original posters with the OBC credits on the bottom to creditless posters, they should have made the switch then.

[kyle.]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:39pm

Double Post of Doom Updated On: 7/13/06 at 04:39 PM

[BJC899]

Posted: 7/12/06 at 4:40pm

They can just photoshop new faces in. Hmmm sounds familiar.