Playbill: color vs. black and white

[kevashton]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:08pm

Does anyone know why some Playbills have a color cover and after time they are black and white?

[Just_John]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:09pm

For the shows to save money.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:10pm

Budget. It costs a lot more money to produce color playbills than b&w. Most shows start out in color and then move to black and white. Some shows, like Wicked, do so well that they can afford to print color playbills.

[kevashton]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:11pm

Thanks, it makes sense except the majority of the inside of Playbill is color, so how expensive could the cover be?

[davalmar]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:12pm

I have always wondered this too! I assumed it was budget related, but even black and white playbill covers still use yellow on the front, and almost always color on the back. How much money could it possibly save? The color covers are so much better!

[ashley0139]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:44pm

Well, Playbill is a magazine so the yellow on the front, and all the inside stuff (except for the stuff about the specific show) is used in every playbill. It's a copyrighted thing. Playbill is a company, not a generic name for that thing they give you that tells you about the cast. The inside stuff about the cast is never printed in color, either.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 2:55pm

The cover and the center pages are paid for and printed by the production. The outerpages are Playbills.

The Production has to cover the cost of their parts. So...if each playbill is 10 cents cheaper in B&W and you are a 1,000 seat house you would save $100.00 a show. So that is $800.00 a week and $41,600 a year.

But I doubt it is that little of a savings.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 5:49pm

You have to admit the color ones are quite nice such as DOTV

[zzannahk]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 5:58pm

from aug 17th

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=907924#2423308

[myManCape]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 6:18pm

my post from Aug 17:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=874045#1558667

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 6:19pm

Is it required for shows/theatres to hand out playbills?

[americanboy99]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 6:36pm

sometimes it just fits the show. like phantom.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 6:42pm

"Is it required for shows/theatres to hand out playbills?"

Actor's Equity requires that a free of charge cast list be distributed to each member of the audience. Many theatres have contracts with PLAYBILL to provide it. Some theatres use companies other than PLAYBILL to provide that service and smaller theatres may choose to print their own.
Updated On: 8/30/06 at 06:42 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 7:44pm

In London, there is no Playbill

If you want a program, you have to buy one

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 7:47pm

yeah, i think that sucked
but their Playbill quality was much higher, and was on nicer paper, and the WHOLE thing was in color

but yeah, just a thought- HAIRSPRAY still has color playbills, but they arent doing extremely well, are they? i know THE COLOR PURPLE has b&w, and thy are doing much better than HAIRSPRAY...

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 7:49pm

Seeing you are on vacation, it was worth it. I got The Witches Of Eastwick

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 8:53pm

Minor threadjack...

Why are off-broadway playbills always missing the cast photos? I hate that!

[zzannahk]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 9:08pm

maybe it's a cheaper printing format

[MrBundles]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 9:18pm

I LOVE London programmes, although it was a bit costly this summer because I purchased 31! The average cost for one is about £2.50, which was not good after the exchange rate

Updated On: 8/30/06 at 09:18 PM

[Princeton78]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 9:35pm

"but yeah, just a thought- HAIRSPRAY still has color playbills, but they arent doing extremely well, are they? i know THE COLOR PURPLE has b&w, and thy are doing much better than HAIRSPRAY..."


Last week, "Hairspray" played to 82% capacity, and made almost $700,000 dollars.
I'd say they're surviving.

[WiiCKED x3]

Posted: 8/30/06 at 10:14pm

I liked te DRS playbill better in color.