Question about when broadway shows close

They don't always do it -- I forget what the criteria is. I know the final performance of Bells Are Ringing was taped for Lincoln Center :) (and *I* was there -- that was festive! lol)

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Most shows are now taped for Lincoln Center and are available only through them. This costs the producers about $5,000.00. The cost of doing a full blown video of a show is prohibitive and is rarely done. Hence, the traffic in illegal videos. Or Hasselhoff...

Also what prohibits many shows from doing a commercial video is all the rights clearances. Everybody wants a piece of the profit pie and it just gets too costly to produce.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber is a big believer in having records of his shows in some visual format. So, for that matter, is Stephen Sondheim. As big-name composers, they have the clout to ensure that their shows are recorded. Other times, it'll be something like Jekyll & Hyde, where Hasselhoff wanted the show recorded and had it done.

The market can't bear all that many theatrical DVDs, though I gather it's catching on a bit more now as ALW and Sondheim are both doing it. There should be more and more in the future.

Commercials are filmed separately from any other footage, just like how the photographs in the souvenir brochures are generally taken from rehearsals.

-Wayne