Show’s Social Media Policies

Babe_Williams said: "I think that in this day and age, its a huge mistake and quite an antiquated view to have such a strict view of social media policy that a production does not let the cast or creatives post anything related to the show--e.g. them getting ready in their dressing rooms or sound check, or stage dooring, etc. (Obviously not talking about clips of the show, that should be off limits). It really doesn't make any sense to me. Is someone really going to not go to a show because they see an actor dressed in their stage makeup or sitting in their dressing room? The digital age is here, whether producers like it or not. Adapt and expand the audience."

It's not just that producers want to control what is going out on social media, there are also strict union rules around taking photos and videos in the theater. Most look the other way, but technically you aren't allowed to take any - even an actor taking it on their phone - without getting permission and posting a filming notice 24 hours in advance.

cougarnewtin said: "I work with a theatre company that very obviously isn’t Broadway-sized (it’s also non-equity), and we’ve had to crack down on social media usage a lot during our past few productions. A lot of it came from the fact that cast members were using incomplete and unfinished aspects of the show to promote it (i.e. videos of newly-learned choreography, videos taken during rehearsals, etc.). The biggest problem we had was when cast members shared videos of the Act One finale of one of our productions- which contained major spoilers. That might not be exactly what’s going on at the Broadway houses (due to union rules and such) but I think it’s the same idea; pictures of make-up, soundchecks, etc. are unpolished previews of the show and however minor they may seem to us they might seem a bit more major to producers. "

That definitely makes sense. I think it’s just confusing and upsetting to a lot of the fans that a well known show like Wicked, after letting several performers post what they wanted, to cut it down to almost nothing. I can’t confirm if that’s the reason why Hannah took her press shots down, but Vosk has addressed the social media rules on her Twitter I believe so I can only assume. However, your point about unpolished previews of the show makes sense! I wonder what the real reason is why they (Wicked) cut social media usage down so much.