Showbill VS Playbill

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 9:03pm

anyone know the difference???

my 42nd street, Lion King, and Mary poppins playbills are showbills, but everything else is a playbill. LK, MP, and 42nd street were bway shows, though....i'm confused lol

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 9:05pm

I think some Disney shows use the title "Showbills" but I wonder because "Tarzan" has a PLAYBILL...

[myManCape]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 9:05pm

Search, Search, Search

I have answered this question at least 10 times. And many others have as well.

[myManCape]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 9:20pm

Just because I'm not as mean as others on this board. I did the searching for your lazy self.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=917391#2631019

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=643628#644290

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 9:21pm

Mary Poppins uses "showbill"?

I hate that. The border of my room is made up of Playbills. I love the uniform yellow top.

"Showbill" just feels like a cheap knockoff--I have a Lion King "Showbill."

[myManCape]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 9:22pm

The Poppins Showbill has the "uniform yellow top". Except it says Showbill. The Lion King's did as well.

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 12/29/06 at 10:55pm

it has stuff about that show in it

[Julian2]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 1:10am

As far as I know, Showbill is published by Playbill, you can buy opening night Mary Poppins Showbills at Playbill.com.

[winston89]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 2:54am

The answer is simple, Showbills are made by disney for use only at the New Amsterdam theatre. This is so that they can create a program that has info only bout the show that is playing there (now it would be Poppins in past years it was Lion King). Disney could do that because they own the New Amsterdam. They made the outside look like a playbill because they didn't want the outside to be different. TLK, Tarzan, and Beauty and the beast are all playing at theatres that are owned by the Nederlanders. It is because of this that they are using regular playbills. Every theatre on broadway uses playbills. The only one that doesn't is the New Amsterdam for said reasons.

[actor]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 4:13am

Does the difference between the two honestly matter?

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 9:25am

how come 42nd street was a showbill?? that wasn't disney and it wasn't at the new am...

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 1:34pm

My Lion King "Showbill" doesn't have a yellow top...

[antonijan]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 5:04am

I looove Playbills :P



I have updated my collection with Cats and Aida and I will get 2 more this weekend after I watch Wicked and Spelling Bee.

I only collect playbills from the shows that I actually have been to.

[fengshuihellnyc]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 11:07am

Everyone here is close but not quite right... The reason that some playbills have showbill in the title is due to that shows connection with some sort of special advertisor. Like when 42nd street was at the FORD theatre (now known as the Hilton), Ford Motors did not want there to be any other ads but theirs in the playbill. Playbill who owns showbill (aka its the same damn thing) renamed it showbill due to the fact that if it was named playbill all of the advertisers that regularly show up in a playbill would expect their ads to be there. Therefore showbill was made to keep confusion and legal issues to a halt.
So when typically you go to a disney owned theatre they can control the type of products out there such as the playbill, which is specially made due to their wanting only specific ads, and Tarzan does not more than likely due to the connection that the theatre is owned by the nederlanders and are probably required to use playbill.

[EganFan2]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 1:35pm

antonijan, your display is what I always dreamed of having on my walls.

Except they'd also be shows I was in!

Total coolness.

[LesMizazz]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 1:55pm

I just did my History of Theatre research paper on Playbill Incorporated and this is some of the research I found on Playbill vs. Showbill:

“The two central players [in theatre publication], Playbill and Stagebill […] had enjoyed a decades-long truce over their respective stage turfs until approaching war erupted several weeks ago over who’d get Walt Disney’s business on Broadway. Stagebill won..” (Tharp 31).

“In past decades, the two magazines had distinct territories in the performing arts. Stagebill took symphonies, opera and dance- with contracts at big locations such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall – while Playbill controlled Broadway’s theaters and many Off-Broadway theaters” (Tharp 31).

In 1997, Stagebill was providing programs for 66 theatres, while Playbill was providing for 69 (Tharp 31).

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/25/07 at 4:23pm

i hate how the ads in all playbills are the exact same.

[antonijan]

Posted: 6/2/07 at 6:04am

as promised...here is a visual of my updated playbills collection :P

I added Wicked and Spelling Bee!

I will be putting the signed Jersey Boys Ahmanson Program at the center once I get it :P