TABOO - Marketing

Were would have the digital marketing taken place besides e-mail? Myspace?

I don't remember much of an digital marketing strategy since social media was essentially in its infancy stage. I was on MySpace and Friendster at the time but don't recall any particular push from Taboo.

If memory serves me right I don't think they offered any discounts during its run, which I found annoying. I was 22 at the time and couldn't afford to see Broadway shows at full price. They seemed to be going after a young audience and I thought it was unwise for them not to offer discounts. They essentially priced out their target audience. (They may have had a rush policy but I never bothered with that since I worked in production and never had the time.) It was right around the time I signed up for TDF. I want to see I was signed up at the time and it never made its way on there but I could be wrong.

I finally ended up paying full price for a balcony seat but it was the night before they announced a closing notice-- they apparently notified the cast the night I was there and the curtain was about half-hour late, with no explanation. Then Boy George's understudy went on. (I mean the actual Boy George-- we saw an understudy play Leigh Bowery that night, but there was no prior announcement.) Being a Boy George fan I wasn't particularly happy about that, but on the other hand the show was really great-- it was much better than I anticipated. (I anticipated it being a POS but I found it engaging and quite moving. I still listen to the score.)

You should watch the documentary ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway. It follows Taboo from rehearsal to opening and there's interviews with the creatives who talk about stuff like their marketing strategy.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShowBusiness:_The_Road_to_Broadway

mattyp4 said: "ShowBusiness is a great doc.

I too was surprised by the strength of the score, which I sort of alluded to in my post. I went into Taboo with preconceived notions of it being a total turkey based on all the bad press it got, but I was genuinely surprised at how moving it was. I thought it was a great show-- slightly flawed-- with a really strong score. But it got a totally bad rap in the press. Critics and gossip columnists were dishing about this show with such glee, it probably turned a lot of people away. Too bad. I'm really glad they recorded the score though."

Exactly. At the time, it seemed like this show was only known for all the behind-the-scenes drama and being a mess all-around. I think if that's all one really hears about a show, then people won't get to know the actual show which really killed any momentum it could have had.

Updated On: 9/27/17 at 12:03 PM

everythingtaboo said: "mattyp4, you should have waved hello to me, I was at the show for my birthday that night. I'd seen the show several times before and was wondering why the curtain was late. When I got home I saw they told the cast that night. I think Bob Gaynor was on that night, and his Ich Bin Kunst was the most blazing I'd ever seen it.


I agree about the lack of discounting, it was embarrassing. I was lucky to have some connections to see the show a few times free, but I paid full price for the rest, and it hurt my wallet bad. I could never tell if they wanted to go for the youth market, or the former 80s kids, who maybe a couple of decades later would have some middle-age disposable income.

Sometimes I wonder if the show was ahead of his time, now that Hollywood and the public is stuck in nostalgia mode. Maybe it's time for a revival or an HBO movie adaptation!"

Ohhh interesting! Yeah I didn't realize that was not Boy George (or George O'Dowd) playing Leigh Bowery until halfway through the first act, since there was no announcement (and I was way up in the balcony). I remember him being fine but I was just a little sore at missing George. But from someone who has seen both performers, I'm glad to hear he got your seal of approval!

I thought 80's nostalgia was definitely a thing in 2003/2004. I just think the marketing campaign for Taboo wasn't great. And again, the bad press about backstage drama killed it.

Not sure if a movie adaptation is the right fit, nor a full-blown revival, but maybe an Encores presentation?

I know it from its London days and the project was always muddled- and saddled with a deeply incapable director who couldn't shape the disparate parts. As a result, it never knew entirely what it was and the marketing campaign couldn't sell it. I'm sure if it had been a simple jukebox musical, it would have been commercially successful, but at its core was a fantastic score and a tragic true story which did not have commercial appeal back then.

Digital media were completely in their infancy- I remember receiving a dvd-r as part of the promo campaign! But Rent had managed it so there was no real excuse with a better focused and more experienced producing team.