What show should we bring to Broadway next? **UPDATED**

[producerasst]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 10:32pm

Hellol. I work as an assistant to a well known Broadway producer. We're looking to develop several new musicals, and want input on what you'd like to see. There's a brief survey below and we'd love to hear what's on your mind. Many of the questions are open ended and allow you to share your thoughts on anything from ticket prices to how we can create a better Broadway experience. Once a bunch of people have taken the survey, I'll post results in this thread.

Http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MJKT3SJ

**UPDATED** The survey is now only 10 questions. I removed the ones which did not get a good response or people were skipping over. I also addressed Dramamama's concerns.


Updated On: 7/3/11 at 10:32 PM

[producerasst]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 10:46pm

Sorry for the confusion. The link is now working!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 10:55pm

Which producer? What is it that (s)he has to hide?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 10:59pm

I don't think transgender people normally list their gender as "transgender."

[producerasst]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 11:05pm

We're not looking to hide anything. It's an anonymous survey, as pieces of information included (ex. Music genres) may give hints as to shows our office is currently developing.

I changed "Transgender" to "Prefer not to specify". I didn't mean to cause a stir, but rather be all inclusive of our great community.

Also feel free to answer as many or few questions as you'd like. No question is required and your answers are saved each time you hit "submit". You can stop at any time. Thanks!
Updated On: 7/3/11 at 11:05 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 11:05pm

But please, give us all YOUR ideas so that we may capitalize upon it. NO thanks.

[producerasst]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 11:12pm

Dramamama, you may skip any question you do not wish to answer. Some posters do not work in the Broadway community would like to share their ideas. Not all people fit under that category in which case you don't have to tell us anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.

[siny]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 11:49pm

Done with the survey. That was fun.

[producerasst]

Posted: 7/3/11 at 11:52pm

While the survey is by no means over, I'm posting a couple of the results up to this point. We've had quite a large number of posters respond. On average, a BWW user sees 17 shows a year and pays about $62 for each production.

The most popular shows which posters have recently seen are Book of Mormon and Normal Heart, followed by War Horse.

Many more results to come soon, and I will continue to update the above numbers.
Updated On: 7/3/11 at 11:52 PM

[bk]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 12:05am

You might tell your boss that this is really an idiotic way to "develop several new musicals." Here's a novel idea - do something you believe in. Develop shows that mean something. If your boss has to resort to his assistant coming on to the broadwayworld message board for his knowledge then he/she might want to just get into another line of work.

[siny]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 12:19am

Wow, tough audience....

[CapnHook]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 12:26am

I don't understand how listing EVERY music genre in your survey alludes to hints about your producer's upcoming projects.

The business-oriented questions make sense to ask, but polling on what source materials we want to see developed tells me that your producer just wants to take the most popular response, make it into a show, and try to cash in. As bk said already, your producer clearly has no passions of their own and shouldn't produce until they discover one.

There's nothing wrong, really, with asking others to present ideas. What bothers me is the format and the context.

And what kind of producer has their assistant create a survey and asks them to post it on a message board on a Sunday evening late at night, and on the eve of a national holiday when most theatre offices are closed?

[producerasst]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 12:42am

We are developing shows that "mean something". We're simply polling members of the Broadway community to hear their thoughts. CapnHook, we are not trying to cash in on the most popular source material. But a lot of people have really great ideas and we like to open ourselves up to new concepts. I can't tell you exactly what will happen with the results of this survey, but we want to be an accessible office and listen to our customers. And my boss asked me to do this sometime over the weekend. I had some free time now and chose to post.
Updated On: 7/4/11 at 12:42 AM

[bk]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 1:10am

Well, I hate to be the one to tell your boss, but this is amateur night and I truly doubt your boss has actually produced any shows on Broadway, unless he's just put in some dough. Putting in some dough is not being a producer, BTW. I have a friend who is an above-the-title producer on several shows. Know why? Because he found a rich guy who was willing to take a flyer and had enough money to buy himself and my friend the above-the-title billing. Are they producers? I don't think so.

[producerasst]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 1:36am

My boss has lead produced numerous shows on Broadway, which means that he originated the project. Yes putting in money makes you an "investor" not a "producer". If you have above-the-title billing you're technically considered a Broadway producer (eligible to win a Tony Award etc.). However some co-producers are purely money people, while others take larger roles. It's impossible to know by looking at a Playbill unless you work in the industry and knows how each person operates. Not all Broadway producers are created equal.

[charlesjguiteau]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 2:16am

What kind of polling of musical tastes doesn't offer "Traditional Musical Theater" as one of the choices? Are you only interested in producing shows with scores written by folks who don't have any experience writing music for the theater?
(Ask the guys at Spider-Man how that's worked out for them so far.)

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 4:32pm

I'd much prefer an original musical, or one based on a novel ripe for musicalization, than another show based on a movie. But I did answer the movie question, offering Midnight (1939).

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 10:43pm

Who's the producer behind this top secret operation?

[CapnHook]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 11:10pm

The whole philosophy of doing a survey and gathering this data just smells of Ken Davenport.

[Anakela]

Posted: 7/4/11 at 11:23pm

The most popular shows which posters have recently seen are Book of Mormon and Normal Heart, followed by War Horse.

...I'm still amazed that you needed a survey to tell you this.

The whole philosophy of doing a survey and gathering this data just smells of Ken Davenport.

I'd expect something better than Survey Monkey dropped over a holiday weekend from Davenport.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 7/5/11 at 12:32am

Why is it necessary to rip on the guy for a survey? Pretty rude, and kinda lacking in class.

[bk]

Posted: 7/5/11 at 12:40am

"The whole philosophy of doing a survey and gathering this data just smells of Ken Davenport."

Ya think?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/5/11 at 12:40am

Is everyone on this board sitting on a major work slated to be the next "BOM"? top secret stuff you are not willing to share?

do the survey or don't. they were just looking for a little feedback.

Happy to complete it.

[bk]

Posted: 7/5/11 at 12:41am

"Why is it necessary to rip on the guy for a survey? Pretty rude, and kinda lacking in class."

You don't think the survey is lacking in class? The sooner this kind of horsecrap stops, the better.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/5/11 at 12:50am

A survey would not surprise me coming from Ken Davenport, but I get the sense that he would be up front about, none of this anonymous stuff.

Also, many regional theatres and road houses often poll their patron/subscriber base to see what kinds of shows they want to see. I don't see anything wrong with a Broadway producer doing the same thing. I just would prefer they wouldn't try to do it behind this sort of veil of mystery.