#1
Posted: 5/31/09 at 10:07pm
A sweet, unexpected event occurred a couple days ago while I was a work. A fellow coworker of hispanic origin, Maria, (who speaks very basic English) came up to me when I arrived and she was in a frenzy. She was very anxious to ask me something but she wasn't able to think of the words to translate it into English. The only noun I understood was "Broadway" and "hits."
Another coworker who is bilingual translated the conversation for us. It turns out, Maria had seen the PBS documentary of IN THE HEIGHTS (she was pronouncing it "hits") and knew that I was a huge Broadway fan. She asked if I had seen it so I told her about the show. She had never seen a theatre production before so I had to explain how it was different than going to see a movie.
I DVR'd the film and invited her to come watch it again at my home. The next day, she arrived with her husband and five children, which was quite a shock! I had no where for them all to sit as I was in the process of moving, so she and her husband sat on the couch and the five kids all watched from the floor. I put on the Espangol closed captioning and left them to watch as I continued packing.
When it was over, the husband asked how to get tickets.
In July, the extended family of just under 20 people will be going to see their first Broadway show, but more important than that, their first ever live theatrical production!
This was my first personal experience with non-theatre friends being affected by Broadway marketing (which wasn't even a marketing campaign to begin with!). It's so refreshing to know that these mainstream films aren't just for us geeks who go see theatre twice a week and visit BroadwayWorld, but also that the general public *does* watch (or in this case, 'stumble upon') them.
When you watch the Tonys a week from today, think about how the general public will be affected when they see a boy's love of dance, a family's struggle to be a family, an ode to '80s rock, a famous green ogre, classic gangsters singing gospel, hippies dancing in the audience, and two gangs colliding through dance. One of those seven performances will hit home with Joe Schmoe, and perhaps he will take his family to New York and see their first theatre production, too, just like my fellow coworkers from North Carolina.
Another coworker who is bilingual translated the conversation for us. It turns out, Maria had seen the PBS documentary of IN THE HEIGHTS (she was pronouncing it "hits") and knew that I was a huge Broadway fan. She asked if I had seen it so I told her about the show. She had never seen a theatre production before so I had to explain how it was different than going to see a movie.
I DVR'd the film and invited her to come watch it again at my home. The next day, she arrived with her husband and five children, which was quite a shock! I had no where for them all to sit as I was in the process of moving, so she and her husband sat on the couch and the five kids all watched from the floor. I put on the Espangol closed captioning and left them to watch as I continued packing.
When it was over, the husband asked how to get tickets.
In July, the extended family of just under 20 people will be going to see their first Broadway show, but more important than that, their first ever live theatrical production!
This was my first personal experience with non-theatre friends being affected by Broadway marketing (which wasn't even a marketing campaign to begin with!). It's so refreshing to know that these mainstream films aren't just for us geeks who go see theatre twice a week and visit BroadwayWorld, but also that the general public *does* watch (or in this case, 'stumble upon') them.
When you watch the Tonys a week from today, think about how the general public will be affected when they see a boy's love of dance, a family's struggle to be a family, an ode to '80s rock, a famous green ogre, classic gangsters singing gospel, hippies dancing in the audience, and two gangs colliding through dance. One of those seven performances will hit home with Joe Schmoe, and perhaps he will take his family to New York and see their first theatre production, too, just like my fellow coworkers from North Carolina.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
Updated On: 5/31/09 at 10:07 PM
