Will Raul Esparza's name finally be above the marquee? — Page 2

that's great that his talent is finally recognized.
Well, meaning that they put his name on there.
Yeah.

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Many people also said "Cerveris who?"

It's not about star power, it's not about having a recognizable name. It's about playing a huge leading role in an incredibly demanding musical.

And plus, most people that will be buying tickets to see COMPANY will be theatre people and Sondheim fans. Theatre people and Sondheim fans know who Raul Esparza is...and if they don't, the title of the show will sell itself, as well as the brilliant out of town reviews.

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I'm looking forward to seeing this with Raul.....

I mean to bway fans he is really good. but to the ordinary person its morel ike Raul who? He is def. lucky though.

That's the point. It's forcibly creating name recognition. If you stick him above the title, first people are going to be like "Raúl what?" (or in my father's case, "what's a Raúl?"), but then people are going to start talking, and his name is going to be become more powerful. Think about it. I'm sure it's been done before, and it's honestly rather genius. This is going to cause his name to be recognizable and I'm sure the powers that be know that. I think it's also somewhat in anctipation of his career skyrocketing from this, and his name eventually being one that's going to sell tickets. It's a brilliant move on the part of whoever finagled this. While it IS about recognizing his talent, the bottom line is that this is a business move and a marketing strategy.

And I'm sorry, but in addition to that, this guy works his ass off, and while he's certainly not alone in working his ass off, he and his boatloads of talent deserve this and I stand by that.

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Updated On: 10/13/06 at 11:42 AM

I know. I opened the thread and I was like "but I explained this already." But since when do people understand something the first time you said it?

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Updated On: 10/13/06 at 11:58 AM

LOL-emcee- I meant that *I* said it already-the post right before yours!

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I'll let you get away with it this time! The message is certainly worth repeating!!

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Of course it's different than Usher. But you're talking about deserving this kind of recognition for two separate reasons: fame and merit... of which Usher has um, little.

If that is a marketing strategy how will this help them?

Because if it works, and his name becomes more powerful than it is now, people will get excited and start talking. It's all fairly cyclical. If it works.

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