Jul 16, 2010
Broadway and Licensing: The Perfect Performance?
I’m going to see a performance of RENT this Sunday at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, performed by Phoenix Productions, central Jersey’s community theatre company. Granted it’s not the Broadway show, but I’m a total RENT-head, and when you have an addiction like mine, you take it where you can get it. Besides, I saw it on Broadway about 15 times (we know where my paycheck goes) before it so sadly closed, so I’m ready for a different atmosphere. I also saw it performed last year by a group of Rutgers college kids at a tiny theatre in New Brunswick, and it was amazing. The passion, precision, coordination, and creativity of those 20-something-aged college kids left me in awe, and frankly, quite a bit jealous. I can barely type and talk at the same time, let alone sing, dance, and act simultaneously.
I love to see my favorite live show, RENT, performed by different people, with different skills sets, in different venues. I love seeing how the same story, with the same lyrics, the same plot and ideals, can be turned into something new and exciting each time with different performers and directors, with different interpretations. And, like any RENT-head, I love my licensed RENT-stuff. I’ve got the T-shirt, sweatshirt, keychain, coffee-table book, and all my playbills. But I’m noticing a shift in licensing when it comes to Broadway; one I’d like to find out more about.
At some point, back in the day, it used to be that Broadway shows spawned licensed products. Fans would see the shows, love them, and want to own merchandise to express that love (exhibit A: my RENT T-shirt). If you walk through the theatre district in NYC, you’ll find loads of gift shops specifically themed around this concept.
Now, however, it seems that instead of great Broadway shows leading to licensed products, other forms of media and entertainment are more and more leading to Broadway shows. What am I talking about? Shrek the musical. Disney on Broadway. Monty Python on Broadway. The Wizard of Oz. Jersey Boys. Grease. Movin’ Out. I even heard a commercial on the radio yesterday advertising that Green Day’s got an award-winning Broadway show.
When did hit properties start leading to Broadway shows instead of the other way around? When and why did the theatre crowd start accepting less “serious” art, such as Monty Python, as appropriate for theatre? How does bringing entertainment such as Green Day and Shrek to Broadway make theatre more appealing and more accessible to the masses, to the “regular folks” who might not have a taste for The Merchant of Venice or Waiting for Godot? When did Broadway become a children’s entertainment venue as well as an adult one? How does this shift increase licensing sales? What’s the legal process for turning an established property, movie, band, or celebrity biography into a licensed Broadway show? How much money does Broadway take in annually from licensed products? Why do we RENT-heads pay to see the same show again and again, and pay so much for those T-shirts, when you know darn well that if I saw a regular old shirt in a store for that price, I would laugh out loud and keep walking?
I think that those questions, and more, might be the beginning of a very interesting Broadway licensing feature.
What’s your favorite Broadway show? Why do you pay so much for Broadway product? For the shows themselves? Please weigh in on this one! Inquiring minds want to know!
–Jennifer Ringler
In case you haven’t seen RENT (in which case you have missed out on one of the best parts of life on Earth), here’s my favorite song from the show:
