[James84]

Drop me a private message with your e-mail address and I'll send you some links over.

Hey all

I'm a student doing my final year project on what attracts people to go to the theatre, specifically young people.
I'm interested in how things such as
- Kids Week
- High School Musical
- Any Dream Will Do/Grease Is The Word/How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?/I'd Do Anything

have had a positive impact on the theatre. ie, getting more people to go, especially young people.

I have been looking for press releases or news reports that officially say that there has been a rise in attendence but i can't find any. Maybe i'm just looking in the wrong place.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Also, what other factors do you think have created the increase in audience numbers, especially when it comes to kids?

Thanks alot!

(ps, i would really appreciate it if posters could not just reply with jabs against High School Musical and reality show contests please. This means a alot to me!)

[Millie Dillmount]

i think that shows like any dream will do and how do you solve a problem like maria whilst they have introduced a new audience to the theatre in some respects i think that it will prevent other people from going - i saw the sound of music just after it opened and there was a punch up in the upper circle during the interval because the people involved had gotten tanked up before the show. a friend had a similar disturbance during grease - people who have never been to the theatre before and they have no idea how to behave, and also people thinking it is like a cinema

i also think producers like bill kenwright with shows like blood brothers are so despirate to keep their show open they will sell tickets to large groups at up to 80% discount - groups can get £50 for blood brothers for £10 - this is fine but the groups that are attracted do not know how to behave and spoil it for other theatre goers - my message would be stay at home and watch corrie

i think that things like kids week are great because it attracts people to take their children along not only to a peformance but also to the associated events

i think lots of younger children are taken along to see something as part of the whole family thing at christmas have a good experience and want to go back. i think that part of this is also down to the fact that theatres no longer just produce panto at christmas - shows like honk which had a winter run attract people to go along - when i saw war horse just before christmas there were three children about 8 years old sitting near us, and at the interval once said 'mummy this is so good, what can we see next' - hopefully due to the positive experience this will be one of the new generation of theatre goers

i also think that shows like chicago which do celeb casting for short runs attract a new audience with each celeb - those who went to see brenda edwards would be different to the crowd who went to see duncan james and bonnie langford so that will give people a taste to see other things

tiered pricing like they did for avenue q with weekday prices being 30% cheaper than weekends has also helped to make theatre more affordable - as have things like the travlex season and the mayors ticket offers

[student]

Thans millie and james this is all great.

Does anyone have anymore input?

Thanks

[David]

Well, I don't have anything statistical, but I can give you a personal view (I'm 18).

Kids week- no effect on me whatsoever, since I'm out of the boundary, however offers such as 16-25 year old tickets at the RSC (and other places), as well as the availability of standby tickets is a very significant factor in whether or not I see something. If these offers weren't in place, I'd still go to the theatre, but far less.

I'd rather eat my own hair than sit through High School Musical, although I do know people (otherwise perfectly respectable, intelligent people) who like it.

How do you Solve a Problem like Maria/Any Dream will do/Grease/Boy for Sale infuriate me, in that when they're on, they are on ad nauseum for seemingly months, then take up a theatre for years. Unless offered money, I won't be going to see any of the TV casted shows, apart from perhaps Oliver if Barry Humphries is cast as Fagin. Actually, I probably won't due to a general hatred of Oliver!

Sound of Music being cast through Hollyoaks doesn't concern me much- it's tacky, but Strallen is a proper musical theatre actress, and Hollyoaks is crap anyway. Really, really crap. I was forced to watch an episode once- never again!

So basically, as far as marketing and me goes- cheap tickets work, gimmicks don't. Also, I will be swayed by companies (if the RSC tour a production nearby I'll probably go regardless of what it is, likewise National), actors I know are good or are recommended, directors I like, designers I find interesting, good reviews, or just a show that sounds different or interesting.

As I say, just a personal view, but I hope it's of some use!

[Haz]

I'd rather eat my own hair than sit through High School Musical, although I do know people (otherwise perfectly respectable, intelligent people) who like it.

Can't all be perfect, eh?

I would hesitate to put things like Kids Week and reality casting in the same bracket because I think their intentions are very different - I think Kids Week has its heart in the right place far more so than the ALW and David Ians of the world. That said, the idea behind kids week - that young people/families need discounted prices to get them into the theatre - underlines the huge issue surrounding the expense of theatre. For the vast majority of the population, the cost of theatre is completely prohibitive.

I have mixed feelings about the results of reality casting - I think in the end, the right people probably do get picked. Others do well out of it too, with a few lucky breaks thrown in. But all they will ever do is fill the WE full of revivals. Everyone can pick a Danny Zuko because they know exactly what Danny Zuko should be like.. put a new musical in front of them and tell them to pick a cast of that and they'll lose interest within 10 minutes.

[emkay]

I'm answering this even though I'm not exactly a young person--unless you broaden your definition of "young" to mean "under 40", and then I just fit in there!

Anyway, I think reality casting has been hit-or-miss so far, but I think particularly the ALW-produced shows have been very well-made and ended up with the right winners. The Maria show, in particular, was a big turning point personally in reviving my interest in musical theatre after a few years of being mostly burned-out on it because it seemed that all the roles were just going to the same people (and the same types of people) over and over again. I think that show brought out some real talent, and I truly believe that Connie Fisher is an exceptional young talent with a lot of potential to be a lasting star. I was glad to finally be able to see her play Maria on her final night in SOM, and she was even better than I expected her to be. I also follow the careers of the other contestants from the show and am very glad that many of them have done so well.

I say this as a former self-admitted "drama snob", too. I used to think commercialism of any sort in theatre was bad, and I hated Andrew Lloyd Webber in particular as the prime example of the "dumbing down" of theatre--the Maria show is what made me like him and give his musicals a chance, even though I still don't like all of them. I'm not exactly sure what's happened over the years, but my view has changed quite a bit since I was younger, and now I've learned to appreciate a lot of the "popular" theatre (though still not all--I can't make myself see High School Musical, for example, but I have no problems if other people like it), while also still enjoying the more artsy fare. I think broadening the audience of theatre is a good thing now, for the most part. If there weren't popular theatre and everything was cuttting-edge and avant-garde, theatre would be in danger of becoming a very specialized interest followed by only a few intellectuals, and I really don't want that. Also, a lot of the more popular theatre, I think, can serve as a "stepping stone" for new audiences. Someone who really enjoys an ALW show, for instance, might be tempted to go to something a bit more daring next time. Who knows, but I think we must remember that to a very large degree, theatre is about entertainment. It can be challenging and thought-provoking as well, but if it doesn't entertain then audiences are lost on the other aspects of the show most of the time.

I personally do not understand the backlash from some theatre people against some of the reality show winners, and Connie Fisher in particular. Even with the hiccups she's had in her run, with any other performer going through the same things she did (vocal injury, six shows a week, etc.), these things are just noted without too much criticism unless they become chronic. Connie gets it, though--despite coming back to the show after her injury and missing very few scheduled performances for the rest of her run--because of how she was cast, even though she wasn't just some wanna-be off the street. She was a trained performer who had been auditioning the "normal way" for a while and just took the TV show as an opportunity to get her first West End job in a role she'd always wanted to play. I don't see anything wrong with that. I think performers should be judged on their abilities, not on how they were cast. Also, I personally would rather have a few reality show contestants with training and real talent be able to break into the business than have the same people get the same roles over and over because they have the right connections. It's very hard for really talented people to get jobs in theatre when everything is just given to the same people all the time--reality casting changed that up a bit, and in that respect I think that's a good thing.

That all said, I hope reality casting is a short-lived thing, because in my observation the quality is going downhill a little. I think the first one (Maria) was great, and Any Dream Will Do was good too, only the resulting show was just a re-hashed version of the old Palladium production rather than a completely new mounting of the show as SOM had been. I think both Grease shows (in the UK and the US) were extremely cheesy and resulted in shows that weren't as well-received critically, and the UK one was another re-hash of a previous revival as well, and the new Oliver! show they're doing is also a retread of a previous production. If they're going to have these shows, I would prefer they would be done for completely new revivals rather than the same old retreads--I don't think reality casting would work as well for an entirely new show. I have no problems with revivals as long as they're fresh ones, though, rather than old productions pulled out of mothballs seemingly for the sole purpose of justifying another reality casting show.

Overall, I think reality casting has been a good thing that is in danger of being overdone. I hope the Oliver! show and the Legally Blonde show they're doing in the US are the last ones for a while, but I do think some of the shows that have already aired (particularly the ALW-produced ones) have produced a good result of injecting new talent into an old system that needed a breath of fresh air.

[Jessie]

I'm 15, so hopefully this'll help you a teeny bit:
HSM, hate it, so not much to say on that...
I went to Kids Week, and after seeing some of the performances me and a friend actually went to see LOTR (I'd already seen them peform at Theatre Live I think) which I wouldn't have done otherwise, but our initial interest in the show was actually on the ADWD mission when they went to the Theatre Royal.

I'm absolutely rubbish at coming up with stuff off the top of mny head, but feel free to ask questions!

and here's a link....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jan/18/theatrenews.theatre

[Matthew Winn]

I think broadening the audience of theatre is a good thing now, for the most part. If there weren't popular theatre and everything was cuttting-edge and avant-garde, theatre would be in danger of becoming a very specialized interest followed by only a few intellectuals, and I really don't want that. Also, a lot of the more popular theatre, I think, can serve as a "stepping stone" for new audiences. Someone who really enjoys an ALW show, for instance, might be tempted to go to something a bit more daring next time.

That's true of the commercial stuff like ALW's recent shows, but I'm not convinced it works as often as people like to think. For example, I know someone who went to We Will Rock You because he was a Queen fan, but that visit didn't translate into an interest in theatre because he wasn't going to the theatre. He was going to a Queen event; the fact that it took the form of a theatrical production was incidental to the experience. Afterwards he moved on to other Queen-related things, not to other musicals.

If people go to the theatre because they want to see what this theatre stuff is all about and they start off with something simple and unchallenging such as one of the megamusicals then they may well graduate to more challenging material later, but if they're going because something they're interested in simply happens to reach its conclusion in a theatre there's nothing to bring them back. They're unlikely to return to the theatre because it wasn't the theatre they went to experience in the first place.

If they're going to have these shows, I would prefer they would be done for completely new revivals rather than the same old retreads--I don't think reality casting would work as well for an entirely new show. I have no problems with revivals as long as they're fresh ones, though, rather than old productions pulled out of mothballs seemingly for the sole purpose of justifying another reality casting show.

That's exactly how I feel. The format has been proven so the producers know they'll have plenty of money. They're financially secure so why not spend a few extra £100k on new designs?

[student]

Thank you for all of your responses, it is really good to read different people's opinions!