73 Days 'til Godspell: Final Callbacks by Ken

Today we had our last day of callbacks.  We saw some new folks, as well as some patient ones that have been kind enough to come back for us a few times; dedicated, passionate pros, and…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on August 1, 2011☆⚑

74 Days 'til Godspell: Budget analysis by Ken

I flew to/from Chicago today, catching the first flight out of LGA and the last flight back from O'Hare, so I had the flight(s) to catch up on my budgetary analysis.  I do this on a weekl…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on July 31, 2011☆⚑

75 Days 'til Godspell: Awarding the set bid. by Ken

Today ended a couple of weeks of back and forth between our Director, our Set Designer (David Korins), our TD, myself and our GM team. The bids (how much it’s going to cost) from scene…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on July 30, 2011☆⚑

76 Days 'til Godspell: Inventory Management by Ken

I know, the subject of this blog makes it sounds like I’m counting a warehouse full of soccer balls before shipping them off to Modell’s. But nope, I’m talking about taking…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on July 29, 2011☆⚑

77 Days 'til Godspell: A producing partner joins the team. by Ken

Today I had the thrill of announcing that the original Broadway Producer of Godspell, Edgar Lansbury, has joined my production as an above-the-title Producer. Yeah.  I know.  Cool, rig…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on July 28, 2011☆⚑

78 Days 'til Godspell: Making a media change. by Ken

After I wrote the “82 Days ’til . . . “ blog about getting our music out early, I came to a realization that our Godspell Advertising Plan might be a little light in radio.…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on July 27, 2011☆⚑

79 Days 'til Godspell: Dotting Is and crossing Ts on contracts. by Ken

I was going to go to law school once. And then, when I started reading and writing contracts when I was company managing and general managing shows in the decade before I started producing, …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on July 26, 2011☆⚑

80 Days 'til Godspell: So many celebs have done Godspell . . . by Ken

. . . so what can we do with them?  That was the topic of today’s marketing brainstorming session. We have a brainstorming session in my office at least one day a week, and that day…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:00pm on July 25, 2011☆⚑

81 Days 'til Godspell: Washington reminds me why Godspell why now. by Ken

I took a break from my weekend paperwork today to glance at CNN and get an update on the current drama in D.C.  First health care, then tax reform, and now the debt ceiling. (Ever get the…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 7:04pm on July 24, 2011☆⚑

82 Days 'til Godspell: Getting music out early by Ken

Whenever I consider producing a musical, I always start with the score.  After all, the root word of Musical is “music” . . . so I’d say that makes it a pretty important…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 5:19pm on July 23, 2011☆⚑

83 Days 'til Godspell: Look what came in the mail. by Ken

Today was a day about being on the phone.  I talked to almost everyone on the first page of our contact sheet at least once, and some several times. But in the midst of all that dialing a…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 10:05pm on July 22, 2011☆⚑

84 Days 'til Godspell: But how many days until opening? by Ken

There are 84 days until our first performance of Godspell on Broadway, but we have 99 days to the opening night . . . and the opening night party. And believe it or not, that’s what I …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 10:57pm on July 21, 2011☆⚑

85 Days 'til Godspell: A promotional opportunity pops up. by Ken

What I love about this business is that you just never know what’s going to come your way on any given day.  I often wake up in the AM and the first thing I think is, “What co…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 9:25pm on July 20, 2011☆⚑

86 Days 'til Godspell: The offers begin. by Ken

While we are still searching for a few folks to fill out our cast, today our General Manager and Casting Director started making offers to a few of the actors that we definitely know we want…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 8:00pm on July 19, 2011☆⚑

87 Days 'til Godspell: Callbacks by Ken

We had 8 hours of callbacks today.  I’m always amazed at the incredible talent that this city and country offers (we had several people fly themselves in from all over as we continu…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 8:00pm on July 18, 2011☆⚑

88 Days 'til Godspell: Our last designer could be our most important. by Ken

The one designer we haven’t announced yet is our Sound Designer,.  Because Godspell is a rock musical, and because we’re doing it completely in the round (which is one of the …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 8:00am on July 17, 2011☆⚑

89 Days 'til Godspell: Putting the band together. by Ken

As you can tell from yesterday’s blog, we’re deep in the staffing stage of our show.  Every day we add a few more names to our contact sheet. Today, it was all about the music…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 6:30pm on July 16, 2011☆⚑

90 Days 'til Godspell: Selecting a Stage Manager by Ken

The Production Stage Manager on a big musical like Godspell, is one of the most important positions we have to staff as we get closer and closer to our ‘go’ date.  A PSM (who …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 6:30pm on July 15, 2011☆⚑

91 Days 'til Godspell: Picking a promotional product. by Ken

All shows need “swag,” or promotional items featuring your show’s logo/message that can be used at trade shows, in gift bags, for partners, etc.  I’m talking custo…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 6:30pm on July 14, 2011☆⚑

92 Days 'til Godspell: Making a press release calendar. by Ken

Broadway shows have a lot of news worthy of a press release in the three months leading up to their first performance. But the challenge is that when you announce too much, too fast, and if …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 6:30pm on July 13, 2011☆⚑

93 Days 'til Godspell: Joining groups to help sell groups. by Ken

Because Godspell is such an appealing show to people of all different ages, types, etc., Group Sales is a big part of my strategy for filling seats and reducing expenses (if I can get some l…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 4:30pm on July 12, 2011☆⚑

94 Days 'til Godspell: Soft sale starts today. by Ken

It’s official.  Tickets for Godspell are officially on sale for all buyers. We had a two week American Express presale period that ended last night at midnight (we traded that time …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 6:30pm on July 11, 2011☆⚑

95 Days 'til Godspell: Who's grabbing a flyer? by Ken

Outdoor (billboards, posters, etc.) is one of my favorite forms of advertisement. And, the way Broadway theater rentals work, is that the theater owner will allow you to put up your front-of…

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 4:30pm on July 10, 2011☆⚑

96 Days 'til Godspell: Financials, reports, budgets, etc. by Ken

I often compare a Producer to the CEO of a traditional company.  And just like a CEO, a Producer gets a lot of reports on a weekly basis that need to be reviewed. Because so much happens …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 6:00pm on July 9, 2011☆⚑

97 Days 'til Godspell: Discussing the set bids. by Ken

After a set is designed for a Broadway show, the designer and the technical director host what we call a “bid session.”  At one of these sessions, all of the scene shops that …

SOURCE: Day By Day: The Producer’s Perspective at 6:00pm on July 8, 2011☆⚑