2,028 stories by "Ken Davenport"
Time for that monthly summary of what got your attention last month here at The Producer's Perspective: The most read AND the most commented on post of the month: The next gen of performers …
I’ve got an incredibly informed group of investors who are always sending me news about ahead-of-the-curve stuff, from technology to marketing, to nifty new products. Â Â And one o…
You think a career in the theater is tough? Â You should try stand-up comedy. It’s just you on that stage. Â Nothing else. Â No sets. Â No costumes. Â Just you. Â And an au…
You forgot it was World Theatre Day today, didn’t you? You didn’t even send Theatre a gift. Â Or a simple call. Â And you didn’t even call! Don’t worry, you’…
Ewww. Â Contracts. They are a necessary part of business life, but they’re not fun to negotiate, and they are not fun to prepare. Â We all got into theater because we love the thea…
Back in 2009 (gulp!), I wrote this blog about how Broadway’s year end gross box office figures were wrong.  The reported numbers were just under a billion dollars. But, I argued,…
Les Miserables is the Oklahoma of my generation. Or, the Show Boat for the generation before. I was 16 years old when I first saw it in Boston, MA, and had never seen anything like it …
I’ve got a love/hate relationship with the pre-show Cell Phone Announcement. Â I love that it gets everyone to shut their phones off (sort-of). Â But I hate that it slaps the audie…
Stephen Sondheim inspires me in many ways. One of the more obscure ways was when I read a very cool ego-less list of songs that he entitled, “Songs I Wish I Wrote.” Â (You can …
My inner “Magic Nerd” was resurrected last night when I paid a visit to the hallowed halls of The Magic Castle in Los Angeles. Â (Yep, it’s true, I was one of those kids …
I first met Kathleen Raitt at a Nederlander Holiday Party back when I was a Company Manager, although I had seen her at several industry events before that. Â She was easy to spot . . . sh…
One of those things that drives me nuts about riding the subway is the people who exit through the emergency exit doors, setting off that horrific alarm. Like we don’t have enough nois…
It’s 19 degrees as I type this, as Mother Nature pumps one more blast of the Polar Vortex through the streets of New York City. To say it has been a tumultuous winter is like saying Wi…
If you watch cable in the NY area then you’ve probably seen the new commercials for START-UP NY, Governor Cuomo’s “initiative to transform SUNY campuses and other universit…
In the early 80′s, Professional Sports Teams and Universities started looking a little younger for their future superstars. Â Scouts started heading out at middle school playgrounds,…
Some of the best advice I ever received was from one of my first Broadway Investors who said, “When someone wants to give you money, take it.” That’s true when raising mone…
It’s been five years since the very first Get Your Show Off The Ground seminar, and I’m thrilled to say we’ve had some fantastic success stories.  One author’s …
Broadway Producers like excuses. Jewish Holidays, Daylight Savings Time, the color of shirt Obama was wearing when he spoke to Putin about the Ukraine  . . . Broadway Producers can blame …
About a month ago, I did an article that got a lot of views about Disney Theatrical’s out-of-town tryout strategy.  And a few months before that, I did another one about their ne…
SpotCo (one of the Big Three Broadway ad agencies) on Tuesday for a Gettin’ The Band Back Together artwork meeting, and I noticed something different . . . Where there used…
Arthur Bartow, the Dean of the Tisch School of the Arts when I was a student, said this to me when I was a freshman . . . As a theater pro, I know I’m enjoying a show when I’m no…
There was a little brouhaha brewing last week about the recent revival of Annie that closed in January after a more than respectable 15 month run at the palace-sized Palace Theatre. W…
Time for that monthly summary of what got your attention last month here at The Producer's Perspective: The most read post of the month:Â A Broadway opening night where you actually get to…
The people that work for me like to talk about theater. Â That’s why they work for me. They like to come up with new ideas and better practices in making what we all do a more sustai…
When I first moved to New York back in the pre-cell phone era, one of the coolest things to do was to go see David Letterman live up at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (remember when he was at NBC?). I…
