I don't mean the celestial stars. I'm talking about celebrities.
On Broadway, it's believed that one way to have a profitable show is to have a star in it. A Broadway star is nice, but better still is a TV or a movie star. The thinking is that the more famous the star, the more people will be clamoring to buy tickets.
It's a theory that often succeeds. This season we had Larry David clean up on Broadway, as did Bradley Cooper, and others. This will obviously continue to be seen on Broadway.
The "star in the show" doesn't always work, unfortunately. Sting, Chita Rivera, Vanessa Hudgens were stars whose shows did not prosper in their reflected glow. It's always puzzling when the gambit fails, because stars are, well, stars.
The best thing for any show, obviously, is when it thrives with no stars. The show itself is the star. The biggest hits of today are long running shows with no stars. The Lion King, Wicked, The Book of Mormon exemplify this.
There's no way to bottle the magic dust that certain stars have, or what makes certain shows capture the imagination of audiences.
Ooops, wait. I forgot. Disney can and does it more consistently than anyone. Maybe some producer can hire out Mickey Mouse for a limited run somewhere?
No comments:
Post a Comment