Gone YouTubin'

Posted by Lisa Greenwood September 5, 2008 at 11:09 p.m.

"How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" the old joke goes. And everyone:all together: "Practice, practice, practice.""How do I get to Broadway?"Ready for this one?"YouTube!"Two shows that I know of currently on Broadway made savvy decisions in appealing to the target audience that would bring them success. Both shows, being original works, didn't have the name recognition of movie or book titles or A-list stars to draw in ticket buyers. So they went to where the potential audience was likely to be hanging around:YouTube.In the Heights has several videos of the show itself, along with some fun promos showing off Lin-Manuel Miranda's clever lyrical skills. One of my favorites is the video "Abuela" where a beloved character from the show gets to strut her stuff to the tune of Rhianna's "Umbrella" while promoting the show.[title of show]went a step further and has it's own ongoing series of videos on YouTube called "The [title of show] Show." I haven't watched any yet, because that would mean pausing the [tos] soundtrack on my iTunes to listen to the videos. But through the video postings, they developed a loyal fan base that carried this show from Off-Broadway onto the Great White Way. Funny, isn't it? That an internet phenom whose original inception seemed to attract the lowest common home video comedy denominator as well as inspire many people to become massive violators of copyright laws has now become a marketing tool for some of the most original and creative and inspiring work on Broadway.Hmm:maybe I should dust off my video camera:

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tangential_reasoners_anonymous 4 years, 9 months ago

"Funny, isn't it? That an internet phenom whose original inception seemed to attract the lowest common home video comedy denominator as well as inspire many people to become massive violators of copyright laws has now become a marketing tool for some of the most original and creative and inspiring work...."Hmm... maybe there's hope for the LJW Reader Blogs and Forums, after all-not altogether different at their inception.

Ronda Miller 4 years, 9 months ago

Lisa, I would agree. Who knew, or who knows, which ideas will take flight and which will not. This is great information for those of us who would like to check for additional information. Thanks!

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