The goal of this TV show competition is to pick the two leads - Sandy and Danny - for an upcoming Broadway production of this musical. On the
website for this new TV program, you can watch background videos, see some pictures (images are not very interesting), and download audio tracks to create and submit your own video auditions. I don't understand the purpose of the "
Be A Star" section since this show is about to air and initial auditions must have already been conducted. At this point, you can't watch any of the submitted video auditions.
While the TV show's website may have some limitations, the idea of creating synergy between a TV competition and a Broadway musical is an excellent one. TV audiences not only get to watch competitors vie for the lead parts in the Broadway production, but they also get to participate in the selection process. And through this highly participatory process, it's hard to imagine that a huge number of tickets for the theatrical production won't be sold. My guess is that the Broadway production will quickly go on a nation-wide tour to take advantage of the pre-existing audience generated from the TV show.
It's interesting to consider how dance and theater companies can create the same type of synergies on a scaled-down basis. Clearly, not everybody can go out and produce a $10 million Broadway musical. But there are other approaches - and much less expensive ones - for engaging audiences in the process of creation and seeking innovative ways to give online and live audiences a voice in different aspects of your performances. How can you use your website and online videos, for example, to provide new types of access to your works-in-progress and current performances? How can you enable audiences to vote or offer their feedback in a way that is both meaningful to participants as well as to choreographers, directors, dancers and actors? And, then, how do you leverage these higher levels of participation to build audiences, create online distribution channels for your performances and generate new revenue streams?
None of the above questions is easy to answer, but I think they are worth considering in light of the direction that popular culture is going and the increasing move toward hybrid events that leverage multiple mediums (Internet, TV and the stage) to build audiences and generate revenue.
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