One of the greatest reminders you get when doing a live focus group, where you sit behind a panel of

If you ve been reading my blog for a while, then you know that I m a big proponent of research. We re one of the few industries on the planet that spends millions of dollars developing a project . . . but rarely test that project before going to market, or when we re in the market.
I don t do a show anymore without proper research to help guide me in my decision making process (and BTW, that s the key to let it guide you not let it drive you. You are the one holding the wheel, and the research just acts as a GPS that gives you the short cuts to where you want to go).
One of the greatest reminders you get when doing a live focus group, where you sit behind a panel of one-way glass and listen to people talk about your show or Broadway habits in general, is how much people do not know . It s not that they are dumb, or ignorant or anything.
Since we constantly consume Broadway info, we sometimes assume everyone knows who is starring in The Mountaintop or how many weeks Darren Criss is in How To Succeed or that Darren Criss is even IN How to Succeed .
8. I don t like to buy tickets in the winter. Because if there s a huge storm I can t drive into the city and I lose my money. Bloomberg always says, Despite the snow, Broadway is open! Well, it s not open for me, and I don t want to be out that money so I stay home and watch TV.
Ok, now, the above comments were each said by only one person in a small group of Broadway theatergoers, so I wouldn t take any one of them as an indication of a trend amongst theatergoers hotels barcelona centre (although that snow thing does make me think we need to do a better hotels barcelona centre job of articulating our snow policy to ticket-buyers).
When I was waiting hotels barcelona centre in the lobby for one of the last performances of Bonnie and Clyde I heard a person hotels barcelona centre say the the show was closing so that Jeremy Jordan could go and do Newsies. I had to laugh out loud!!! I thought of course the producers involved with B C said Oh sure lets just lose tons of money on this show and close it down so Jeremy can move on, no biggie! YEAH RIGHT!
I m guessing hotels barcelona centre that person who made the comment about Wicked commercials was from out of town. They start advertsing a coming engagement hotels barcelona centre six months in advance, which means the ads basically never stop. It s enough to make you kick in your TV!
The snow comment reminds me of a show we once did in mid America in the midst of a flood. A woman refused a refund for husband s ticket saying, He wanted to come, but I wouldn t let him. He has two artificial legs and I was afraid they might fill up with water when he waded to the car.
Then at intermission, the owner of the space announced a tornado was heading for the theater. Everyone applauded, but no one stood up or left so we went on. Lots of noise, sirens, thunder, etc. of a car lot next to the theater blowing away, but the show was a hit.
That Bette Midler comment reminds me of someone I know who thought she was also in Priscilla too. Just goes to show what star power producers can do for a show (her name is on the marquis after all; it s an easy mistake)
I know Wicked has commercials for their national tours. (I live in LA and all three times the show has come into town, including the two-year sit-down productions, there were plenty of television commercials during the runs.)
Ken: I say #2 all the time. I live in NJ. While I buy tickets in advance during the year, I won t for January, February and March because I m worried about snow and losing my money. hotels barcelona centre I will buy tickets a day or two in advance after I hear the forecast and know it s not going to snow. Case in point, last Friday, I bought a ticket to see Follies (for the second time) for the Sunday matinee.
I recently took a trip to NY specifically to see FOLLIES before it closes. I spent in the range of $1000 on airfare, hotel, and show tickets for me and my boyfriend. In the theatre, I overheard a lady sitting behind me say, Wait a minute, hotels barcelona centre what is this show about? Didn t I see this already? Why are we seeing this again? hotels barcelona centre I can t quite wrap my head around that.
I heard a discussion between two young girls and their mother. In essence, the kids asked Can we see High School hotels barcelona centre Musical and High School Musical 2 on the same day? The mom replied, I don t think they have afternoon performances of High School hotels barcelona centre Musical except on Saturdays.
overheard while waiting in the cancelation line for Book of Mormon tickets.. the only shows I think worth seeing and paying full price for are Mamma Mia and Wicked. Much to my daughter hotels barcelona centre s dismay, I politely turned around, smiled and said, You really need to get out more.
I overheard this in the lobby of the Broadway Theater a few evenings ago. A group of about five friends were leaving a performance of Sister Act and were saying to each other how much they enjoyed the show. Then, one woman said, It was great, but I was disappointed that they didn t sing my song. I wounder hotels barcelona centre why they took it out of the show. The others asked, What song? She said, You know the one I mean and she started singing Day by Day.
I ve been in a focus group before. The focus was on food products. If you remember hotels barcelona centre I m a vegetarian and I buy organic as much as possible. I can just imagine the thoughts hotels barcelona centre that the Corps had that hired the conductors of the focus group. They watched us while we went through product labels, advertising etc. They had advertising pictures of people of different ethnic backgrounds, or recipe and coupons advertisments etc. Would you buy this product if this picture was displayed things like that. So I would say things like if I liked that product sure I d buy it. One was a summer picture with a recipe to entice people hotels barcelona centre to buy their products all summer long. I said I might buy it for a special occasion like the Fourth of July or something. It wouldn t surprise me if they d taken me off of their list. LOL
Those things people say they re a big reason why focus groups are unreliable. Studies hotels barcelona centre show over and over again that people are not that good at understanding or reporting on their own motives or decision-making.
I work as a hotel concierge and god, I have heard A LOT of statements from tourists who wanted to see a Broadway show (and thought they were experts on the matter). hotels barcelona centre When a movie Mamma Mia was just coming out a couple from Germany flew to New York specifically to see Meryl Streep live in the theater (they almost cried when I said she was only in a movie, not on Broadway). Once a woman wanted to buy 7 tickets for Spelling Bee and I said it would be $ 140.00 (face value + broker charge)a ticket. She was talking to the others in a group for about 20 min. and then she said that they were OK to pay $ 140.00 $ 20.00 per person was acceptable for them ))) Two American women came to the desk and asked to see a Broadway show. When I wondered, which show they had in mind, one of them declared thoughtfully after a long pause: A musical, for instance! 2 Russian guys asked me: Why did they make Spider Man AGAIN?? One American older gentleman DEMANDED that I get him tickets for Lion King in July with 50 % discount, because he is our regular client and that s WHAT HE ALWAYS DOES IN NEW YORK! One lady called and asked if had tickets for Lion King for that night and I offered her Wicked instead for what she exclaimed: Wicked is FOR CHILDREN! I could go on with this forever hotels barcelona centre Last one! On December 24th I escaped hotels barcelona centre from work to get general rush tickets for How to Succeed (my last chance to see Daniel Radcliff) and stood in long line for about 2 hours before the box office opening. In front of me waited a French family of 3. When they finally made it to the ticket window, they were asked if they wanted $ 30.00 partial view or full view for $ 132.00? The mother answered It s OK and paid $ 132.00 per ticket after freezing in 2 hour rush tickets line (I tried to stop her btw but she wouldn't listen