November 13, 2006

Broadway’s blogging, podcasting and map-mashing

In hopes of luring more tech-savvy pre-octogenarians into parting with their money, Broadway shows have begun tweaking their websites, adding freebies such as "Grey Gardens" and Avenue Q ringtones, video podcasts for Duncan Sheik's "Spring Awakening" and a Gawker Stalker-style Grinch map mashup.

"Grey Gardens" and "Rent" are podcasting while three shows have bona fide cast or production blogs: "A Chorus Line," "The Coast of Utopia" and "Jay Johnson: The One and Only."

The poorly reviewed "Losing Louie" has a blog that's been abandoned since September after a measly three posts.

"High Fidelity," which hasn't even begun previews yet, has started a blog-style series of Top 5 lists from the cast. Three other shows operate fan forums from their official Broadway websites: "Hairspray," "The Producers," and "Avenue Q."

Less novel, but still a bit out of the ordinary, on the site for "Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me" you can find a calendar of the upcoming celebrity cameos scheduled for the on-stage interview with Jiminy Glick (Mario Batali, Kathleen Turner and Molly Shannon are on tap for this week.) And "The Color Purple" provides lyrics for the whole show (but in pdf format.)

As for the unofficial sites, the Jennifer Ehle fanblog has been doing a great job tracking the developments of "The Coast of Utopia." "Grey Gardens" has a news blog and a Little Edie flickr page and Situation Marketing's The Situation blog is a good read for those interested in the business, tech and promotion developments on the Great White Way.

And although the "Sweeney Todd" revival has closed on Broadway, it's worth mentioning that Patti LuPone is fairly faithful about posting blog-style updates to her own website.

Earlier: MoMA hearts YouTube
NY Historical Society launches slavery podcasts
New York podcasts: museums, music and more

November 13, 2006 09:59 AM in Broadway, Cheap Stuff, Techology

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