Category: AUDIENCE

Theatres Need To Get Ahead Of This: Cancel Now

Apparently, the show must go on even if it kills us. While the country is staring down the barrel of a public health catastrophe, theaters are up against a different enemy: their ragged balance sheets. But by staying open, theaters are not just acting shortsightedly. They’re betraying their core constituency, older patrons, who are the group most vulnerable to coronavirus. – Los Angeles Times

Rise Of The Internet Celebrity Talk Shows

The passive celebrity interview is over. Now celebrities must work for their press — or, at worst, they have to be interviewed by another celebrity. These practices makes sense in the social media era. Instagram, Twitter and other platforms are designed to let fans feel closer to celebrities than ever before, and have allowed those celebrities a control over their personas that they did not used to have. So, the new shows do what they can to soothe — or rattle — celebrities into a state resembling authenticity. – The New York Times

Cancel The Concerts And Close The Theatres Now, Says Leading Critic — This Virus Is Too Dangerous

Justin Davidson: “It’s easy for me to call for a shutdown. I’m not the one who’ll be hemorrhaging millions every night or facing months of unemployment. … [But] the evidence suggests that the choice is not between a shutdown and no shutdown; it’s between shutting things down now, when the disease is still relatively rare in our area, or waiting until more people have died, the virus has propagated further, and the medical system starts to be overburdened.” (Charles McNulty agrees.) – New York Magazine

Broadway Theatres Ask Actors And Audiences To Stop Gathering At Stage Door

Neither producers nor performers and crew nor patrons want to suspend all performances until COVID-19 is under control (whenever that may be), so the theatre owners and producers of the Broadway League are “highly recommending that all stage door activities be eliminated for the time being.” And folks are cooperating, mostly. – The New York Times

Digital Entertainment Surpasses Box Office For First Time

Consumer spending on digital home entertainment surged to $48.7 billion last year, up 24% from 2018, according to a new report from the Motion Picture Assn. Worldwide theatrical ticket sales were $42.2 billion, up 1% from the prior year, said the MPA, the Washington-based lobbying group that represents the major Hollywood studios and Netflix. – Los Angeles Times

The Oregon Shakepeare Festival’s New Director Is Still Surprised By How Much Audiences Love Her Theatres

Despite the issues of the past ten years – forest fire smoke, some ugly moments in the town between a small business owner and some company members, not to mention that beam collapse in 2011 – the Oregon Shakespeare Festival seems to be thriving. New AD Nataki Garrett says, “‘I’ve never been to a theater where people move to a city to be closer to the theater’ … She’s talking about the passion and dedication of the festival’s nationwide audience, and about inheriting the leadership of a company that can inspire fans to not just buy tickets but rent U-Hauls.” – Oregon Artswatch

A Surge In Online Services During Coronavirus?

If the coronavirus continues to spread, analysts believe U.S. consumers will adopt behavior similar to that of Chinese consumers. China this year has seen a surge in people downloading apps on their smartphones in such areas as games and entertainment, according to San Francisco mobile data and analytics firm App Annie. Weekly game app downloads on Apple devices last month were up 80% in China, compared with a monthly average of downloads for 2019, the company said. – Los Angeles Times