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Meet the Netflix for Broadway shows
What if you could stream the Tony Awards' big winners like Hadestown as easily as you fire up Netflix?
Enter BroadwayHD. Founded by a husband-and-wife team with a combined 83 years of experience in the Broadway business, the niche service is like Netflix for theater. It offers a library of plays and musicals to stream on demand for a $9-a-month subscription. These aren't those out-of-focus iPhone recordings of your nephew's fifth-grade talent show. BroadwayHD specializes in live captures of high-end theatrical productions with HD or 4K cameras and the same audio that feeds into a theater's soundboard.
BroadwayHD doesn't have any of Sunday's Tony-winning productions like Hadestown, The Ferryman or Oklahoma. For now, it takes whatever it can get, which means most of its shows have ended their live runs. But the fact that BroadwayHD exists at all is a feat. Until three years ago, no service like it had ever ventured online.
One of the main reasons: For people who worship theater, including many who make it, live tapings skirt uncomfortably close to sacrilege.
"[Some] people sign up to do live theater because it's live. Your memory of it is right there, right then, and you leave with your experience," said Sydney Beers, general manager of the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York, which set a Guinness World Record with BroadwayHD for the first livestream of a Broadway show. "For some people, they feel strongly that you're not meant to be able to go and rent and watch again."
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday June 11 2019, @10:27PM (3 children)
Like, you know, poorer people [huffpost.com] and perhaps people internationally, and, well, poorer people internationally. Plus, this could open the door to capturing and displaying 360-degree camera shots for people getting interested in theater who would otherwise not have access to such things.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday June 11 2019, @11:31PM (2 children)
Absolutely.
I couldn't agree more. I was unaware of the program in the article you linked. It's a great idea. Thanks for posting it!
You know, I think both the program that the HuffPost [huffpost.com] mentions, as well as the service that's the subject of TFA will be wonderful "For Folks Who Don't Live Near Broadway" and/or those who "can't/don't want to spend money on a hotel/plane fare/etc."
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Tuesday June 11 2019, @11:52PM (1 child)
Another couple of points to consider when it comes to entertainment media -- US-ians (anime fans aside) don't tend to consume a lot of foreign media, but since English is a more global language, many/most other countries in the world can appreciate our live theater more than we may be able to appreciate their offerings. In addition, free- and low-cost access can sometimes act as a 'gateway drug' for those interested, leading to wider adoption of an art form and, if we're lucky, insidious cultural infiltration.
Who knows? We may see Bollywood versions of "My Fair Lady" or "Oklahoma" before too long (ok, actual LOL there).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Wednesday June 12 2019, @09:14AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves