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[0:07] Gordon Cox: Welcome to Stagecraft, Variety's Theater Podcast, bringing you backstage and behind the screens of the hottest shows on Broadway, off Broadway, and streaming to a device near you.

[0:17] Gordon Cox: I'm your host, Gordon Cox.

[0:19] Gordon Cox: On this episode of Stagecraft, I'm talking to Bonnie Calmley and Stuart F. Lane, the co-founders of streaming service Broadway HD.

[0:27] Gordon Cox: With theaters around the country closed for who knows how long, Broadway HD is one of the ways that social distancing theater fans can get their fix of stage entertainment.

[0:36] Gordon Cox: The subscription service launched in 2015 and now encompasses a catalog of plays and musicals from Broadway, off Broadway, the West End, and around the US.

[0:44] Gordon Cox: And soon after theater activities were paused in New York and around the country, Broadway HD stepped up to help regional theaters like ACT in San Francisco record some of their interrupted productions for patrons to watch on screens.

[0:57] Gordon Cox: That's just one of the initiatives the company has gotten involved in in recent weeks. And Calmley and Lane, partners in both business and life, are in the virtual studio with me to tell us about their efforts to help sustain theaters and the industry, all while bringing plays and musicals home to viewers.

[1:12] Gordon Cox: Hi Bonnie and Stu, thanks for joining me.

[1:14] Bonnie Calmley: Oh, thanks for having us on the show.

[1:16] Stuart F. Lane: Yeah.

[1:17] Gordon Cox: So Broadway HD seems like it's just the thing for people like me who are used to going to the theater a lot and now are unable to. Have you found that there's been a surge of interest in the service since the sort of pandemic closures hit?

[1:33] Bonnie Calmley: Yes. Um we, you know, Broadway HD launched just about five years ago.

[1:38] Bonnie Calmley: And we've had five years already.

[1:40] Stuart F. Lane: Yeah, yep, yep, yep, 2015.

[1:43] Bonnie Calmley: October 2015, that's when we launched. So, um, so we've been working on this for about seven years, because we were two years of ramping up prior to actually launching the website. Um, but we've seen steady growth all along, but in the last month, it's been um, you know, 20 times the amount of traffic onto the site. Um and you know, and so many more people signing up for uh free trials. So it's um it's really catapulted us into about a year and a half ahead of our projections. So it's been uh quite quite an experience.

[2:17] Gordon Cox: And what are people watching?

[2:20] Bonnie Calmley: Oh boy, they're actually watching everything. Um, you know, and they they're watching you know, we're Broadway HD content isn't really binge kind of content, it's not a 30 minute series that's just you know, people are just going through the whole, you know, breaking bad season kind of thing. They're two hours of thoughtful theater or big beautiful musicals, and so but people are watching one after another right now. So it's a different, um, a totally different viewing pattern that we've seen previously. But I'd say some of the most popular ones we have, this is kind of funny, but we know cats that we have the full-length version that was captured uh live on stage and is much better than the movie version, has been very popular.

[3:08] Stuart F. Lane: Yeah, and then the people who've never got a chance to see kinky boots has been very popular with us as well. And you know, another one that was kind of is impressive, Falsettos does really well on the website.

[3:18] Bonnie Calmley: Oh, yeah, this is the most recent uh production of Falsettos on Broadway Have with Christian Gore, yeah.

[3:23] Stuart F. Lane: Right.

[3:24] Gordon Cox: And before we go much further and start talking about all the initiatives that Broadway HD has gotten involved in uh more recently, for people who don't know some of the specifics about Broadway HD, what is it and how does it work?

[3:39] Bonnie Calmley: Well, Broadway HD is a streaming site in the same way that Netflix is a streaming site, so it's a subscription on demand. So uh we have over 300 full-length stage plays and musicals available to stream 24-7. As long as you're connected to the internet, you can watch our shows. Um, we have a monthly subscription that's uh $8.99 a month, or an annual subscription, the year long that gives you access to all of the shows is uh $99.99. Um, and as I said, you have you know, as long as you're connected to the internet, you're connected to Broadway HD. Um, and uh we have Broadway shows, we have Broadway musicals, we have plays, we have West End, we have some you know really terrific uh production um from uh regional theaters. So it's uh you know it's great theater. Digitally.

[4:35] Bonnie Calmley: Our mandate from the start was to try and as best we could recreate the whole theater going experience.

[4:42] Stuart F. Lane: Yeah, we're live theater producers and and uh I actually own a theater on Broadway. And uh the live theater experience cannot be duplicated, but for those who couldn't afford to come to New York, those who can't afford the geography or the price of the ticket, love the theater and they love Broadway and to not be able to share the the best talent that America had to offer uh beyond the the the the the 20 blocks on in Times Square, uh which was pretty tragic. And so when when the popularity of theater started to expand into other mediums, like Pitch Perfect or Smash or My Crazy Ex-girlfriend, uh we saw a great demand for this and an opportunity for Broadway HD.

[5:23] Stuart F. Lane: So when you see a Broadway HD production, you're gonna see the audience clapping, you're gonna see them standing, you're gonna see the actors holding for applause and sweating after doing a you know a dance routine. And so that that really makes it special, very unique and very authentic.

[5:38] Gordon Cox: And now let's talk a little bit about some of the uh initiatives you've gotten involved in lately. Um you did one thing with uh ACT in San Francisco, for instance. Tell us about that.

[5:50] Bonnie Calmley: Well, I mean, no one knew that that the country was going to be shut down uh just about a month ago. And so um ACT and Berkeley Rep had reached out because they knew it was coming because New York closed down first. And they said, you know, we we we have these beautiful shows, and we have the opportunity to go in and and shoot them and to film them. And so, but we that's not what these, you know, live theater companies what they do is they do live stage productions. They don't do digital captures, and you know, you can go in and do a nice capture, but then how do you distribute it? So they came to us and said, Can you help us? Because they wanted to have these shows available to their subscribers that had already bought tickets. So instead of giving the money back and having to refund the money, they wanted to give them the show that they had planned on seeing.

[6:45] Bonnie Calmley: So we were able to, with those two theaters first, um, is to put their last couple of shows. They had like three shows, um, and we were able to put them up online on a separate uh part of Broadway HD so that they were protected within the the you know the passwords that we had given um for those uh for those theaters. We also worked with the Rogers and Hammerstein organization and putting up a a free viewing of our Hugh Jackman doing Oklahoma on our website to make it available for those who can't get to the theater now. And we did it then that was very successful.

[7:23] Gordon Cox: And what are the shows uh with the ACT and other theaters you've worked with? What are some of the shows that uh were recorded? And will they be eventually on Broadway HD for Broadway HD subscribers to access at any point?

[7:38] Bonnie Calmley: No, they will not. And the reason is it it's all with the underlying rights. So the unions, we were able to work with the unions to make concessions to have these shows captured for just a short period of time. It's sort of like a like a what is it, Snapchat or whatever. So it disappears kind of, you know, like after a while. Um, and that and and that's why we were able to get these good deals and be able to put them up. And the part of the the challenge with doing digital captures, what you know, let's start with the Broadway show. So Stu and I believe with Broadway HD that every single show that hits one of those 40 Broadway, 41 Broadway theaters deserves to be digitally captured. And it there's no reason why it shouldn't. And those should be shared with a bigger audience.

And no one really disagrees with that. What they do have a problem with is what they call the cannibalization of the live ticket sales, which means that there is a digital version of a show that is available at the same time that a producer is trying to sell tickets to the live stage version.

[8:45] Bonnie Calmley: So it's not about digitally capturing something in a beautiful production, it's about the timing of they don't want it to be available digitally and to be live on stage at the same time.

[8:57] Gordon Cox: So is Broadway HD a producer as well in the way that Netflix you know produces its own original content? Do you does it does it produce the filmed captures that we do end up on your done over uh 30 of them of the 300 that we have and then the other 270 we've either co-produced or we've done some sort of um licensing deal with them.

[9:26] Stuart F. Lane: That's a pretty impressive number if you consider we've only been around four and a half years and we've been able to shoot shows whether it's uh 42nd Street or Heady feather or present laughter kinky boots. Kinky boots you know so we we've been trying to build up our own personal library as well as licensing other shows. But it is in the same way that Netflix they it's a it's a mix of some licensed from other producers and some that we've actually gone after and produced ourselves.

[9:51] Gordon Cox: Right. Yeah and you've you've alluded a little bit uh to this but what's your thinking for how what's your philosophy in general about how Broadway HD fits into the overall sort of theater ecosystem for one thing it gives it offers access to people who can't maybe get to New York or wherever the production happens to be or maybe they uh can't afford a theater ticket at the moment or whatever what how what in what other ways does having this content available digitally uh kind of contribute to the overall kind of ecosystem?

[9:52] Bonnie Calmley: Well Broadway HD is a member of the Broadway league we are an affiliate member. And what that means, and we take it very seriously, is that Broadway HD, in addition to being a great entertainment streaming service, is also a service business to the Broadway industry. So it means we're here to support and promote the live Broadway shows. So that was baked into our DNA from the very beginning is that we were here to support the Broadway theater.

[10:57] Bonnie Calmley: And with Broadway HD, our subscribers we found are they're they kind of fall into two sort of major buckets. One is the people that already buy tickets to Broadway shows. So those people, the $100 for an annual subscription is nothing. It's like, oh great, fine, no problem. I spend more than that, you know, for one ticket, and that's if I'm going by myself. So there's the people that already go to see Broadway shows and they love to see the things that they missed, or they want to see Phantom of the Opera again, or they can't wait to see, you know, Billy Elliott again. So there's those people that can that are just Broadway ticket buyers. And then there's another whole universe around the globe that will never set foot inside a Broadway theater.

And part of that is geography, that they just might not get to New York City or to where on the Broadway touring theaters are around the country or around the world, or they can't afford it, you know, or they live somewhere because even when a Broadway tour goes out, we talk about a big Broadway tour doing 40 cities. Oh, we're gonna 40 cities. Well, you know, you've already missed like 10 states, you know, with that. And if you weren't in Austin for the two weeks that that show went through Texas, then you missed it. You know, and then as I said, they add the rest of the world to that. And Broadway is a luxury brand that is recognized around the globe. People know exactly what Broadway is, so you don't have to sell them on that. You just have to give them access to it.

[12:32] Bonnie Calmley: And what Broadway HD did was open that up. So we've eliminated the barriers of geography, of economics, and of any sort of physical limitations because there's people that were, you know, that uh look at who the Broadway audience has been since Broadway the whole you know sensitive statistics have been kept on Broadway. It's an older, you know, over 40 demographic. And those people, if we're if we're lucky enough to live long enough, we become disabled. We become disabled in either mobility or sight or hearing. And Broadway HD can fill that by we have closed captions. You can put it on your big screen TV and you can do watch it in your living room or anywhere that you've got your your tablet. You can sit in bed and watch it.

[13:21] Bonnie Calmley: And then as uh as it happens because of the times we live in, uh Broadway HD has been settled now with the responsibility of keeping the spirit of live theater alive. We are the I basically the the we have over 300 shows now that we've captured that we can share that kind of experience with uh with with the audience at large this is something that is very special until Broadway gets back on its feet again. I want to keep people excited about Broadway theater I want them excited about whether it's Arthur Miller or Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's gotta be you got to keep that spirit going. And I think you see that a lot now with a lot of actors and performers now doing the songs from their apartment and and trying to share their talent.

And I think we have to maintain that. That's part of our responsibility. But I think that, you know, with this, you know s uh this tragic situation that we're all in. I mean, so often in our last, you know, five years that we've been doing Broadway HD, you know, people have said, well, you know, if people can see it online, are they gonna want to go see it again?

[14:20] Gordon Cox: Are they gonna wanna go see it in person? And I think now more than ever, when people cannot get inside of a theater, watching it is increasing the appetite to go back and see it. Because we've always heard those comments when people are watching the digital version. You know, we I don't think we gave audiences enough credit. It was like, oh, if they watch the digital, they're not gonna buy a ticket. And I think we're finding the absolute opposite to be the case is that people are watching this and saying, oh my God, I can't wait to get into a theater and sit next to somebody, you know, a whole 1500, you know, strangers in a theater with our heart beating at the same time and you know, and watching this same experience at the same time.

I think there's that, you know, need to gather and you feel it when you watch digital captures and you don't feel it when you watch a movie. I'll be back with more on Broadway HD right after the break, and now here's more with Bonnie Connley and Stuart Lane of Broadway HD.

[15:32] Gordon Cox: What have you found over the last, as you're heading toward your five year birthday with Broadway HD? What have been sort of the biggest challenges to growing the business? You know, I think it's actually, you know, there are challenges that remain there. You know, it's that we call, you know, going in with cameras and filming or, you know, videotaping or whatever you want to call it. I mean, now they call it digital capture. And we joke about that saying it sounds like you wrestled something to the ground, but that's kind of how it feels after you've done each one of these, is that you're wrestling something to the ground because there's so many moving parts with each of these shows that there'll always be a challenge.

And even the things that we have a lot of time in pre-production and we go in, there's still things, it's still, you know, more often than not, you know, where it's a live audience, it's a paying audience, it's invasive. You know, you bring those cameras and cables and you're taping things to the rug and up the wall, and you have trucks outside, and you know, it's definitely invasive. But we found New York just is New York. It's so unique that, you know, people in, you know, when we've had to move people out of the seats, we try to give them this, you know, the same quality seat or better. And the people that, you know, that are sitting near a camera that were like, oh geez, they're gonna complain, they're gonna say something.

They are when people come in and they see the sign saying, like, by entering into this theater, you are allowing yourself to be videotaped and you could be in this show, but it's usually the back of somebody's head. But people are so excited, they can't wait. They're like, oh my God, what am I gonna? Am I, when am I gonna be in the movie? So excited about it. So even with all of these things that are intrusive in the theater, they still embrace it, and then they all, you know, the cast just gets even more pumped up when they know that we're shooting something that night. So the challenge is, there'll always be something. It's definitely turned around 180 degrees for us because when we were talking about doing a streaming platform for digitized theater, you know, as I said, we started this.

I mean, Broadway HD is like almost five years old. So about seven years ago is when we started talking about it to put together this platform. And we were talking to other people in, you know, colleagues in the Broadway league, and you know, more often than not, they would say, yeah, we don't really do that. You know, that's Hollywood. That's not what we do. That's not, you know, theater. We don't do that. And, you know, even up until like a month ago when we were talking to people about it, they would be saying now, when should we do it, not should we do it? And that's a huge turnaround. And it's also been now, because we've been, you know, plugging and plugging and plugging at people. It's part of the contracts from the very beginning of a show.

What we've recommended is that it be standardized, that it be in the same way that a musical is quite often has a cast album, you know, a cast recording. And everybody's excited about that. They're not nervous about it, they know exactly what they're gonna get paid and where it goes, and there's no pushback on it. And we feel that that should be, you know, standard operating procedure for a Broadway show is that a digital capture should be put into the contracts, and it quite often is at this point, is that people are saying like that if the producers aren't guaranteeing that they're going to do a digital capture, but it is an option for the producers to do a digital capture as part of their marketing of the show.

[19:21] Stuart F. Lane: Yes, Gordon, you know, jumping off from that, the one of the biggest challenges we did face within the industry was that people were amazed we were still around three years after we started. I mean, you've got for decades now, and I've seen people try and convert live performances to the pay-per-view market on cable. We've seen them in the DVD market, we've tried to see them do it as alternative content in movie theaters, but that no one's been able to do it. It was the advent of the popularity of theater among young people and how they were watching their entertainment that Bonnie and I really were inspired to push forward with this. But really, the biggest challenge was no one believed that we could do it in the industry.

You couldn't even keep a theater magazine solvent that at a commercial level. I think there's one out there that TCG does that's nonprofit. Right. So the idea of making money off of this was an enigma to them. But now the producers come to us and they go, please shoot our shows, as Bonnie said, we want you to do it because they know it's going to be preserved and it helps them with their residual rights as well, because it gives them something to show the possible producers.

[20:31] Gordon Cox: Right. And you've both alluded to this, but you're both also producers, stage producers as well, and you have been involved in a number of shows over the years. And, Stu, as you mentioned, you're one of the owners of Palace Theater. What, as live theater producers, what's your take on where the theater industry stands right now in the midst of all this? What's ahead and how has it affected some of the shows that you've been involved in? You're both involved as producers in The Minutes, for instance, which was definitely the show that I was supposed to see the night that Broadway shut down.

[21:05] Stuart F. Lane: Yeah.

[21:07] Gordon Cox: Yeah, I'm just gonna missed a good show.

[21:09] Stuart F. Lane: Yeah, it's just it's heartbreaking.

[21:11] Gordon Cox: It is heartbreaking. You know, that we've looked at, I mean, you know, 10 million people in this country were out of a job in the last, you know, in the last two weeks. They're applying their, you know, spending their days trying to get onto, you know, websites so that they'll actually, you know, get money in. And I mean, that it's just it's just heartbreaking. And there's so many people, you know, within the industry. I mean, there's 86,000 people that work in the Broadway industry, and so many of them have are just out of work right now. They're furloughed, they're on like some sort of scale-down pay right now. It is, it's just devastated, you know, the industry. But we are, you know, believers in this art form.

We are here at Broadway HD to support in any way that we can to keep the appetite, you know, going, to keep the habit going. You know, Broadway is something that is a luxury, it's a habit for people. And if people, you know, you know, you can in 30 days is what they say breaks a habit. So if you don't do something, whether it's, you know, you know, bite your nails or, you know, whatever it is, you can break that habit in 30 days. It's not part of who you are anymore. And if you're not thinking about theater, if you're not pursuing it, you know, we don't want it to be a habit that is broken with people. We want them to keep the appetite going. And we're not sure exactly. The Broadway League announced today that the shows are postponed.

Well, they're suspended, I should say is the term, until at least June 7th. And, as you mentioned, you know, we, Stu and I also produced a live, so we were involved with The Minutes. We had also done The Lightning Thief that was out on tour, and we had a, you know, a tour deading of My Fair Lady that's out. You know, so we have been hit on the live, you know, live stage production side as well, and we're, you know, navigating through that. But yeah, what are the status of those productions? What, um, there, you know, I mean, it's just there's just so much uncertainty because, you know, as the New York here, you know, yesterday, I guess it was, it peaked, you know, so we peaked, or we start a plateau, if you will, with the number of cases, but it was also the day that we announced the highest number of deaths in one day.

And it's going across the country, but it's not any real pattern that they can tell. So I mean, it's just, oh, it's, it's so, um, it's just devastating. It's just devastating. But you know, the Broadway League is a trade association of all the producers, presenters, theater owners, and general managers, and it's a, you know, it's a brilliant group that's trying to figure out how we reopen Broadway and how do we do it in, you know, do we do it in sections or layers or two theaters or two shows or three shows at a time, or do the plays go first and then the musicals go second? So it's a lot of people with their heads together trying to figure out what's the best way to come back at this.

[24:35] Gordon Cox: And where do you hope to see Broadway HD five years from now?

[24:42] Stuart F. Lane: We're gonna be doing what we're doing now. We might add more live streaming. We did that, as we said, we made the Guinness World Record for live streaming She Loves Me with the Roundabout, but, and we did about 10 live streams, but we found with our audiences that they really didn't care that it was live, live in real time. What they cared was that it was live in front of an audience and they could access it on demand whenever they wanted, so that they don't have to be there at a certain time was important to them. And it wasn't for the risks that are added on to a live live show that we saw with Rent on the last live Rent was that, you know, things happen. And with that one, though what I'm referring to is Rent was live, and they actually shot it the night before, and then the night of the show, but one of the leads broke his leg, I guess it was.

Yeah, so we ended up, you know, they ended up using the videotaped show from the rehearsal, the, you know, the dress rehearsal the night before, and then they added a few segments in live. So, and I don't think anybody complained about that. Wasn't, you know, if they had a complaint, it wasn't because it wasn't live live, it was for something else. So, Gordon, five years from now, I see Broadway HD with over a thousand shows and with a lot more productions that we've been doing ourselves. I think we're gonna be going more creative and take on more responsibility and less licensing than we're doing.

[26:10] Gordon Cox: Oh, great. Well, we look forward to seeing how it develops. And one last question for the both of you. What's your, Stu, you might have given me your answer already, but what's your sort of starter recommendation for people new to Broadway HD? Stu, you mentioned 42nd Street that you liked a lot.

[26:28] Stuart F. Lane: Oh, yeah, because 42nd Street to me, and especially this production epitomizes the best format of musical comedy. Dancing, singing, spectacular, funny, witty. That's musical comedy at its best. So that's a great introduction.

[26:45] Gordon Cox: And Bonnie, what's yours?

[26:47] Bonnie Connley: I want to promote my Trailblazers rail. The Trailblazers rail is actually a row of content that we put up. We just put it up for last month for in honor of women's month, to highlight any underrepresented voices. So there's women composers, there's women directors, there's women writers there. We have a Shakespeare that's an all-female cast. You know, so anything there, I think, you know, I'm big on, you know, giving the underrepresented voices in theater a platform, and it's right there on our Trailblazers rail. So anything there is my recommendation.

[27:27] Gordon Cox: All right. And that gives us something to watch while we're waiting for the theaters to reopen. Thank you both. Thanks for coming on the show. Nice to talk to you.

[27:32] Bonnie Connley: Thank you.

[27:37] Stuart F. Lane: Stay safe.

[27:37] Gordon Cox: Yep, be good. Thank you.

[27:46] Gordon Cox: That was Bonnie Connley and Stuart F. Lane, the co-founders and heads of Broadway HD. Now streaming plays and musicals on a device near you. If you like what you're hearing on this and other episodes of Stagecraft, you can rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. And you can subscribe and find past episodes there and on all the other pod places, including Spotify and on the Broadway Podcast Network, which is a great place to find more food for your ears to help fill these long theaterless nights. I'll be back with another new episode next week. Thanks for listening and see you soon.