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[0:00] Ken Davenport: What's with the mayors of this city and the candidates for mayors of this city and their relationship with Broadway? I don't quite get it. I'm gonna talk about exactly what I mean next on the Producer's Perspective podcast coming up in just a few.

[0:16] Ken Davenport: I wanna be a producer with a hit show on Broadway. You're listening to the Producers Perspective Podcast with your host, Tony Award winner, Ken Davenport.

[0:30] Ken Davenport: I usually don't like to talk about politics on this podcast. And we're really not going to talk about politics, but we are gonna talk about politicians. And everyone loves to talk about politicians. First of all, I don't understand really why politicians would ever want to be politicians. I don't quite get it. I will never want to be a politician. So ever if you see me running for anything, including my like condo board, I want you to yell at me. Uh you can feel free to punch me in the face if I ever run for any kind of office.

[0:59] Ken Davenport: So in my 30 years of living in New York City, I've never watched a mayoral debate. I've never done it. But with all that's riding on the next mayor of New York City, you can bet your A-train that I tuned in to last week's debate between the leading candidates for mayor, including Eric Adams, Andrew Yang, Scott Stringer, Diana Morales, Catherine Garcia, and on and on and on. Now, look, a lot of great, great ideas were shared amongst this group. And it's an incredible group. I mean, I have to say, we are very lucky to have this group of people who want to lead this city. Like I said, I would never want to be a politician. I don't understand why people do. And here are a great number of people willing to dedicate themselves to public service, especially at a time when this city is facing some challenges, to say the least.

[1:49] Ken Davenport: And here come this group saying, give me the job, give me the job. And it's not like it pays millions of dollars a year. And actually, you're gonna get a lot of people, no matter how many people vote for you, and like you, you're gonna hold of people that don't. So a lot of good stuff was talked about. But there was one moment that gave me a big old sad face. Now, and the New York Times did this little bit of a wrap-up on it. And when asked about what cultural event the candidates wanted to attend, they didn't mention Broadway.

[2:20] Ken Davenport: A couple kind of did, but some of the bigger ones, they didn't say Broadway. In my opinion, every single candidate should have said Broadway, Broadway, Broadway. Okay, maybe they were being honest, one said the museum, I get it, I get it, I get it. But with all that this industry gives to this city, I've always felt that our politicians don't give us the attention that we deserve. Like, think about this. When was the last time you saw a press photo of a Congress person or a mayor at a Broadway opening? Like it doesn't happen. When was the governor? When was the last time the governor was at a Broadway opening? It doesn't happen. And yet, Broadway shows are responsible for such an amazing economic impact on this city and therefore the state. But yet we don't get that kind of attention from our politicians. It's very, very strange. It's very strange. I don't quite get it.

[3:18] Ken Davenport: I mean, literally, Broadway's attendance is more than all ten of New York City's professional sports teams' attendance combined. That's right, take the Mets and the Yankees and the Knicks and all of them, add them all together, and Broadway's attendance is more than all of them. And yet we're still not getting mayors at our opening nights or governors or congress people. They should be there every single night and they should bring their press entourage with them.

[3:49] Ken Davenport: So to the candidates running for mayor this year, to future candidates to current elected officials, if you want the votes of the Broadway community, you should engage with the Broadway community in a very simple and also very entertaining way. See a show. Come see the shows that are responsible for bringing tourists into this city and bringing dollars into the small, medium, and large businesses of this city. Because let me tell you something. If there's one thing that's going to fuel New York City's comeback, it's actually not going to be a mayor. It's going to be the arts. It's going to be Broadway. So show us the respect by coming to see a show. I'll buy you all a ticket.

[4:33] Ken Davenport: And that's it for this episode of the Producers Perspective Podcast. We will see you on the next episode. And whoever, whoever you want to vote for, if you're in New York City, just please do me a favor and definitely vote. If you're not in New York City, vote wherever you are. That's the one way we can all guarantee change.

[5:07] Ken Davenport: If you found this episode informative, educational, inspirational, or just entertaining, do me a favor and share this episode with another theater maker or two in your life. My mission is to amplify the conversation about theater because if we get more people talking about it, we'll get more people making it, we'll get more people seeing it. It will be great for the industry as a whole. If you want more of my daily perspectives on theater and Broadway, check out my blog at theproducersperspective.com or check out my social media accounts at Ken Davenport Bway on Instagram and at Ken Davenport on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We'll see you for the next episode.