From Variety
Any
world-weary theater vet who walks down 44th Street at 7:30 p.m. and
spots the "Phantom of the Opera" line snaking out of the Majestic
Theater and up Eighth Avenue can't help but roll his eyes and wonder:
Who are these people? How is it possible that none of them has seen
this show before? The answer, in short, is that most of them have. A
survey of the line at one Saturday matinee in December found many
returnees who had bought tickets months in advance. The Moyer family
from Bucks County, Pa., standing in line 45 minutes early, came to the
show as part of a bus tour they signed up for over the summer. Alexis
Moyer was seeing the show for the third time and was dragging along her
husband for his second. "I'm originally from New Jersey, and I'm used
to coming into the city," she said. "I married a Pennsylvanian, and he
needs some culture." They brought his side of the family, who had never
seen the show before. One married
couple, Rick and Kathy Clauson, was seeing "Phantom" for the eighth
time. They met as teachers at Delran High School in New Jersey, where
they led a cultural outing club that they often brought to "Phantom."
Though Kathy now teaches at a college, Rick still heads the club and
this time brought about 45 students. The
Clausons don't have to stay with the kids, but they always do. "I could
see it eight more times," Kathy said. Other Broadway shows are
different, in her opinion. "When we take them to 'Rent,' " she says,
"we go to a movie." Greg Corradetti,
a senior account director who supervises the "Phantom" account at
Serino Coyne, the show's ad agency, says about 40%-50% of the Broadway
audience has seen the show before, either on Broadway or elsewhere. Alan
Wasser, the general manager for all U.S. productions, says on the road,
"If we go back to a city for the fifth, sixth, seventh time, a lot of
those people will be seeing the show for the fifth, sixth, seventh
time." Serino Coyne has been pushing
this trend along. In June 2003, the agency began a "Remember Your First
Time" campaign, putting that slogan on Gotham buses and running radio
ads with audience members telling stories of their first time seeing
the show. Corradetti says the campaign came "at a time when people
weren't sure the show would continue," and it helped "Phantom" become a
hot ticket again. Much like one's
first time, a trip to "Phantom" is often thought of as a major event
due to its iconic status and the glamour of its setting, the Paris
Opera. Wasser recalls seeing the Los Angeles production one Saturday
night at the end of its fourth year: "I noticed, in the audience, a lot
of people wearing formal dress, tuxedos, almost prom wear. Out on the
street, there were stretch limos. We've seen that in other cities, too." Not
having been brought up on proms, foreigners have a different take on
the show. Outside the Majestic, one security guard said he can spot
non-American tourists by their behavior. "Americans like to stand in
line," he said. "Foreigners don't stand in line. They know they have a
seat." Even a passer-by walking down
44th Street probably could spot the tourists. As one woman from eastern
Pennsylvania, there with her daughter, put it, "Do we look like we're
from New York?!
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