 | |
| Editor | Diep Tran |
|---|---|
| Categories | Theatre |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Total circulation (2012) | 4,073,680 |
| First issue | 1884; New Series 1982 |
| Company | TotalTheater |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 0551-0678 |
| OCLC | 1264051597 |
Playbill is an American monthly magazine fortheatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available forhome delivery, most copies ofPlaybill are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show'sprogram.
Playbill was first printed in 1884 for a single theater on 21st Street[which?] in New York City. The magazine is now used at nearly everyBroadway theatre as well as manyOff-Broadway productions. Outside New York City,Playbill is used at theaters throughout the United States. As of September 2012,[update] itscirculation was 4,073,680.[1]
What is known today asPlaybill started in 1884, when Frank Vance Strauss founded the New York Theatre Program Corporation[2] specializing in printing theater programs. Strauss reimagined the concept of a theater program, making advertisements a standard feature and thus transforming what was then a leaflet into a fully designed magazine.[3] The new format proved popular with theatergoers, who started to collect playbills as souvenirs;[3] however, the name(The)Playbill did not appear until the 1930s while earlier programs published by the company simply bore the name of the venue.[4]
In 1918, Frank Vance Strauss sold the company to his nephew, Richard M. Huber. From 1918 onward, the company started printing playbills for all of Broadway and, by 1924, was printing 16,000,000 programs for over 60 theaters.[3][5] The 1920s also saw attempts to introduce consistency in the design with the covers of the magazines featuring artwork representing the theater, which would stay the same from show to show.[4] In 1934–35, the nameThe Playbill made its first appearance on the cover[5] although there was still no standard logo in that period. The design underwent a series of transformations with show titles occasionally switching places withThe Playbill logo in various places on the cover until the magazine's logo found its permanent place at the top of the front cover.[4] The magazine was purchased byRoger L. Stevens in 1956. The publication as it is known today becamePlaybill in 1957, under then-ownerGilman Kraft.[3][6] The publication has been owned by the Arthur T. Birsh family since 1973.
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Each issue features articles focusing on actors, newplays,musicals, and specialattractions. This "wraparound" section is the same for allPlaybills at all venues each month. Within this wraparound, thePlaybill contains listings, photos, and biographies of thecast; biographies of authors, composers, and production staff; a list ofscenes, as songs and their performers (for musicals); and a brief description of the setting for the particular show. It also lists the number of intermissions and "At This Theatre", a column with historical information on the theater housing the production.[7] ThePlaybill distributed on opening night of a Broadway show is stamped with a seal on the cover and the date appears on thetitle page within the magazine. This is, however, not the case for every opening night playbill: there are many in circulation that do not feature the date.
In lieu of the cast and show information, the subscription edition ofPlaybill contains listings of Broadway and Off-Broadway productions and news fromLondon productions and North American touring companies.
ThePlaybill banner is yellow with black writing. Each June since 2014, the yellow banner has been replaced with a rainbow banner forLGBT Pride Month.
The Playbill banner has changed the yellow to another color on rare occasions in its history:
Playbill launchedPlaybill Online in January 1994. The free website offers news about the theater industry, focusing on New York shows but includingregional theater, touring, and international stage happenings. It is read by show fans and theater practitioners, and is updated regularly. It also offers discounts on tickets and dining for its members.
In 2000,Playbill added www.playbillstore.com, anonline shopping store offering officialPlaybill merchandise and merchandise from most current Broadway and touring productions.
In 2006,Playbill released its first records onPlaybill Records, an imprint ofSonyBMG. Releases includedBrian Stokes Mitchell's eponymous solo album and twocompilations of show tunes entitledScene Stealers, The Men andScene Stealers, The Women.
Playbill Radio, a 24-hour Broadway-themedinternet radio station featuring news,podcasts, and a musical library of over 20,000 titles, premiered in 2007.
In 2011,Playbill launched Playbill Vault, a comprehensive online database of Broadway history. Playbill Vault provides records of Broadway productions from 1930 to the present.[9] Information on the website includes original and current casts, actorhead shots, production credits, Playbill cover images, scanned Playbill Who's Who pages, production photos, and videos.
In 2012,Playbill launched Playbill Memory Bank, a website that allowed theater-goers to track their memories of their theater attendances by entering dates they attended a show, along with information like ticket scans. The site provided information about cast members, including which performer had each particular role, for roles that may have had several replacements over the life of the show. Playbill Memory Bank shut down December 31, 2016.[10]
Playbill launched its first app, called Playbill Passport, on January 4, 2016.[11]
In 2021,Playbill added a "post-the-pay" rule to their job site after a campaign by On Our Team and Costume Professionals for Wage Equity called for an increased pay transparency and equity in the theater industry.[12][13]
For decades,Playbill concentrated on Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, whileStagebill focused on concerts, opera, and dance invenues such asLincoln Center andCarnegie Hall.[14] However, by the late 1990s,Playbill was highly profitable;Stagebill was not, losing millions of dollars annually by 1998.[15] To increase revenue,Stagebill enteredPlaybill's turf. The truce was first breached in 1995, whenThe Public Theater quietly defected toStagebill, and more noisily in 1997, whenDisney contractedStagebill for its musicalThe Lion King at its newly reopenedNew Amsterdam Theatre.[16] The main point of contention in the latter case was control over advertising content:Playbill is distributed free to theaters, relying on advertising revenue that is completely under its authority, whereas Disney, per company policy, required a program without cigarette or liquor ads.[17]
In response toStagebill's upstart incursion,Playbill began to produceShowbill, a sister publication that conformed to Disney's advertising requirements for all publications distributed in its properties.[14] Now with an alternative, Disney switched fromStagebill toShowbill forThe Lion King late in its run at the New Amsterdam. (When the musical moved to theMinskoff Theatre, which Disney does not own, it was obligated to usePlaybill, as are Disney productions at other theaters.[14]) TheFord Center for the Performing Arts also commissionedShowbill for its inaugural production ofRagtime, presumably to exclude other automakers' ads.[14] In a different circumstance, the producers of the Broadwayrevival ofCabaret wished to maintain the atmosphere of a sleazy nightclub at itsStudio 54 venue, and insisted on handing outPlaybillsafter the performance (instead of before).Playbill, sensing missed exposure for its advertisers, offered the show's producers "Showbill" instead.[18]
Additionally,Playbill responded further by producing publications for classic arts venues, aggressively courting many venues that were onceStagebill clients. In the spring of 2002,Playbill signed a contract withCarnegie Hall; this milestone was bookended by the earlier acquisition of the valuableMetropolitan Opera program and the ensuing contract with theNew York Philharmonic—both tenants ofStagebill's erstwhile strongholdLincoln Center.[16] With the acquisition of the programs for performing arts venues,Playbill broke from its typical format and began publishing completely customized programs in the vein ofStagebill.[17] This, coupled with continuing fiscal troubles, signaled the end ofStagebill as a publishing entity; later that year,Stagebill becameinsolvent after five years of head-to-head competition withPlaybill, which acquired theStagebill trademark.[19]
Playbill is a founding member of theMuseum of Broadway.[20]
