我最愛的Avenue Q(本人暱稱之為阿Q)
小兵立大功
拿下三座2004年東尼獎
很多人都說大爆冷門
我卻一點都不奇怪
因為我一開始就猜
Wicked雖然入圍十項
而且票房極佳
但是他的劇評很差
反觀阿Q
入圍六項 票房也不差
最重要的是 劇評很棒
如果把劇評當作東尼的一個指標
那麼Wicked會拿下最佳音樂劇
才是奇怪奇怪真奇怪
再者論作品深度
或是論作品對於整個劇場貢獻
阿Q是贏家 PIONEER!
下面文章有講一些阿Q的東尼造勢活動
其實也許一般人不了解這個行業
乍看之下會覺得原來阿Q贏是贏在
灑錢下去作造勢活動
但是其實
舉凡最知名的奧斯卡
或是最近的東尼
為了要多多提醒評審
每一個入圍電影/戲劇製作
都會在圈內人專業雜誌 i.e. Weekly Variety
或是紐約時報上面大登廣告
或是有各種公關活動
其實想想
當初陳敏勳想當中華開發的董事
不也是在報紙刊登了一個給股東的公開信
你敢說那不是造勢活動廣告?
關於我的偶像製作人
我相信要作製作人
就要作Jeffrey Seller & Kevin McCollum
圖片中間被布娃娃驚嚇的是製作人Jeffrey Seller
有夠年輕...
美國就是這樣一堆年輕有為的人
逼的我們年輕小朋友只好努力打拼
不然就要被淹沒在茫茫大海裡
還有圖片真的很有趣
是阿Q慶功宴
他們還做好了跟製作人長的一樣的布偶
真是有趣極了~~~
*****************************************************
Photo by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Illustration:
"Avenue Q" celebrated its triumph at the Tony Awards Sunday night with puppets designed to look like the producers, including Jeffrey Seller, center.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
*******************************************************
NYTimes June 8, 2004
'Avenue Q' Tony Coup Is Buzz of Broadway
By JESSE McKINLEY
When "Avenue Q" won the Tony Award for best musical on Sunday night, just how big a surprise was it? Well, even the technicians inside Radio City Music Hall apparently thought that another show, the popular hit "Wicked," was going to win.
In the moments after the announcement that "Avenue Q" had won, two giant video screens inside the hall read, "Best Musical: Wicked."
Embarrassed Tony officials said the mistake was a result of a "technical glitch," but you could hardly blame them for it. For weeks "Wicked" had been considered a prohibitive favorite to win the award, the evening's top prize.
The show, after all, had all the elements of a winner: box office success, respectable reviews, a spring 2005 national tour. Instead, industry analysts found themselves trying to explain how "Avenue Q," a modest musical with singing puppets playing in a small Broadway theater, had pulled off what many in the business were calling one of the biggest upsets in Tony history. (Unfortunately for Tony organizers, if preliminary television ratings are to be believed, very few viewers got in on the drama.)
There even seemed to be a sense of shock inside the producing office for "Avenue Q," where some were nursing hangovers yesterday from a long night celebrating the show's three victories, which included awards for best score (the show's music and lyrics) and best book (its dialogue and structure).
"I was absolutely prepared to win best score and have a great party and say job well done," said Jeffrey Seller, one of the show's lead producers. "Then after we won for best book, I said, `I think we might win the big one.' "
The consensus around Broadway was that the show had run a clever campaign to woo voters, including full-page newspaper advertisements and a pizza party for out-of-town voters. (The Tonys are voted on by 735 theater professionals and journalists nationwide, of whom perhaps 80 to 90 reside outside the New York area.) The producers sent out hundreds of promotional CD's, with a new song, "Rod's Dilemma," written especially for the Tony race, about a puppet voting in an election.
The campaign, which one production member estimated cost about $300,000, also leaned heavily on political imagery: promotional buttons were handed out at the theater, and the box office was decorated to resemble a campaign headquarters.
"We were definitely running behind, so we wanted to remind people that we were a viable choice," said Drew Hodges, the creative director of SpotCo, the advertising company that devised the ads. "And we wanted to keep everything in the tone of the show, which is irreverent and contemporary."
The motto of the "Q" campaign, "Vote Your Heart," seemed to many to be remarkably blunt. The message: vote for the little guy instead of "Wicked," which, with a $14 million budget and weekly sales of more than $1 million had been given, fairly or not, an air of blockbuster invincibility. By comparison "Avenue Q," playing in the 796-seat Golden Theater, generally grosses about $400,000 a week but has a much lower running cost.
Mr. Seller, who made a fortune producing "Rent" on Broadway, said the campaign was merely trying to remind voters of "Avenue Q," which transferred from a small Off Broadway house, the Vineyard Theater on Union Square, to Broadway last summer.
"I think we were able to get people thinking about `Avenue Q' again," he said. "We felt if we could get them to think about it again and see it again, we'll have a shot."
Other theories and explanations were also being floated, including that perhaps voters had decided "Wicked," with an advance of more than $20 million, did not need the victory as much as "Avenue Q."
The result also seemed to give rest, for the moment at least, to the notion that the road voters and their allies — a bloc of approximately 150 votes — somehow control the Tony outcome. "Wicked," after all, which starts a tour next March, is expected to be a much bigger earner than "Avenue Q," which is a quirkier (read less mainstream) show and won't hit the road till fall 2005.
For his part, David Stone, the lead producer of "Wicked," said he never believed that his show was a slam-dunk to win best musical. "We were never as certain about the outcome as the pundits were," he said, offering congratulations to "Avenue Q."
Mr. Stone added that his show, playing the 1,773-seat Gershwin Theater, had added an eight-week block of tickets yesterday and subsequently sold more than $1 million in tickets by noon, presumably on the strength of its televised production number. "We're going to be here for a long time," he said.
"Avenue Q," meanwhile, was also having a record day at the box office, bringing in an estimated $500,000 in sales by 2 p.m. The show recouped its $3.5 million investment in April.
Not all the numbers were good, however; an official for CBS, which broadcast the awards show, confirmed that its Nielsen ratings hit yet another all-time low, despite a starry roster of presenters. Preliminary national ratings were a dismal 4.7 and 8 share, which means about 6.6 million viewers, 8 percent of the Sunday night audience, were watching. Last year's broadcast attracted a little less than eight million viewers, itself a record low.
Elsewhere several other shows were left wondering what the Tonys — or lack thereof — would mean for their futures. "Wonderful Town," the revival of the 1953 musical, won only one Tony, for choreography, and lost in the one category — best revival of a musical — that might have helped ticket sales. "Caroline, or Change," the civil rights musical by Jeanine Tesori and Tony Kushner, also won only one Tony, for Anika Noni Rose as best supporting actress in a musical.
There were also a few stories lost in the "Avenue Q" hoopla, including a large number of first-time winners, among them Idina Menzel, who gave "Wicked" its high point in the evening, winning the race for best actress in a musical over stiff competition.
Still, the moment belonged to "Avenue Q."
"They went the distance," Mr. Seller said of the voters. "They voted their hearts."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
文章定位：
