Godspell, the First-Ever Community-Funded Broadway Musical

Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2011 by Damian De Luca in Labels: , , , , , ,
0


Whenever a Broadway revival comes out, people tend to think that our industry is suffering from a serious scarcity of ideas. That is not exactly true. On numerous occasions, creativity is involved in areas that are not necessarily associated with the creation of a story. Even though revivals demand that the original script stays practically unaffected, skillful theatre professionals devote an incredible amount of time exploring and playing with the new possibilities that modern theater has to offer. Many directors and producers start this process by looking at things that might bring change and innovation to our world. They are usually the ones who take the lead and allow the industry to evolve and stay imaginative—which is certainly not an easy endeavor. That incredible spirit and sense of courage is typically seen when rules are broken and conventions are overturned. Surprisingly, innovation appears not only in the way new theater technology is applied or the way different disciplines are combined, but also in the methods used to raise funds, promote and manage projects.  
Inspired by the work of Guillaume Colboc and Benjamin Pommeraud, as well as Seth Godin’s Tribes, Kickstarter.org and the campaign of Barack Obama, theater producer Ken Davenport found his own way of inspiring change to Broadway’s community. 

Godspell is back on Broadway
Ken was responsible for staging many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions such as Altar Boyz, My First Time, and You’re Welcome America. In late 2010, he decided to introduce a new way of financing a Broadway production by allowing anyone to invest as low as $1,000 in the revival of Godspell. Typically, if you want to invest in a Broadway musical you have to be part of a very select group of individuals and be willing to risk a minimum of $10,000 per investment unit—in some cases that figure reaches $50,000 and even $100,000. 
Ken Davenport’s plan has proved a great success; he was able to create a community of more than 500 investors who, despite the high risk involved, thought that the experience could be both fun and rewarding. Consequently, legendary rock musical Godspell began performances on October 13 at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre.
Creativity was also involved while promoting the musical. On Saturday, Kave Daveport and the rest of the Godspell team organized the first ever Broadway flash mob in Times Square featuring “Day by Day”, one of Godspell’s hits written and composed by Academy and Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin).
For more information, visit Godspell.com
Sources:
Photo retrieved from:

0 comments: