Which Comes First: The Cast Album or the Production?
Friday 9/9, 2022 at 5:00 eastern time
Community Gathering on Zoom - register with the bright red reservation box to receive the Zoom link. These gatherings are a service for the theater community and are offered free for TRU members; we ask that non-members help keep us running by making a donation or joining as a member.
In the room: Joe Iconis, a musical theater writer and performer, recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, Jonathan Larson Award and Richard Rodgers Award. And the writer of the social media sensation Be More Chill. We’ll talk about how his show became an internet sensation, going from a modest production in Red Bank NJ to an album getting 350 million online streams and how that led to New York. Is this the new path of development for shows? How has Joe tapped into social media so successfully? How important is it to have the individual songs for sale in iTunes, played on Spotify, etc. to build a fan base? Are music videos useful tools for promoting musicals to producers at non-profit theaters?
Panelists
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JOE ICONIS
is a musical theater writer and performer. He has been nominated for a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and a Lucille Lortel Award, is the recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, Jonathan Larson Award and Richard Rodgers Award. Joe’s musical Be More Chill (with Joe Tracz) opened this season at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre, following a sold-out Off-Broadway run at The Pershing Square Signature Center and a world premiere at Two River Theatre. He is the author of Broadway Bounty Hunter (with Lance Rubin and Jason SweetTooth Williams; Barrington Stage Company and Greenwich House Theater Off-Broadway), Bloodsong of Love (Ars Nova, NAMT), The Black Suits (Center Theater Group, Barrington Stage Company), ReWrite (Urban Stages, Goodspeed Opera House), Theaterworks USA’s The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks and We The People. Musicals currently in development include The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (for La Jolla Playhouse), Punk Rock Girl, and Love In Hate Nation. His music appeared on Season 2 of NBC’s “Smash,” with his song “Broadway, Here I Come!” hailed by The New York Times as a new entry in The Great American Songbook. Albums: Be More Chill (OCR), which has been streamed over 220 million times; Things To Ruin (OCR); Two-Player Game; and The Joe Iconis Rock and Roll Jamboree all available on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records.
