Legally Blonde: Just a Bunch of Dumb Blondes!

I think it’s safe to say going to a Broadway musical is a pretty appealing way to spend a few hours. Go into the city, eat lunch or dinner, relax and watch the best of the best sing and dance, and hopefully go home with a big smile (if the show was good). But I think it’s also pretty safe to say that spending a few hours at lunch or dinner and a Broadway show is hella’ expensive. Expensive, because hundreds of people have to routinely sing, dance, work the lights, put on make up, handle the wardrobe, and so on, to create a huge production like a Broadway hit. The cheapest orchestra-seat ticket to Legally Blonde The Musical, a current Broadway show, costs $110.00. High-ticket prices maintain the status quo that Broadway is targeted towards the upper class. But MTV has taken it upon themselves to bring Legally Blonde The Musical, a Broadway smash hit, to the more middle class, teenage masses.
This past weekend at 1 pm on Saturday and 7 pm on Sunday, hosted by the ladies from MTV’s The Hills (LC, Audrina and Whitney), Legally Blonde The Musical aired in its entirety along with a pink carpet preshow and several backstage exclusives on MTV. As a Legally Blonde-loving, Broadway fanatic, sorority girl, this was like the best thing ever! But, as a Legally Blonde-loving, Broadway fanatic, who doesn’t want to see a great show face an early curtain call I was quite confused. Do the producers want everyone to see their currently running $10 million show for free? Last spring I saw the show and loved it, but when I say loved I mean enjoyed once and that was plenty. It’s one of those Broadway shows where once you’ve seen it, that’s enough; no need to splurge another $250 for a pair of tickets to see it again.
So I pose this question to you AEM marketing students: What kind of marketing scheme is this? We’ll let you have your cake (see the show) and eat it too (for free, with a backstage exclusive you don’t catch sight of when you actually pay to see the show), and then maybe you’ll pay at least a hundred dollars to see it again live?
According to the New York Post, September and October ticket sales were starting to dip and long-term ticket sales in to next year were slipping as well. The producers felt the drop in tickets sales had to do with the fact that they didn’t get a Tony award nomination for Best Musical, and therefore didn’t get 3 minutes of airtime on CBS last June. So instead, inspired by Disney’s High School Musical, which has aired hundreds of times on TV and is now selling out arenas across the nation, Legally Blonde The Musical is getting 3 hours of airtime on MTV.
Every commercial prior to airing the musical on MTV said “History Making!” “Never before done!”. And obviously there’s good reason for that! Never before in history were producers of a Broadway musical dumb enough to air their income-making musical for free, so their ticket sales could plummet and closing night would come sooner than hoped for.
Airing this musical was great for poor college kids like me, but despite how much I benefited from it, I can see no advantage for the people behind the production. If this somehow boosts ticket sales I’ll be shocked. But, if this manages to put the Palace Theater, the theater where Legally Blonde The Musical currently is running, back into the dark, I’d hate to say I told you so. I’m not saying they’re going to close next week, but a run of a few years is definitely less likely after this stunt.
In closing I will say, well done MTV; you’ve brought something both musically-related and watchable to your audience! And as for the producers of Legally Blonde The Musical, thanks for the free show, and I hope this doesn’t hurt your pocket too much!