Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals

FTC to Bloggers - No More Free Ride

Hey, guys and dolls. I betcha didn't know that bloggers are getting fat and rich from sponsor freebies and kickbacks. And with all the financial sturm und drang out there, there's no more effective way of shoring up the economy than to clamp down on this shameless blogger profligacy.

I jest, of course. But to hear the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) describe it, you'd think the blogger gravy train was right up there with, I don't know, creating fictitious investment opportunities, or selling criminally deceptive mortgages to unsuspecting (and mostly minority) home buyers. The FTC recently issued disclosure guidelines for bloggers: if you receive something free, and then write about it, you need to disclose that "material connection."

To be fair, I really don't think the FTC is going after people like me, but rather bloggers who enter into certain questionable sponsorship relationships, receiving actual cash payments to promote particular products. (See this recent article in the New York Times for some perspective on the complexity of the sponsorship issue.) Quite a few media outlets have decried this move by the FTC, calling it "unnecessary and unenforceable" (Silicon Valley Insider) and a "mad power grab" (Slate).

Full disclosure, dear reader: I get free stuff. It's mostly theater tickets, but I do also get some books and CDs, some of which I then review on my blog. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. Although I'm not paid for blogging, I do consider my self a critic, and critics have received free merchandise since the invention of professional criticism. I'd like to think that getting a free seat for a show wouldn't influence my judgment. My tickets to Tin Pan Alley Rag, Vanities, and Kristina were all free, and that certainly didn't stop me from writing rather negative reviews for all three. 

Starting in December, bloggers must disclose any financial consideration or free goods and services that they receive in connection with any reviews that they write. Fines for not doing so can reach as high as $11,000 per incident. So, yes, I will indeed comply with the new FTC guidelines, indicating at the end of any review for which I received a free ticket that I did indeed attend gratis. But, for me, I think the FTC has bigger fish to fry.

But, let me put it to you, dear reader. Would you second-guess the validity of a review if you knew that the reviewer had received a free ticket? Would you think of the write-up as somehow biased? If the answer is yes, then do you think about the free tickets that professional critics receive when they review shows? Do you honestly think that Ben Brantley and John Simon are pulling any punches because they nabbed a freebie? Somehow, I don't think so.

I do have to say that I sometimes worry if certain press agents will stop arranging free tickets for me if they get the sense that my reviews are always negative. I think that insecurity is a function of the fact that, as a blogger, I'm not very high in the critical pecking order. Also, as I get to know more people in the industry, and as show creators contact me after reading my reviews, I have run into some awkward moments in writing unflattering reviews for shows created by people with whom I'm, if not friends, then at least friendly. And now that I'm in my seventh year of teaching at the Boston Conservatory, more of my former students are starting to appear in the shows I'm reviewing. That hasn't presented any difficult situations as yet, but there's certainly the possibility.

But I think the larger and more difficult question is this: is complete objectivity even possible in a task that is, almost by definition, subjective? Or is it simply a theoretically worthy but, for practical purposes, unattainable goal?

Happy Holidays From EIKILFM

For those of you who weren't able to make one of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus concerts, here's a sampling of what you missed.

First, there was the take-no-prisoners, tear-that-mother-down performance of star-to-be Claire Phillipe. As I mentioned previously, Claire is a student of mine at the Boston Conservatory, and was recently cast as Effie White in an upcoming Broadway revival of Dreamgirls. The lovely and talented Ms. Phillipe did a kick-ass version of "Silent Night" (click on the song title for a YouTube video of same), then joined the chorus for a rafter-raising rendition of "Come and See the King" (ditto with the song title linkage).

I wish Claire nothing but the best, not just because she's incredibly talented, but also because she's about as close to an anti-diva as you can get. You go, girl!

Another audience favorite from the recent BGMC concert was a visit from the monks of the order of St. Francis de la Sissies. These dedicated men of God have taken a vow of silence, but that didn't stop them from participating in a rousing performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. (Click on the title link for a YouTube video.)

And lastly, there's the number that explains my ridiculous getup in the accompanying photo to this post. What would a BGMC holiday concert be without a passel of fortysomething gay men cavorting around in tandem, sporting outlandish costumes and scaggy makeup, all to the strains of some overwrought Christmas medley? I've certainly participated in a few of these affairs over the years, so you'd think I would have learned by now, but every year sanity seems to desert me and I end up draped in satin, covered in glitter, or, this year, bedecked with reindeer antlers. For the festive upshot, check out this YouTube video of "A Santa Quodlibet: Or a Christmas Medley That Makes No Sense."

From the entire staff here at EIKILFM (which comprises me and Oliver, my insane Cocker Spaniel), a happy, festive, safe, restful, and rejuvenating holiday season to you all.

Piven Leaves Speed-the-Plow

This is priceless. Apparently, the delectable Jeremy Piven has abruptly left the Broadway production of Speed-the-Plow, citing high mercury levels.

Huh? Is that some Scientology thing? Caused perhaps by too many thetans, or some such? (Joke: to my knowledge, Piven is not in fact a Scientologist.) Or has he simply been eating too much mahi-mahi?

Here's the priceless part: STP Playwright David Mamet told Variety, "I talked to Jeremy on the phone and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury. So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."

I guess there are some hard feelings there, huh? Anyone have any clue as to why Piven really left the show?

No word yet on who will succeed the quicksilver-plagued Piven. But, from where I sit, or rather sat when I saw the show in October, Piven was really the only reason to see it. (Read my review of Speed-the-Plow.) It will be interesting to see if the show plays out the rest of its scheduled limited run, which was supposed to last until February 22nd. Somehow I don't see that happening.

UPDATE: The New York Post reports that Piven has "been temporarily replaced by" Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). Reason enough to see the show again, if you ask me. But how did he learn all those lines so quickly? Has he played the part before? And why is it only temporary? Upcoming work conflict? Anyone? Bueller?

Herbal Viagra - The Musical?

Regular readers may have noticed some strange postings showing up on my blog concerning "Christmas gift" ideas aimed at "making your girlfriend happy."

Apparently, some dickwad somewhere has been hacking into my blog. I've contacted my blogging service to find out what to do about this. I've already changed my password, and yet the fallacious, salacious postings continue. They keep popping up faster than I can delete them, and it's disturbing, to say the least.

So, please forgive the lascivious messages over which I currently have little control, and bear with me as I attempt to regain control over my blog, and return to crafting lascivious messages of my own.

Christine Ebersole: Misinformed or Off Her Chump?

As if the meltdown in the economy weren't distressing enough, did I have to see one of my few remaining idols reveal herself to be (potentially and allegedly) just about as nutty as Little Edie herself? Or, if not nutty, harboring some views that put her at significant odds with many of her most ardent fans?

In a recent interview with Bloomberg.com, two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole shared some views that seem to indicate that, although her talent is irreproachable, her views on the state of the world border on reprehensible. First off, Ebersole, according to Adam Feldman at Time Out New York, is "a registered republican who favors Ron Paul." Her reason: "everyone else is owned by the bankers."

Whah? Well, to understand what Ebersole means by that reference, take a look at the following interchange between her and Bloomberg writer Philip Boroff:

Boroff: Are you concerned about opening in a new show (Blithe Spirit) in this economy?

Ebersole: I've thought about that. We haven't seen the end of the story. It's unfolding minute by minute.

Boroff: What is the story?

Ebersole: You have to look at the agenda of 9/11 to see what's happening economically. You also have to go back to 1913, when the Federal Reserve was formed. To me it's a systematic collapsing of the economy in order to usher in the amero.

Boroff: The who?

Ebersole: That's the new currency. It's going to be introduced and we'll join with Mexico and Canada. We are moving to a one-world government. It's not some crazy conspiracy theory.

Boroff: Have you ever feared sharing your views would harm your career?

Ebersole: I've been told this will destroy me. This is my duty as an American citizen and a child of God, to speak truth to power. 

If you're not familiar with "the amero," it's basically part of a paranoid conspiracy theory (Sorry, Christine) that the U.S. is about to lose its independence, join up with Mexico and Canada to form the NAU (North American Union) and establish a common currency, to wit "the amero." You might, say, well that sounds harmless enough. The trouble is, this collective delusion is often associated with white supremacists. And Ebersole's reference to "bankers" owning politicians comes dangerously close to anti-Semitic speech. Time Out's Feldman explains:

To anyone familiar with the history of anti-Semitism, these quotes set alarm bells ringing furiously. Although Ebersole insists that her take on 9/11 and the amero is "not some crazy conspiracy theory," many of its most prominent proponents come from the darkest abysses of the Jew-hating radical fringe...Not so many degrees of ideology separate Ebersole from this ugly crowd. But this does not mean that she is an anti-Semite. It seems likely, in fact, that she is merely very gullible.

I find this profoundly disturbing and deeply disappointing, and I find myself wishing that the whole thing will turn out to be some terrible misunderstanding. But if it's true...oh sweet mother of Maude Adams, if it's true... Well, let's just say that Ebersole's next role after Blithe Spirit may as well be Letitia Primrose in On the 20th Century. ("It's a lie, it's a lie, she's as sane as you or I...")

Is Paulo Szot Gay?

I've been getting a lot of search activity recently from people wondering whether South Pacific star and Tony Award nominee Paulo Szot is gay.

I have no idea.

Did Ben Brantley Like It? Check This Site

Proposition #1: It's fun to hate Ben Brantley. There's something about the position of lead drama critic at the New York Times that seems to invite scorn, but there's also something about Brantley himself that makes him that much easier to hate. I mean, check out his NYT headshot. This is the photo that he chose to portray himself to his reading public. Even so, he's the most powerful theater critic in the country, and whether he's spot-on or way off base, what he says can have a huge impact on the success of a particular show.

Proposition #2: Yeah, Brantley's powerful, but that doesn't mean I want to read his every word in order to find out whether he liked the show. Also, he's not the only theater critic out there, and it's always fruitful to seek out a variety of opinions rather than relying on one dyspeptic scribe. Wouldn't it be great if there was a Web site that collected the opinions of all the different drama critics into one easy-to-understand format? Kind of like what Metacritic does for movies, books, DVDs, and video games.

Well, now there is. It's called www.didhelikeit.com. The site collects the available reviews from the major critics and represents the basic upshot for each with a simple graphic element -- the Ben-ometer, modeled after old Benny boy. The site appears to be a work in progress: the site's creator apparently has plans to eventually include Off-Broadway shows as well. But it's a valiant effort overall, and a welcome addition to my list of must-see theater sites.

What to Do When You Miss Curtain Time

How annoying is this?

Last weekend, I was heading down to New York City for one of my regular theater weekends. I don't usually see shows on Friday night, mostly because I don't want to contend with Friday-night traffic. But I was using a discount code to see The Color Purple, and it wasn't good for Saturdays. So I figured I'd break with tradition and get a ticket for Friday night. I mean, how bad could the traffic be?

Bad. Really really bad. I left Boston 1:30 PM, and I didn't make it to New Rochelle until 6:30 PM, which is bad enough. But then it took me TWO AND A HALF HOURS to get from New Rochelle to the George Washington Bridge (which should only really take about 20 minutes), only to find out that the GWB doesn't go into Manhattan from route 95, it goes to New Jersey.

Grrrr...

Needless to say, I missed my Friday night show, which was actually to be my first visit to The Color Purple. I had heard great things about Fantasia Barrino, so I was kinda looking forward to it. It was also to be my first time ever in the Broadway Theater, which I was actually a bit more excited about than seeing the show. There are only four Broadway theaters that I've never been in -- the Lyceum, the Longacre, the Winter Garden, and the Broadway -- and I was looking forward to crossing that last one off my list.

Of course, as for missing curtain time, I was pissed, and I cursed the theater gods repeatedly from the front seat of my Jetta. But then I remembered an article that I read on Playbill.com: a recent Ask Playbill column focused on the issue of what you can do when you miss a show that you have tickets for. It's called "past dating," it's not really an official policy, and it varies from theater to theater. For some shows, you can call the theater on the day of the performance and see if the show is sold out. If not, you might be able to snag a ticket.

I called Ticketmaster and told them my tale of whoa, and they mentioned a similar policy. I told them I come from out of town and that I'd really rather have a set date. So they told me to write a letter and explain my situation, and to give a number of alternate dates when I could see the show, as long as those dates are on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Given that the official policy is "no refunds or exchanges," I think that such courtesy arrangements are more than fair. They don't have to replace my ticket, so the fact that I will need to see the show on a weekday seems a minor inconvenience at best.

So, if you should ever get caught in traffic on a rainy Friday afternoon, or if your dog starts barfing his brains out on a show night, don't despair. Depending on the show that you have tickets for, you might still be able to see the show at a later date. If it's a big hit like Jersey Boys or Wicked, it might be much much later. But it's better than eating a $120 loss.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Les Miserables?

Saw the following Google link while reading another theater blog:

Les Miserables
Lloyd Webber's Sensational Classic
Tickets to the Hit Broadway Show
www.eazydealz.com

Um...shouldn't someone selling tickets to a show know who actually wrote the damn thing? I'm sure that over the years there have been many people sans clue who have erroneously assumed that Andrew Lloyd Webber was responsible for every over-bloated blockbuster to hit Broadway in the 1980s.

But even the Broadway dilettante could tell you that Les Miserables is the work of Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil, with English lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. As far as I know, the only connection Lloyd Webber has to Les Miserables is that the show played the Palace Theater in London, which Lloyd Webber happens to own.

But to give credit where it's due, I must point out that EasyDealz.com at least got Andrew Lloyd Webber's last name right: it's "Lloyd Webber," not "Webber," as many of my Boston Conservatory students refer to him in their papers and essays that skewer the man's work.

Cat Destroys Phantom 2 Score

It sounds like something out of The Onion, but apparently, Andrew Lloyd Webber's six-month-old cat Otto has managed to delete the entire score to the composer's proposed sequel to Phantom of the Opera. Lloyd Webber had apparently programmed the score into the memory of his electronic grand piano, and a frisky Otto somehow pressed the right buttons to delete the whole damned thing.

So the cats are striking back at the phantom, now that the latter has surpassed the former.

Poetic justice? A message from the gods? You be the judge.

Happy Liza Doolittle Day!

ELIZA
One day I'll be famous!
I'll be proper and prim!
Go to Saint James so often I will call it Saint Jim.
One evening the King will say,
"Oh Liza, old thing,
I want all of England your praises to sing."

KING
"Next week, on the twentieth of May,
I proclaim Liza Doolittle Day!
All the people will celebrate the glory of you,
And whatever you wish and want
I gladly will do."

ELIZA
"Thanks a lot, King," says I, in a manner well bred. But all I want is 'enry 'iggins 'ead!"

From "Just You Wait," My Fair Lady

Happy Liza Doolittle Day, everyone!

Ben Brantley and I Agree: Film at Eleven

Ben Brantley and I agreed on both Legally Blonde and 110 in the Shade.

I'm frightened, Auntie Em, I'm frightened.

Brantley and I were in almost complete accord on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the above productions. I found Legally Blonde blunt and shrill, as did he. And he thought the performances were the best thing in the Roundabout revival of 110 in the Shade, which opened last night at Studio 54. He positively, and justifiably, gushed about the divine Audra McDonald. He also found Steve Kazee as Starbuck underwhelming, while he characterized Christopher Innvar's performance as File as "smoldering."

What's more, we came very close to agreeing on the merits of LoveMusik, which Brantley found "tedious" and "unmissable." Nice as it is to have my views validated by so august a news outlet as the New York Times, I'm a little uncomfortable with being consistently in the same camp as Brantley. 

Hmm...maybe Brantley's not such a bad critic after all. Because the true mark of someone's professional quality is to what extent that person reinforces one's personal views and prejudices.

Right?

Spamalot World Record

There's nothing like a good publicity stunt.

Last March, the producers of the hit Broadway version of Spamalot gathered 1,789 Monty Python fans together in New York's Shubert Alley to create what was then the biggest-ever, and presumably the first-ever, all-coconut orchestra.

Participants banged together empty halves of coconut shells, an homage to the preferred mode of transportation in the classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," to the tune of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." (Which is actually from "Life of Brian," but I digress.)

In a case of friendly oneupmanship, members of the London production amassed 5,567 coconut-wielding enthusiasts in London's Trafalgar Square, handily breaking the world record. Original Python members Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam were on hand to conduct the proceedings.

The event got tons of press. At this writing, Google lists about 339,000 Internet references to the event. Even NPR included a blurb on the event on Monday's "All Things Considered."

As I've posted before, I'm a huge Monty Python fan, so I was ecstatic when I heard about Spamalot. But I was a bit disappointed in the actual show. It's a tremendous amount of fun, but it's not great musical theater. The book and the staging are hysterical, but the score is just awful: puerile melodies, bad scansion, too much assonance. It works in the theater, but it doesn't hold up on repeated listenings.

But I'm glad that the show has become and international hit. Currently there are productions on in New York, London, Las Vegas, as well as a U.S. touring production. Blockbusters tend raise the profile of musical theater in the eyes of potential ticket buyers, and a rising tide, to a certain extent, lifts all boats.

The Death of Lloyd Webber?

In class the other day, I was defending Andrew Lloyd Webber to my students, as I always do at this point in the course. For me, Lloyd Webber is a double-edged sword: yes his shows are of often questionable quality, but there's no denying the influence he has over the general theater-going public.

Each year, I ask my students to raise their hands if the first professional show they ever saw was a Disney show or an Andrew Lloyd Webber show, and usually about 95% of them do so. Say what you want about the spectacle-mongers, they've certainly brought a new generation of theater queens to the fore.

On the heels of that hand-raising exercise, someone sent me this YouTube clip lampooning Andrew Lloyd Webber, which had me in hysterics. Check it out.

Yeah, it's pretty mean. Sometimes, funny hurts.

April Makes Such Fools of Us All

OK, I almost bought this.

On Sunday, April 1st, I read an item on BroadwayWorld.com about a proposed TV reality show to cast an upcoming revival of The Who's Tommy. I was in the process of writing up a blog post about same, when I noticed the following:

• The fact that no other site had posted news about this event
• Another post on BroadwayWorld.com about Dakota Fanning supposedly making her Broadway debut in Spring Awakening
• Yet another post about Raul Esparza and Julia Murney in a Dead Kennedys jukebox musical.
• The posting date of the all the articles

In other words: April Fool's.

Here's the problem though: it's not funny. At least the Tommy article isn't. A thirteen-year-old Dakota Fanning in a hard-rocking teen-sex tragedy: somewhat funny. A Dead Kennedys jukebox show: pretty darned funny. But a Tommy reality show? Not even remotely humorous.

Evidently, I wasn't the only one fooled, however temporarily. One of my students in my Boston Conservatory course announced with disbelief that someone was planning a Tommy-based reality show. I gently disabused him.

I'm including my originally intended post in the interest of full disclosure and profound humility. Keep in mind that at the time, I thought it was in earnest:

Once again, my prognostication skills prove non-existent.

Forget the shows that I've listed to the left in my most recent poll. Fox TV, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that the next show to receive that "You're The One That I Want" reality-show treatment a la Grease will be...get this...The Who's Tommy.

My reaction to the show's first incarnation was that it was a terrific production looking for a show to do: great staging and visuals, but the show itself didn't add up to much. Maybe this time the show will have an actual second act.

As Forbidden Broadway's Gerard Alessandrini put it: "Though it's exciting, what does it mean?" By all accounts, Des McAnuff's latest Broadway outing, Jersey Boys, would seem to fall into the same less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts category.

Grease: Who Cares?

I didn't watch a single minute of the NBC series "Grease: You're the One That I Want." Nor will I likely attend the show when it opens at the Brooks Atkinson. For all I know, Max Crumm and Laura Osnes could well be extremely talented performers. And Kathleen Marshall is a creditable director and choreographer.

But I sooooooo don't give a rat's ass. 

To be honest, I might have cared a little bit had they picked a more interesting show. I'm so over Grease, and once the novelty wears off, I get the feeling that the general public will be, too. But I must confess that my track record with predicting the success of revivals isn't very good. I thought it was far too soon the revive A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, and The Fantasticks, but recent history has proved me resoundingly wrong. So who knows. Maybe this new Grease will be a hit, too.

If they decide to try again with the reality-show-casting thang, might I suggest a far more interesting show: West Side Story. A real crowd pleaser, and it hasn't been on Broadway in about twenty five years.

Any other suggestions, fair reader?

Jersey Boys Dispute

This is friggin' hysterical.

In a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Jersey Boys director Des McAnuff made some comments that inflamed the ire of librettist Marshall Brickman. Evidently, Brickman took issue with how McAnuff seemed to take just a little too much credit for the creation of Jersey Boys.

In response, Brickman fired off a priceless letter to the editor with a laundry list of counter-accusations, including that McAnuff was a chilly and imperious director, that he habitually arrived late to rehearsals, and that he made a habit of humiliating his cast members. Follow the link and read the letter. It's a hoot.

Apparently the two have since made nice nice, but the exchange offered a telling glimpse into the men behind the mega-hit.

If Brickman's charges are true, then McAnuff is indeed in august company. Other directors with demagogic tendencies have included Jerome Robbins, Michael Bennett, and Bob Fosse. And I'm told that a certain much-in-demand director has a very strong nasty streak. Which prompts one to think, do being a genius and an asshole go hand in hand? Not necessarily. I hear that the legendary Hal Prince is a most amiable director. James Lapine is, by all accounts, a real sweetheart. Both men are formidable artists.

Talent is never an excuse for being a dickhead. Anyone who rules or manages by fear and intimidation is saying more about their defects as a human being than they are about their supposed abilities as a leader.

But I editorialize.

Lloyd Webber Crafting Phantom Sequel

Andrew Lloyd Webber is apparently forging ahead with his idea for a sequel to his phenomenally successful The Phantom of the Opera.

God help us all.

Now, I'm not one of those knee-jerk Lloyd Webber bashers. I consider each of his shows individually, and judge them on their relative merits. I'm actually quite fond of Evita, and, believe it or not, Sunset Boulevard. And in my Boston Conservatory course, I make a point of discussing that Cats, for all its detractors, was actually an innovative and risky show for its time.

And I'm also not going to say that sequels are automatically doomed from their conception, despite the fact that no sequel to a Broadway show has ever been successful. Consider the following:

Show (Sequel to)
Let 'Em Eat Cake (Of Thee I Sing)
Bring Back Birdie (Bye Bye Birdie)
Annie Warbucks (Annie)
Divorce Me, Darling (The Boyfriend)
The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas)

Not a very auspicious lot, to be sure. But that's not to say that a musical sequel could never be successful. As I've said many times, there's no such thing as a bad idea for a musical, only bad execution.

Even so, somehow the very notion of a sequel to Phantom reeks of disaster. What more is there to tell? Sure, the Phantom disappears at the end of the show, but do we really want him to return? Where's the dramatic necessity of dragging him back into Christine Daae's tortured life?

Is it possible that such a show could be a success, either artistically or financially? Absolutely. Is it likely? I'm not optimistic.

Life of Brian -- The Oratorio

I'm a huge Monty Python fan. A fanatic, in fact. I have every book, every CD, every DVD available by and about the Pythons. So I was particularly thrilled when I first heard about Spamalot, a musical version of the troupe's classic film, "Monty Python and The Holy Grail." An artistic marriage of my two great obsessions: Python and musical theater. What could be better?

Well, I certainly had fun when I saw Spamalot. A lot of fun. But I was disappointed in the quality of the score. The book was flat out hysterical, the direction was spot-on, but the music and lyrics were a bit pedestrian. It's the sort of score that goes down reasonably well in the theater, but doesn't hold up upon repeated listening.

Anyway, now comes news that Spamalot creators Eric Idle and John Du Prez are working on a "light-hearted oratorio" based on another Python masterpiece, The Life of Brian. The pair are collaborating with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the music director of which is Eric Idle's cousin. The work is called Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy).

I must say, I'd be a whole lot more excited about this venture if I liked the score to Spamalot. I wish Idle and Du Prez the best in their collaboration, but I can't see myself flying up to Toronto to take the piece in. Of course, if the work eventually turns into a Broadway musical, I'll certainly see it. But my expectations will be somewhat lessened by experience.

American Idol Lifts Blog Traffic

In the past few weeks, I've blogged about American Idol a couple of times. Two weeks ago I discussed the American Idol effect on Broadway. And earlier this week I mentioned that American Idol runner up Constantine Maroulis hasn't exactly been the box-office boon that the producers of The Wedding Singer and Jacques Brel had hoped for.

Well, both times my traffic went through the roof. The Maroulis post lifted visits to my blog some 600%. The earlier post had a similarly buoyant effect. Not only did I get more visits, I got more comments, more links to my blog, and more hate mail. (God forbid you say anything even remotely negative about their collective raison d'etre. Some AI fans need to take a trip to the "life" store and ask for extra large.)

Now, I'm not the kind of person to take advantage of this sort of thing. Nope, not me. Just because people are out there searching for "Katherine McPhee" and "Constantine Maroulis" and "Diana Degarmo" every day of their lives, that doesn't mean that I'm going to pander to that set just to raise my site traffic. I mean, I could continue to mention names like Josh Strickland, Amy Adams, and Frenchie Davis on a regular basis, and it would likely lift my visitor stats, but I'm above that sort of thing. Just because there are a lot of people out there doing searches for such American Idol faves as Jennifer Hudson and Anthony Federov, that doesn't mean I have to stoop to throwing them into my text just to get some cheap hits.

Oh, and speaking of Anthony Federov, he's about to join the Off Broadway cast of The Fantasticks, stepping into the lead part of Matt. The AI effect continues. But again, I'm not going to lower myself to mentioning his name simply for the purpose of attracting more readers to my blog.

No siree Bob.