Stagebill

Stagebill was a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Most copies of the publication were printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's program. It was launched as a direct rival to the highly successful monthly Playbill. But after five years of head-to-head competition with Playbill, Stagebill became insolvent and was acquired by its rival which also kept the Stagebill trademark.[1]

History

Stagebill was launched in 1927 as a direct competition to Playbill, a highly successful publication.[2] Playbill concentrated on Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, while Stagebill positioned itself as a publication focused on concerts, opera, and dance in venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.[3][4]

B&B Enterprises, Inc. acquired Stagebill in 1969.[5] The company owned the magazine until 1994 when it was acquired by K-III Communications based in New York City.[6][7] In the 1990s Shira Kalish was the publisher of the magazine.[8] She was succeeded by Darcy Miller Donaldson in the post.[7]

However, by the late 1990s, Playbill was extremely profitable; Stagebill was not, losing millions of dollars annually by 1998.[9] To increase revenue, Stagebill entered Playbill's turf. Its first major attempt was in 1995 when The Public Theater defected to Stagebill. A bigger rift came in 1997, when Disney contracted Stagebill for its big musical production The Lion King at the newly reopened New Amsterdam Theatre.[10] The main point of contention in the latter case was control over advertising content. Playbill is distributed free to theaters relying on advertising revenue that is completely under its authority, whereas, per company policy, Disney required a program without cigarette or liquor ads.[11] In response to Stagebill's upstart incursion, Playbill began to produce Showbill, a sister publication that conformed to Disney's advertising requirements for all publications distributed in its properties.[3] Playbill responded further by producing publications for classic arts venues, aggressively courting many venues that were once Stagebill clients like the Metropolitan Opera, the Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic.[10]

With a more aggressive policy of acquiring publicity for more performing arts venues, Playbill broke from its typical format and began publishing completely customized programs in the vein of Stagebill.[11] This, coupled with continuing fiscal troubles of Stagebill, led to the end of it as a publishing entity. Stagebill became insolvent in summer 2002,[12] and in September 2002 it was acquired by its rival Playbill which also kept the Stagebill trademark.[13]

References
  1. Hofler, Robert (9 June 2002). "Playbill corners legit market". Variety. variety.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  2. Philip Kennicott (21 July 2002). "Act II, Scene I: Stagebill Exits Limping". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  3. Pincus-Roth, Zachary (18 October 2007). "Ask Playbill.com: Playbill® and Showbill®". Playbill. Archived from the original on 14 September 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  4. Edward Rothstein (August 20, 1981). "Concert-Program Magazines Getting New Faces". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  5. Linda Winer (April 9, 1975). "Stagebill: Still in the wings". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  6. "K-III acquires Stagebill". UPI. June 6, 1994. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  7. "K-III Appoints Darcy Miller Donaldson Publisher of Stagebill". PR Newswire. August 5, 1999. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  8. Patricia Riedman (April 19, 1999). "This magazine page is going, going, gone". AdvertisingAge. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  9. Jones, Chris (10 June 2002). "Stagebill is sold to rival Playbill". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  10. Brodesser, Claude; Jones, Oliver (9 March 1999). "Melodrama at Met". Variety. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  11. Mandell, Jonathan (25 August 2002). "Theater's memory bank expands". The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  12. Michael Phillips (August 27, 2002). "New play magazine fills Stagebill void". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  13. Robert Simonson (June 7, 2002). "Playbill Acquires Publishing Rights to Rival Stagebill". Playbill. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
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