Movies has Netflix, TV has Hulu, and now the theater world is joining the streaming game. Starting today, BroadwayHD is launching an on-demand streaming service for theatrical productions.
Founded by veteran, Tony-award winning Broadway producers Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley, BroadwayHD follows a long tradition of in-cinema and network-partnered stage-to-screen events. Lane and Comley have worked with many of these broadcasts in some capacity over the last 25 years, and they've seen how the digital landscape has changed. “The streaming thing, the whole convenience of 'what I want when I want it,' is just how people are conditioned to consume their entertainment nowadays," Comley told Mashable. “It’s how the business is evolving. It’s art meets theater meets the Internet."
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The site has options for monthly or yearly subscriptions, or the option to pay to watch one specific show. It's launching with over 100 filmed productions from Broadway Worldwide’s Direct From Broadway® catalog, BBC Worldwide North America, WNET/New York and more.
But what viewers can currently see available on the site is just "the first layer," Comley explained. "There’s more stuff to follow. It’s not a static library list.”
There will also be educational content such as theater documentaries, show introductions, behind-the-scenes features, and stage-to-screen news.
While some in the theater industry may worry about the cannibalization of ticket sales, Comley and Lane, whose first love is theater, don't see that as an issue here.
"We don’t want to, and we’re not going to be able to, compete against the actual experience, the communal experience of sitting in a theater and laughing with a group of people and seeing live performers onstage," Lane explained. "But you can get a sense of it [with BroadwayHD] because you are seeing it in real time. It’s not a movie or a TV show, it’s real actors on stage, sweating and spitting and dancing their hearts out.”
For those outside of New York or London, seeing shows often means planning treks to the city or hoping for tours to come to their town. BroadwayHD hopes to bring theater to that world, with high-definition captures of new shows and a library of classics that anyone can watch on their phones, tablets, laptops, or Apple TV or Chromecast.
Streaming is old hat for Hollywood, but bringing live performances to screens through a site that caters only to the theater world is something new. "It's like television in the early days," Lane says. "It's a new frontier."
And what do they hope to see in BroadwayHD's future? “Opening nights will stream live,” Comley predicts.
“There’s only one opening night; it’s such a special experience. If you can get as many people [to be] part of that as possible... that first night you have this global experience of everyone watching this event at the same time. And we believe that then you can’t wait until you can see that show live because you were part of it in that way.”