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Running Head: THE TWEET’S THE THING
The Tweet’s The Thing: Exploring the Intersection of Social Media and Broadway
Presented to the Faculty of Liberty University School of Communication Studies
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts In Communication Studies By Hilary Sutton Lagares March 15, 2013
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Thesis Committee
______________________________________________________________________________ Stuart Schwartz, Ph.D.,
Date
______________________________________________________________________________ Carey Martin, Ph.D.,
Date
______________________________________________________________________________ Todd Smith, MFA,
Date
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Copyright © 2013 Hilary Sutton Lagares All Rights Reserved
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Abstract In 2009 the little known Broadway musical Next to Normal rose to fame through the aid of an unprecedented Twitter campaign conducted by Situation Interactive, a digital marketing agency. The Next to Normal Twitter account gathered over one million followers throughout a six-week campaign in which the Situation Interactive team joined forces with the book writer and lyricist of Next to Normal to recreate the plot in one hundred and forty-character snippets. By analyzing the data collected the researcher cultivates a collection of best practices for running a successful Twitter marketing campaign for a live experience. Key Terms: Twitter, Broadway, Social Media, Audience, Tweets, Retweets, Favorites, Engagement, New Media, Digital Media, Theatre.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………...6 1. LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………...…………………………….9 2. METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………………………24 3. RESULTS………………………………...…………………………………………………...29 4. DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………………32 5. RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………………………………..…….35 WORKS CITED…………………………………………………………………………...…….37 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………………...……41
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Introduction In 2010 the Broadway musical Next to Normal won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama after taking home three Tony awards in 2009. The play’s plot revolves around the mental illness of Diana, a wife and mother who is detached, lonely, experiences hallucinations, and undergoes shock therapy. The marketing team for this musical had the foresight to recognize that the content could potentially be alienating to theatregoers and certainly would not sell itself. In recent years, social media has proven to be a highly useful tool to market live experiences. Prior to Next to Normal, social media, and Twitter in particular, had been utilized for Broadway in an adequate though not wildly successful way. Twitter is a social network in which users send messages to their followers with a length limited to one hundred and forty characters. In 2009 a marketing agency called Situation Interactive conducted an award-winning Twitter campaign for the Broadway musical Next to Normal that forged a new frontier for audience interaction on Broadway. Six weeks after the production opened, a campaign began on the show’s Twitter feed that sought to tell the entire story of Next to Normal one tweet at a time. Without using any direct dialogue or lyrics from the script, Situation Interactive conceived a thirty-five-day Twitter campaign that told the Next to Normal story in its entirety. The campaign engaged fans of the show, Broadway consumers who were not familiar with the show, and digital media enthusiasts alike. The Twitter campaign made Next to Normal a Twitter icon, going from 30,000 followers to over one million in just a few months. In addition to the storytelling Twitter campaign, the creative team also interacted with fans over the social networking site to pen an additional song for the show. Without actually tweeting “buy tickets to come see Next to Normal” the show was promoted in an innovative, interactive way.
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While trade magazines including Brandweek and Advertising Age have explored theatrical marketing and social media, very little academic research has been conducted in regards to the Broadway musical. The first study that explored the box office success of a Broadway show was “Exploring the Determinants of success of Broadway show success” written by Reddy, Swaminathan, and Motely in 1998. This study showed that New York newspaper critics have a huge effect on the success of a Broadway show both positively. New York Times lead critic in particular is very powerful as his review can have a greater effect on a show than both the New York Post review and the Daily News (370). If the lead New York Times theatre critic pans a show, it is the kiss of death. Conversely, if he gives a show a rave review, it is likely that the show will experience much greater commercial success than it would with a lukewarm or negative review. In 2011 a field study was conducted by Wilson and Till to explore product placement both on film and in Broadway shows. They found that product placement in Broadway shows is aimed toward females with higher education and higher income (374). When testing audience members, product placements had higher recall if the show utilized a combined audio-visual placement, had prominent appearance, had actor involvement, or received two or more verbal mentions (390). While both of these studies explore the success of a Broadway show and selling products, neither explore the integration of social media and live theatre. To begin the process of understanding the implications of marketing live theatre through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, it is vital to understand the previous communication research conducted regarding theatre, Broadway, acting, social media, internet marketing, and the uses and gratifications theory. By thoroughly researching these areas, one finds that no prior research has explored how the new context of social media affects the
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audience/performer relationship. No prior research sheds light on the positive or negative impact of social media engagement on the audience experience. The integration of social media and the live theatre experience has not been fully explored in the academic research context. Previous research does show that audience members can be emotionally affected by messages expressed on stage. It also shows that audiences seek out specific social media because they find the information therein informative or entertaining. They also may find gratification in expressing their views. Future research ought to seek to discover if audiences are more engaged and affected by a production when they have previously engaged with the brand through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. In the chapters to follow I will unpack the history of theatrical publicity, social media marketing, and this campaign in particular to gain a greater understanding of how and why people utilize social media in a live, storytelling arena. Further, I will analyze the audience response and interaction with the specific Next to Normal Twitter campaign mentioned previously by conducting an analysis of the number of “Retweets” and “Favorites” of each tweet within the campaign. I will first conduct a thorough literature review on theatrical public relations, social media as it pertains to marketing, and the Uses and Gratifications Theory. I will then analyze how these three aspects intersect.
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Literature Review In 2010 the Broadway musical Next to Normal won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama after taking home three Tony awards in 2009. The play’s plot revolves around the mental illness of Diana, a wife and mother who is detached, lonely, experiences hallucinations, and undergoes shock therapy. The play follows her mental illness and how it negatively affects both her husband and daughter. The marketing team for this musical had the foresight to recognize that the content of the show would not sell itself. They utilized an award-winning Twitter campaign to increase interaction with fans and grow the show’s audience. Twitter is a social network in which users send messages to their followers with a length limited to one hundred and forty characters. By collaborating with the show’s composers, Situation Interactive, the agency tasked with promoting the unknown show, conducted a sixweek campaign that retold the story of Next to Normal tweet by tweet. The campaign worked so well, the Twitter account collected over one million followers--a figure unheard of for a Broadway show. The integration of social media and the live theatre experience has not been fully explored in the academic research context. To forge the frontier of how social media campaigns affect the audience experience for a Broadway show one must first explore a variety of research areas. First, it is necessary to review prior research on theatre and Broadway in particular within the academic communication context. Second, one must thoroughly explore the entire collection of previous research regarding social media, digital media, and new media. Third, one must research the uses and gratifications theory as it pertains specifically to user desires regarding social media and mobile smart phones.
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By researching both how social media campaigns affect an audience’s perception of a show as well as how a successful social media campaign can affect a show’s popularity, one can adequately begin to understand the effects of social media on the live theatre experience. The following literature review includes content from both peer-reviewed academic journals and trade magazines as they pertain directly to theatrical marketing, the use of social media to promote brands and entertainment entities, and the integration of social media to promote or enhance live performance. The first aspect of this literature review is an overview of available communication research that pertains to the live theatre experience and more specifically Broadway. THEATRE Academic research regarding theatre widely varies from studying physical aspects of vocal production to the implications of the messages expressed through the live theatre medium. Articles discussing theatrical marketing are primarily limited to trade magazines. Though academic research has previously been conducted on how brands might utilize a show to promote their products, at the time of this writing this writer located no academic research on the marketing process of live theatre. The earliest academic discussion of theatre in the communication context occurred in the Quarterly Journal of Speech in 1951 in a paper titled “Broadway and the American Theatre Worker.” Lee Mitchell discussed that the fact that many plays are first produced on Broadway contributes to why Broadway is viewed as the “Mecca” for theatre professionals (337). He also points out that the local New York actor views all live performance outside of New York as “amateur.” He argues that the quality of productions that one finds on Broadway could occur anywhere there is a commitment to excellence in arts.
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The first study that explored the box office success of a Broadway show was “Exploring the Determinants of success of Broadway show success” written by Reddy, Swaminathan, and Motely in 1998. This study showed that New York newspaper critics have a huge effect on the success of a Broadway show. New York Times lead critic in particular is very powerful as his review can have a greater effect on a show than both the New York Post review and the Daily News (370). The critics can be viewed as gatekeepers or social influencers in this experiential consumption area (381). Miriam Kreinin Souccar reported in the industry magazine Advertising Age in 2004 that the actors union came to a new agreement to allow their images to be used in promotional commercials and ads at a lower cost. Prior to this new agreement costs were so high to use footage from shows, advertising teams were limited to the use of logos. Recognizing it was in their best interest because it would help promote the shows they were in, the equity actors union complied. Since 2004, actors have been utilized to promote Broadway shows on television and the internet. The internet marketing agency Situation Interactive was first noted for promoting Broadway shows and other forms of live entertainment in Advertising Age in 2007. The article discussed producer Kevin McCollum who utilized cutting edge strategies to market the Broadway show “The Drowsy Chaperone.” Deciding word-of-mouth was key to its success, Situation contacted leading New York bloggers and offered them seats. ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ was one of the first musicals to court bloggers with free tickets to great seats, says Damian Bazadona, president of Situation. ‘McCollum is amazing; he's very open to new ideas,’ Mr. Bazadona says (Martin).
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Also in 2007, In an unusual turn a former set designer turned “out of home” media professional remarks about the difference between the status quo theatre versus “the happening.” He likens theatre to advertising in that putting it on a pedestal out of reach does not work. The “grittier” happening theatre inspires audience members to awaken “ to the life around him.” In the same way advertising must be exciting art, drawing the attention of spectators who have every opportunity to change the channel. He compares billboards to theatre. They must be bold and splashy to be noticed (Burleson). In 2010 Advertising Age once again highlighted how producers were utilizing social media to connect with fans and potential audience members. The article highlighted a silicon valley entrepreneur turned theatrical producer who utilized Facebook to promote a show called “Allegiance.” The show interacted with 46,000 Facebook fans a full year before the show was planned to open on Broadway. Jonathan Mandell, a theatrical critic who was quoted in the piece noted the “Next to Normal” Twitter campaign: “He called out as the best example "Next to Normal," which, he said, ‘tweeted the entire show over the course of 35 days, got a following of more than a million people, and kept interest going by creating a new song from the suggestions of thousands of their followers.’ Mr. Thione, who helped get ‘West Side Story’ and Green Day's ‘American Idiot’ onto the Broadway stage, said the goal is ‘to create a 360-degree experience ‘from the moment [theater fans] hear about the show, until they actually go to the theater, to when they come home and tell all their friends that they went to the show.’ By utilizing social media, producers hope to garner a new, younger audience for Broadway (Slutsky).” In 2010 a study was conducted on the Broadway belt voice that explored the perceptual judgments on the differences between great belt voices and average ones. The difference appears
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to be in vibrato and “ring” however the researchers concluded that the musical theatre vocal community needs to determine specific parameters for characteristics of a strong vocal belt. The researchers suggest basing this off the vocalists who originated classic belt songs in the musical theatre cannon (Leborgne, Lee, Stemple, Bush 678). In 2011 a field study was conducted by Wilson and Till to explore product placement both on film and in Broadway shows. They found that product placement in Broadway shows is aimed toward females with higher education and higher income (374). When testing audience members, product placements had higher recall if the show utilized a combined audio-visual placement, had prominent appearance, had actor involvement, or received two or more verbal mentions (390). The most recent data collected on theatrical audiences was a study conducted by the Theatre Bay area in partnership with the National Endowment of the Arts called “Understanding the Intrinsic Impact of Theatre” (Brown & Ratzkin). The study sought to discover patterns of audience feedback across 18 theatres and 58 productions. The study found that the most highly satisfied audience members were the ones who only came to one production a season--not the season subscribers. Plays generated higher levels of intellectual stimulation and social bridging outcomes, while musicals generated higher captivation levels, higher levels of feeling “emotional charged,” higher levels of aesthetic validation and social connectedness with others in the audience. Productions with a comedic element tended to precipitate higher social outcomes, suggesting that laughing together creates a social bond that is less prevalent in more serious work. Productions involving challenging material elicited stronger intellectual impacts (73). A strong predictive relationship was found between the intensity of discussion that audience
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members have with each other and the main indicator of intellectual stimulation (“To what extent did you gain new insight or learning?”). Respondents who reported having an “intense exchange” after the performance reported an average score of 3.7 on the “insight or learning” indicator, compared to an average score of 3.2 for those who reported a “casual exchange.” This is indicative of the importance of social media interaction post show. SOCIAL MEDIA Social media is a relatively new term with comparatively little formal academic research. Social media includes all digital interactive media one finds when engaging with other people through the internet. This includes social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Pinterest, Youtube, FourSquare, and blogs. The literature regarding marketing through social media is in large part focused on advertising. Though this writer planned to research social media and the uses and gratifications theory separately, the uses and gratifications theory kept appearing in the social media literature. Uses and gratifications theory appears to be the most prevalent theory in any social media academic research. Though the research area has only begun being explored recently, concrete research shows that people utilize social media because it is gratifying to them. In Taylor, Lewin, and Strutton’s work “Friends, Fans, Followers: Do Ads Work on Social Networks?” the researchers point out: the benefits may be conceptualized as being derived from the uses and gratifications a consumer derives from SNSs. These uses and benefits are categorized as content-related, structural, and/or social. Content-related benefits include information and entertainment; structural uses relate to filling and structuring time; and social benefits are derived from the self-enhancing value of advertising and the peer-influenced socialization factor (261).
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The study showed that when the content users were viewing on social media lined up with their own gratifications, they responded more positively to the advertising as well. Social media users expect either entertainment or information. If they do not receive this they ascribe no value to what they are viewing online. The International Association of Business Communicators quarterly publication “Community World” explored aspects of online brand communication in an article titled “Making Friends on the New Media Playground” (Chapman). The article was published in 2008 so some of the advice within the article is dated but the core of C.C. Chapman’s message remains the same today: company’s should utilize opportunities on social networks to connect with their brand’s audience. Chapman suggests using Twitter, Facebook, Ning, blogs, podcasts, Flickr, and virtual worlds. The article also strongly suggests connecting with customers where they already frequent: popular social networks. This concept affirms the uses and gratifications theory just as Taylor, Lewin, and Strutton’s research did. The trade magazine Advertising Age has reported multiple times on the use of social media to promote brands and entertainment. The magazine picked up on the web presence of the series television show “The Office” in 2009. Anne Marie Kerwin reported that NBC sought to keep conversations going about the Office even when the show was on hiatus. They accomplished this through Myspace, Facebook, and a social network called Dunder Mifflin. Additionally, they had several Twitter feeds for the various quirky characters on the show. They also utilized character blogs on NBC.com. In 2009, Ted Janusz wrote one of the first best practices articles on utilizing social networks for marketing efforts. The article highlighted the rapid growth of Twitter. “According to ComScore, Twitter is the fastest growing major website in the United States with 17 million
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registered users. That’s up 3,000% from a year ago” (124). Janusz pointed out that the arguably biggest advantage to Twitter is how companies can interact with customers. In the first article published in Time magazine reviewing Twitter, the author begins by explaining her wariness of the new medium. She explains that Twitter did not fill a void in the lives of its users before it existed. The author points out accurately that Twitter adds a “second layer of discussion” to public events such as conferences, award ceremonies, and news stories. The author points out that Twitter is the ideal location on the web to find out what acquaintances, friends, and strangers are saying about any given topic at any given moment. In an article intended to share information to be implemented, Steve Rubel discusses the need for companies to loosen up their grip on public relations and marketing. The author explains that with the array of information available on the web today, people have to make their online messages shorter, more exciting and more engaging. He decided to stop blogging and utilize a “lifestream” instead. This is comparable to the style of posting on Tumblr. Upon looking at the author’s “lifestream” it reads very similar to a blog but it has more photos and illustrations. He suggests being ubiquitous in all of the “relevant spaces” where your audience exists. Second, he utilizes audience analysis and tweaks it based on the medium. Last, he considers where users go to find information and where they share it (20). Among brands that utilize social media is Starbucks. In an article analyzing their web presence, Emily Bryson York discusses how they use the web to connect in a personal way with their customers. In 2008 Starbucks sales were waning for the first time since the company had gone public. Howard Schulz decided to step back into daily management and launched a website called mystarbucksidea.com that gave consumers a platform for making suggestions. The site has 180,000 registered users. They utilized social media as “a consumer relationship-building
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environment” (34). Tactics they used included partnering with Pandora to sponsor holiday playlists, staging a Facebook sing-a-long and leveraging its partnership with Project RED to drive traffic to a dedicated microsite and its stores, offering a free CD with a $15 purchase. Vice President of brand content and online Chris Bruzo suggests that they are benefitting from a trend “toward this intersection between digital and physical” (34). In 2010 they detailed the meteoric rise of Lady Gaga, a recording artist who leveraged social media to quickly become a famous pop music star. At the time of publication Lady Gaga had 2.8 million Twitter followers and over 5.2 million Facebook fans. Her social media presence is credited with her rapid achievement of milestones such as being courted for high paying endorsement deals. Within a year of her first album’s release she signed endorsement deals with Polaroid, Mac Cosmetics, and Virgin Mobile. As a result of social media, she achieved in one year what it took Madonna to achieve in seven. Gaga achieves this by connecting with her fans via social media on an almost hourly basis (Hampp 42). In Brandweek the value of social media to marketing was analyzed in 2010. The article looked at the great gains technology made for communication over the past fifteen years. The article analyzed how people are now utilizing mobile devices to connect with other people through social networks (Oulette SM1). In an article titled “Why Fans Un-friend Your Brand on Facebook” Kerwin discussed a study conducted to analyze the habits of Facebook fans in the U.S., U.K. France, Germany, Turkey and Malaysia. New users in Turkey and Malaysia were much more likely to interact with brands on Facebook. The chief reason people unsubscribed from brand pages on Facebook was because “the brand was no longer of interest to me” followed by “the information available was not interesting” (Kerwin C-6).
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In a more recent article published in 2011, Steve Pearson and Ford O’Connell urge politicos to maximize opportunities on mobile devices. Gone are the days of campaigning via text message. According to Pearson and O’Connell, political campaigns should be utilizing mobile applications. If a website cannot be viewed correctly on a mobile device it is obsolete (49). Not only has academic research explored how social media benefits its users and why they use it, but it also been explored as a tool for audience analysis. Chew and Eysenbach suggest utilizing a social network like Twitter for “infoveillance.” Rather than actually surveying people they utilize the network to retrieve real time data to draw conclusions about populations. They specifically used this kind of tracking to analyze audience during hte 2009 H1N1 outbreak. They found that people utilized Twitter to share experiences, opinions, and locate and share credible informative sources (12). To further investigate how social media is utilized by its users and by brands, Marwick and Boyd studied celebrity use of Twitter. Marwick drew from Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical metaphors to consider how celebrity online behavior is performed with the help of others. Unlike brand accounts or non-famous people, celebrity Twitter accounts are primarily used to present an “authentic, intimate image of self while meeting fan expectations and maintaining important relationships (140).” Marwick and Boyd points out that celebrities balance a tight rope of gratifications on Twitter by interacting with multiple audiences. Similarly, average users might experience this too by interacting with colleagues, personal friends, fellow fans, and people of different religious or political views. Twitter, a younger social network than its big brother Facebook, presents a different way of social networking in that a user may collect followers without following them back. In so,
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Anatoliy Gruzd, Barry Wellman, and Yuri Takhteyev conducted a study titled “Imagining Twitter as an Imagined Community” that explored if authentic community can be found on Twitter. The traditional definition of community as “a spatially compact set of people with a high frequency of interaction, interconnections, and a sense of solidarity” conflicts with the “community” found on Twitter (1296). The researchers discovered an “imagined community” on Twitter in which a user’s network exhibits the characteristics of a “virtual settlement” (1308). The research shows that the “imagined” community on Twitter is both collective and personal. It is collective in that all Twitter users understand Twitter’s norms, language, techniques, and governing structures (1312). It is personal in that users can form close relationships with other Twitter users they connect with individually. Sreenivasan, Lee, and Goh analyzed the use of Twitter to exchange knowledge regarding airlines in “Tweeting the friendly skies” in 2012. The researchers sought to investigate airline customers’ use of Twitter regarding travel-related information. They found that airlines utilized Twitter to market and promote their brand while customers utilized Twitter to compliment airlines, complain, or ask questions. The research found that airlines do not respond to customer grievances via Twitter. The researchers suggest that airlines change this behavior because it could eventually hurt their business (36). USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY The study of the uses and gratifications theory originated in the 1940’s with common concepts introduced by Lazarsfeld and Stanton. Both of these articles explored the gratifications that people derived from various kinds of communication. The theory became more fleshed out in 1972 as it was focused specifically on mass media by Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch. The early studies were qualitative, giving participants the opportunity to answer open-ended questions on
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the preferences (Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch 509). “Uses and Gratifications Research” as assembled by Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch sought to sort out levels of need. The researchers surmised the following five ways of categorizing media-related needs: 1. Social situation produces tensions and conflicts, leading to pressure for their easement via mass media consumption. 2. Social situation creates an awareness of problems that demand attention, information about which may be sought in the media. 3. Social situation offers impoverished real-life opportunities to satisfy certain needs, which are then directed to the mass media for complementary, supplementary, or substitute servicing. 4. Social situation gives rise to certain values, the affirmation and reinforcement of which is facilitated by the consumption of congruent media materials. 5. Social situation provides a field of expectations of familiarity with cetain media materials, which must then be monitored in order to sustain membership of valued social groupings (517). While the uses and gratifications theory has undergone scrutiny for many years, its relevance has reemerged with the onset of the social media age. The first academician to recognize the connection was Thomas E. Ruggiero in 2000. In his paper “Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century” he sought to combat the argument that the uses and gratifications theory is not a legitimate social science theory. Ruggiero held that the rise of “computermediated communication” made the uses and gratifications theory once again relevant. He asserted that future research must analyze interactivity, demassification, hypertextuality, and asynchroneity (29).
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In 2004, the uses and gratifications theory was once again utilized to analyze consumer motives on search behavior online (Yang 430). The research showed that advertising appeals and product involvement were statistically significant. The researcher suggested that more research should be conducted to learn more about internet advertising and the Uses and Gratifications theory. Results showed that factors predicting improper use of internet may not predict other forms of internet abuse. In 2007 Stephen A. Banning utilized the uses and gratifications theory to analyze the dissemination of a public safety message (1). He studied the “third-person effect” which purports that people think the media have greater impact on peoples’ opinions than they do themselves. This study did not directly deal with social media but it did focus on marketing through the uses and gratifications perspective. The study that people presume that their voice is less heard than the opinions expressed on advertising and in marketing campaigns. A quantitative study was published in 2008 titled “Public Life and the Internet: If you build a better website, will citizens become engaged?” by Coleman, Lieber, Mendelson, and Kurpius. It connected the uses and gratifications theory and a theory that addresses civic engagement and then applied it to the creation of a website designed to promote civic engagement. The study found that by applying the preferences of users, the users did become more civically engaged. Participants who interacted with the user-friendly site were significantly more likely to have positive attitudes toward civic engagement (Coleman, Lieber, Mendelson, Kurpius 200). Choi, Kim, and McMillan conducted a study in 2009 to decipher the motivators for the intention to use mobile TV (147). This study tested the effects of gender on attitude and motivation regarding the use of mobile TV. The researchers hoped to provide useful implications
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for uses and gratifications theory and adoption of new media in addition to marketing practitioners in countries that are commercializing mobile TV. Attitudes and intentions for using mobile TV were measured by looking at entertainment, social interaction, permanent access, pass time and fashion/status. Results indicated that the most important motivation for men is fashion/status while social interaction carries the most weight for women. The uses and gratifications of Facebook and instant messaging were studied in 2010 by Quan-Haase and Young. Within this study the researchers used mixed methods to decipher what need is met by each social medium. The researchers utilized 77 surveys and 21 interviews utilizing undergraduate students. The study found that people found gratification through sharing the following six key areas on Facebook: pastime, affection, fashion, share problems, sociability, and social information. The researchers compared it with the user gratification of instant messaging. In 2011, the uses and gratifications theory was utilized to study Twitter use. This study analyzed the connection between people’s use of Twitter and their desire to connect with other people. The purpose of the study was to see if Twitter meets a deep emotional need for human connection within its users. The research found this to be true (Chen 762.) The most recent research conducted on the uses and gratifications theory analyzed the implications of internet abuse at work. Chen, Ross, and Yang sought to discover if personality type and motivational factors contribute to the amount of internet abuse in the workplace in the form of shopping, unrelated searches, social networking, and unrelated emails (1). The research pertaining to the uses and gratifications theory showed that while at first critics were skeptical of its legitimacy as a sound social science theory, it is a strong theory for analyzing people’s motives for utilizing social media.
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To begin the process of understanding the implications of marketing live theatre through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, it is vital to understand the previous communication research conducted regarding theatre, Broadway, acting, social media, internet marketing, and the uses and gratifications theory. By thoroughly researching these areas, one finds that no prior research has explored how the new context of social media affects the audience/performer relationship. No prior research sheds light on if social media engagement affects the audience experience either positively or negatively. Previous research does show that audience members can be emotionally affected by messages expressed on stage. It also shows that audiences seek out specific social media because they find the information therein informative or entertaining. They also may find gratification in expressing their views. Future research ought to seek to discover if audiences are more engaged and affected by a production when they have previously engaged with the brand through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
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Methodology An award-winning Twitter campaign in 2009 conducted by the digital marketing agency Situation Interactive for the Broadway musical Next to Normal forged a new frontier for audience interaction on Broadway. Six weeks after the production opened, a campaign began on the show’s Twitter feed that sought to tell the entire story of Next to Normal one tweet at a time. The campaign culminated on the evening of the nationally-televised TONY awards in which Next to Normal was nominated for eleven. Without using any direct dialogue or lyrics from the script, Situation Interactive conceived a thirty-five-day Twitter campaign that told the Next to Normal story in its entirety through the perspectives of each character in the play. The campaign made Next to Normal a Twitter icon, going from 30,000 followers to over one million in just a few months. In addition to the Twitter campaign, the creative team also interacted with fans over the social networking site to pen an additional song for the show. Without actually advertising on Twitter, the show was promoted in an innovative, interactive way. With a story that might be less than appetizing at first glance to potential patrons, the Twitter campaign warmed people to the idea. Janet Aguhob said in a tweet to the Next to Normal account, “I saw the show because of the tweets. I read/heard great things abt N2N but was nervous abt the subject. Tweets broke the ice (Newman B4).” This chapter explores three different areas. The first section explains the purpose and significance of the phenomenon of interest. The second section details the research questions as well as the design and framework to assess and evaluate the collected data. The third section explores the rationale of the strategy employed.
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Purpose and Significance In 2010 the Broadway musical Next to Normal won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama after taking home three Tony awards in 2009. The play’s plot revolves around the mental illness of Diana, a wife and mother who is detached, lonely, experiences hallucinations, and undergoes shock therapy. The play observes the effect both the unmedicated and medicated versions of Diana have on her family. Situation Interactive Agency’s marketing team had the foresight to recognize that they needed to employ highly creative, interactive strategies to promote a play with such challenging subject matter. With no “big name” stars on stage or “big name” writers at the helm, Situation Interactive, an agency hired to promote the show online, utilized an award-winning Twitter campaign to increase interaction with fans and grow the show’s audience. Twitter is a social network in which users send messages to their followers with a length limited to one hundred and forty characters. By collaborating with the show’s composers, Situation Interactive, the agency tasked with promoting the unknown show, conducted a sixweek campaign that retold the story of “Next to Normal” tweet by tweet. The campaign worked so well, the Twitter account collected over one million followers—an unpredented figure for a Broadway production. The integration of social media and the live theatre experience has not been fully explored in the academic research context to date. To forge the frontier of how social media campaigns affect the audience experience for a Broadway show I plan to first explore five research areas. I will research and record, from the Twitter archives, each tweet published during the campaign. I will notate the day and time each tweet is published. Additionally I will track the
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number of tweets by each character. I will then record the number of “retweets” and “favorites” and analyze the results. Social media is an aspect of technology that is changing the way the world communicates. A significant amount of research shows that social media has a valuable impact on interpersonal communication, organizational communication, and mass media (Oulette). Through networks such as Twitter, it is possible to connect with people all over the world who have similar interests. News travels faster than ever before. Traditional academic communication research has only scratched the surface of the implications of social media on the discipline. This researcher’s intention is to delve into merely one of the effects of social media, namely how it affects the ancient art form of theatre. Research Questions Based on the literature review and a thorough content analysis, this thesis analyzes the following research questions: RQ1: Did Situation Interactive’s Twitter campaign for Next to Normal succeed in growing the audience for the Broadway production? RQ2: How did Situation Interactive’s Twitter campaign increase engagement and transform audiences into loyal fans? The literature review coupled with detailed analysis of the tweets published within Next to Normal’s Twitter campaign will expose how Situation Interactive employed an awardwinning strategy to grow Next to Normal’s fan base and increase loyalty for audience members who had already seen the show or were familiar with the music. The objective of this qualitative study will be to observe patterns and best practices employed by Situation Interactive for the Next to Normal Twitter campaign in which the
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company promoted a Broadway musical through Twitter May 4-June 7, 2009. The overall aim is to identify best practices of social media utilization to promote live theatre and identify how the Next to Normal campaign in particular provided gratification to its users as recognized in the Uses and Gratifications theory. Approach Through systematically researching the number of favorites and retweets within the Next to Normal Twitter campaign, this thesis establishes an informed conclusion regarding which tweets resonated most with the Twitter audience. This thesis analyzes patterns that help determine best practices to apply to the Twitter medium. The Next to Normal tweets are published under seven different headings. Each tweet comes from the perspective of one of the six characters in the musical: Diana, the central character and mother, Dan, her husband, Natalie, their sixteen-year-old daughter, Gabe, their eighteen-year-old son, Henry, Natalie’s boyfriend, and both Drs. Madden and Fine, Diana’s psychopharmacologists. A seventh kind of tweet names a song that is performed at that point in the story and links to a sound clip of it on an external landing page. By thoroughly studying the tone of each character’s tweets, the popularity of each as determined by retweets and favorites, and further details such as time of day of tweet and day of the week, this thesis notes the patterns that emerge and best practices employed giving consideration to the fact taht the campaign was conducted in 2009 when Twitter was an emerging social network. Rationale of Qualitative Research A content analysis case study is the most appropriate vehicle for learning more about the success of the Next to Normal Twitter campaign. Because this research area has received so little attention, a thorough analysis of the success of the campaign is essential for learning social
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media best practices. This research should be conducted by analyzing the data independent of interviews so that the data may speak for itself in revealing best practices for utilizing Twitter to promote live experiences. Prior research on Twitter is limited to studies such as Gruzd, Wellman, and Takhteyev’s exporation of Twitter as imagined community (1296). It is the researcher’s hypothesis that relationships formed and experiences on Twitter affect perceptions and experiences in “real life” including the live theatre realm. The aim is to produce a qualitative study of the intersection of social media and theatre by analyzing data found within the Next to Normal Twitter campaign that is still available online. Situation Interactive is the industry leader in digital and social media specifically for live events. The uses and gratifications theory suggests that audiences utilize specific mediums of communication to satisfy their own desires and needs. Live theatre and social media--more specifically the Broadway musical Next to Normal and the internet marketing team behind the award-winning Twitter campaign will be the population and artifact studied. Through the lens of the Uses and Gratifications Theory, new ground can be broken by analyzing how audience members become gratified by connecting with a live theatre experience through social media on their hand-held devices. Thus far, the Uses and Gratifications Theory has been used to study social media, as in Quan-Hasse and Young’s study of Facebook and instant messaging, but not within the theatrical performance framework (350). Analyzing the Next to Normal Twitter campaign with the purpose of learning how and why it was so successful and how it affected Twitter users and audience members is best accomplished through the case study method as laid out above.
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Results The results of the study of the Next to Normal Twitter campaign is the data collected by studying the tweets and looking for patterns within the campaign. The purpose of the study was to explore the patterns of the Twitter campaign and therefore, draw conclusions on best practices for Twitter campaigns for live events. The Next to Normal Twitter campaign began on May 5, 2009 and culminated on June 7, 2009. The Twitter feed began on April 29, 2009. The campaign utilized a total of 273 tweets. It averaged 6.5 tweets per day. Tweets within the campaign were “retweeted” 28 times. Tweets were “favorited” 761 times. No tweet received more than one retweet. The most popular tweets received one retweet and nine favorites. They were the following tweets. “Diana: Making lunches. Ham sandwiches. Gabe’s favorite. Natalie wants vegetarian. She gets lettuce.” This was posted on May 5, 2009 at 8:15 am. “Dan: Do all wives end up sprawled on the floor making dozens of sandwiches for no one? This happens to other people, yes? Anyone?” This was posted on May 5, 2009 at 8:30 am. “Henry: guesses his date to the Spring Formal will be a bong. Luckily there is a selection to choose from. The Egyptian one is my fave.” This was posted on June 4, 2009 at 11:28 am. “Henry: You are an island of peace truth coolness in a hot sea of suck.” This was posted on June 6, 2009 at 5:57 pm. The character who received the most audience feedback was Natalie whose tweets received 168 favorites. Natalie tweets received an average of 3.6 favorites per tweet. The character of Natalie also tweeted more than any other character in the show. The difference was by a large margin. Diana tweets totaled at 49. Dan tweets totaled at 47. Henry tweets totaled at 43. Musical number tweets totaled at 37. Gabe tweets totaled at 32. Drs. Fine and Madden totaled at just five.
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Because each type of tweet occurred at varying rates, averaging favorites per number of tweets is essential to understanding which kind of tweet was most popular. After Natalie’s tweets, Gabe’s tweets were most popular with a favorited average rate of 3.3. Tweets by Henry were favorited an average of 3.1 times per tweet. Musical numbers were favorited an average of 2.7 times. Diana’s tweets were favorited an average of 2.5 times. Dan’s tweets were favorited an average of 1.98 times. Drs Fine and Madden’s tweets were favorited an average of 1.2 times. The campaign did not use any word for word lyrics or lines from the actual musical. The campaign also did not tweet on the hour, half hour or quarter of the hour. Each character’s tweets had a different tone. The younger characters who are teenagers used emoticons and slang. Each character’s tweets had a similar tone to character’s voice in the musical. Gabe’s tweets were often dark. Natalie’s tweets were often sarcastic. Dan’s tweets often showed traces of denial. Diana’s tweets were wry. Henry’s tweets were self-deprecating and vulnerable. Drs. Madden and Fine were sterile. The musical number tweets did not have a tone in that they just listed the song that correlates to that point in the musical with a link to listen to the music. The only tweet during the six-week campaign that directly promotes the show is the intermission tweet. “R u enjoying our Twitter performance? Visit http://tr.im/mu75 to learn more about the live performance on Broadway and to watch video.” It received 9 favorites. It was posted on May 26, 2009 at 7:47 pm. The Twitter campaign culminated on the evening of the Tony Awards telecast. The Tony Awards are the Broadway industry awards show that is broadcast annually on network television. If a musical or play wins many awards it will often perform well at the box office. If a show is in performances and receives few Tony nominations it could have such a negative effect on ticket
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sales that the show is forced to close. This researcher is confident that the social media marketing campaign was scheduled to correlate with the Tony Awards telecast. In regards to RQ1: “Did Situation Interactive’s Twitter campaign for “Next to Normal” succeed in growing the audience for the Broadway production?” this researcher concludes that the Twitter campaign did contribute to growing the audience of Next to Normal. According to data reported to New York Times journalist Andrew Adam Newman, the Next to Normal Twitter account had 30,000 followers after one week of the campaign. By the end of the campaign the follower count was up to 145,000. In later months the creative team and cast members began dialoging with fans through the account. The numbers continued to grow and eventually topped one million. Research question 2 is more challenging to answer given the data collected. RQ2: How did Situation Interactive’s Twitter campaign increase engagement and transform audiences into loyal fans? Situation Interactive’s Twitter campaign increased engagement by utilizing a creative marketing campaign through a social network that was rising massively in popularity. By tweeting strong content an average of six to seven tweets a day at a consistent rate, Twitter users became engaged and often favorited and retweeted messages that were posted on the Next to Normal Twitter account.
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Discussion The intent of the content analysis of the 2009 Next to Normal Twitter campaign was to come to a greater understanding of what Situation Interactive did to produce such a successful and highly effective marketing venture for a challenging product. By thoroughly studying each tweet within the campaign, this researcher aimed to draw conclusions about best practices that were implemented within the campaign and can be translated to future social media marketing endeavors. This researcher observed deliberate decisions that were implemented by Situation Interactive concerning the schedule of the campaign and the voice of the campaign. The “Next to Normal Twitter Performance” was a thoughtfully planned marketing campaign that grew in momentum as greater numbers of Twitter users began to follow along with the campaign throughout the six-week endeavor. Detailed, intentional scheduling touched on every aspect of the campaign. First, the campaign was clearly planned at the inception of the Twitter account. The @N2NBroadway Twitter account was started on April 29, 2009 and the “Twitter Performance” began only six days later. Each day of the campaign between six and seven tweets were published. Four years later in 2013, this is commonly known to be the best amount of tweets to publish to connect with a brand’s audience without tweeting more than the audience wants to read. However, in 2009 these best practices had not been established yet. Situation Interactive also posted daily tweets at seemingly random times. However, the decision to tweet on “off times” is not random. By not tweeting on the hour, half hour or quarter hour, more Twitter users were likely to see the Next to Normal tweets. The tweets were also never posted at exactly the same time each day, so they appeared to be off the cuff rather than robotically pre-planned. The tweets were on a steady yet unpredictable rotation between characters. On rare occasion a character would tweet two times in a row. The tweets followed no
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set order for the character tweets. Thus, some characters, such as Natalie, tweeted sixty times while other characters such as Drs Fine and Madden only tweeted five times. Situation Interactive’s work also possessed a signature feature throughout the campaign: a unique and specific voice. The “Twitter Performance” was unlike other social media marketing campaigns in that it was a direct creative reflection of a live theatre experience. Next to Normal, though it has challenging subject matter, is an ideal show to translate to a social medium like Twitter. The story is told through a cast of only six actors. Only seven characters exist in the play. The story is told through the various perspectives of only a few people. Because Twitter is a platform created for the first person account, the style of storytelling naturally translates to Twitter. Brian Yorkey, the book writer and primary author of the tweets, captured the tone of each character in the 140-character sound bite tweets. The tweets had a nice arc. From poignant to funny, each tweet rang true to the story of the family in crisis. For example, one of Diana’s first tweets read, “Making lunches. Ham sandwiches. Gabe’s favorite. Natalie wants vegetarian. She gets lettuce.” This tweet expresses Diana’s flighty, fast-paced stream of consciousness communication style as well as shows the audience she clearly favors her son Gabe over her daughter Natalie. Yorkey then was able to capture a very different tone with a tweet from Dan, Diana’s husband: “Do all wives end up sprawled on the floor making dozens of sandwiches for no one? This happens to other people, yes? Anyone?” This exemplifies the constant theme throughout Next to Normal of comparing one’s own family with the “normal” standard set by “everyone else.” Additionally, it shows that Dan is the bedrock of the family. He remains almost overly cool when Diana exhibits irrational behavior. In this case, she is making a school lunch for her daughter and her son who died when he was a toddler.
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Situation Interactive’s social media marketing campaign was highly creative. This creativity resonated with audiences and captured the attention of thousands of people on the social media platform. Simply creating a series of tweets that promoted the show and linked to a page where customers could buy tickets would have been much less successful. Examples of Broadway shows that have limited Twitter platforms because of this method of marketing are “Hands on Hardbody” (@HardbodyMusical) that has only 1581 followers, “Once” (@oncethemusical) that has only 11,405 followers, and “Cinderella” (@Cinderellabway) that has only 4561 followers. Both the data-driven aspect of the campaign, the scheduling, and the creative and unique voice of the campaign combined to create an exceptional social media marketing campaign. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH Limitations of this research project stem from the lack of research across the field regarding social media marketing. Still a new medium, little academic research has previously been recorded on the topic. This researcher suggests that future research delve deeper into data that instructs successful campaigns. This researcher would like to see hard data that shows how many new followers were accrued after each tweet. This data for “Next to Normal: The Twitter Performance” does not exist. Social media has better supporting software and technology now that can provide more detailed metrics. The more data that can be collected, the more researchers can pinpoint specific data-backed conclusions.
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Recommendations The following conclusions serve as recommendations that can be implemented by brand managers to increase the results of social media marketing efforts for their products, services and live events. These suggestions are not limited to live theatre. These recommendations stem from the study of the “Next to Normal: The Twitter Performance” campaign as launched in partnership between Situation Interactive and the Broadway musical Next to Normal. 1. Stay informed of social media trends. Brainstorm how the brand can utilize popular mediums. In 2009 Twitter was one of the fastest growing social networks. It was an excellent time for Situation Interactive to utilize the medium to promote Next to Normal. Current popular social networks that could be used for innovative campaigns would be Pinterest, Instagram, and Vine. 2. Data is the cornerstone of any successful social media campaign. Social media campaigns do not just “take off” out of nowhere. Data should inform length of campaign, number of messages within campaign, time of day messages are sent, and most importantly, content of campaign. 3. Content on social media must provide value to users. In the case of Next to Normal the content was entertaining. Fans of the show wondered how they would be able to tell the story through short messages. Twitter users who had not seen the show became intrigued as the “Twitter performance” progressed. Social media marketing campaigns must add value to the user experience whether it is informative, useful, or simply entertaining. 4. Creativity is a necessity. Social media marketing is a field that must constantly be innovative. “Next to Normal: The Twitter Performance” was successful in part because it was the first show that ever attempted to tell the story of the entire play on a microblogging website. The marketing team also knew that promoting the show in standard form would not give Next to Normal the
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Ruggiero, Thomas E. "Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century." Mass Communication and Society 3.1 (2000): 3-37. Print. Slutsky, Irina. "Great White Way Getting Boost From Chatter On World Wide Web: Shows' Facebook Pages Can Create '360-degree Experience' for Fans and a New, Younger Audience for Broadway." Advertising Age 82:2 (2011) n. pag. Web. 2 Mar 2012. Souccar, Miriam Kreinin. “Broadway Steps Up Show-stopping Ads.” Advertising Age. 75:38 (2004) n. pag.Web. 2 Mar 2012. Sreenivasan, Nirupama Dharmavaram, Chein Sian Lee, and Dion Hoe-Lian Goh. "Tweeting the Friendly Skies." Program Electronic Library and Information Systems 46.1 (2012): 21-42. Print. Taylor, David G., Jeffrey E. Lewin, and David Strutton. "Friends, Fans, and Followers: Do Ads Work on Social Networks?" Journal of Advertising Research (2011): 258-75. Print. Wilson, Rick T., and Brian D. Till. "Product Placements in Movies and on Broadway: A Field Study." International Journal of Advertising 30.3 (2011): 373. Print. Yang, Kenneth C.C. "Effects of Consumer Motives on Search Behavior Using Internet Advertising." CyberPsychology Behavior 7.4 (2004): 430-42. Print. York, Emily Bryson. “Starbucks Gets Its Business Brewing Again With Social Media.” Advertising Age. 81:8 (2010): 34. Print
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Appendix 1- “Next to Normal” Twitter Campaign April 30, 2009: Next to Normal: The Twitter Performance. For the first time ever, the full story of a Broadway musical will be told via Twitter. 3 favorites May 5, 2009: Next to Normal: The Twitter Performance Hear the Prelude - http://tr.im/ktuO 2 favorites DIANA – Another restless night. Kid got home at 3am. He's a twat. 1 Retweet 3 Favorites GABE – Please. I'm almost 18, mom I can go out. And don't call me a twat. 1 RT 5 Favorites DAN – wants his wife to come to bed. She's in a particularly amorous mood. And how often does that happen? 3 Favorites DAN – hopes this latte warms up today’s cold wet weather. 3 Favorites DIANA – Beautiful days like today make me want to dive in with both feet first. 3 Favorites NATALIE – Getting ready for school. Calculus, history quiz, Flowers for Algernon. Everything under control. Totally. Under control. Woo hoo! 3 Favorites GABE – It’s just another day feeling I’ll live forever. What’s mom up to? 3 Favorites Hear “Just Another Day” - http://tr.im/ktC3 5 Favorites NATALIE – Mom’s on fire this morning. May school show mercy. 3 Favorites DIANA – Making lunches. Ham sandwiches. Gabe’s favorite. Natalie wants vegetarian. She gets lettuce. 8 Favorites
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GABE – Snapshot: Mom making lunch. How many mothers do it on the floor? Love that crazy lady. 7 Favorites DAN – Do all wives end up sprawled on the floor making dozens of sandwiches for no one? This happens to other people, yes? Anyone? 8 Favorites DIANA – Nap time… Got carried away today. Fluffy pillows help brain recharge. Mmmm. 3 Favorites HENRY– OMG. That girl Natalie’s in the practice room working on some classical something & her playing is sweet. Working up guts to say hey. 4 Favorites NATALIE – Piano practice. Sonata for recital. Dude just like invades practice room. Annoying. Hate him. Kinda cute. 6 Favorites Hear “Everything Else” - http://tr.im/kyVg 3 Favorites DAN – On to the official dinner debate: groceries or take out? Sigh. Remember cooking? 4 Favorites GABE – Shhh…. Mom’s asleep. 3 Favorites May 6, 2009 DIANA – Scared. Appointment with Dr. Fine. He speaks in riddles. 3 Favorites DAN – Taking wife to doctor. Everything'll be fine. Just another day… 3 Favorites NATALIE – agreed to hang out with this Henry kid. Don't know why. Total pretentious stoner type. And wears...wait for it...flannel. 1 RT 5 Favorites GABE – Mom is at the doctor today…not a fan of the doctor. He's creepy. Loves pills. 4 Favorites HENRY – has gotta think up a good date place for a Thursday night. Any suggestions? 3 Favorites DR. FINE – It's true. It's not an exact science. But eventually you get it right.
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3 Favorites DIANA – At Dr. Fine, my psychopharmacologist. It’s like an odd romance. He knows my deepest secrets. I know his, um, name. 1 RT 4 Favorites Hear “My Psychopharmacologist and I” - http://tr.im/kFzK 4 Favorites 12:04 pm DAN – Sitting in car waiting again for Diana. It’s my life as I live it. Who’s the crazy one in this equation? 4 Favorites 1:21 pm NATALIE – Still can’t figure out Henry’s jazz. He's just like pulling shit out of thin air. Plus he laughs at his own jokes. Whatevs. 5 Favorites 1:52 pm HENRY – wants to smoke a bowl and jam on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Nat's righteous idea. I see hope for her to mellow. 1 RT 4 Favorites 2:27 pm DR. FINE – Meds that work for one p. may not for another. Meds may have one effect on a depressive p. and an opposite effect on a bipolar p. 3 Favorites 2:59 pm DIANA – watching CNN. Will my pretty pills make me immune to Swine Flu? Husband Dan napping in armchair. 6 Favorites 4:07 pm DAN – just woke up from nap to Diana obsessing over Swine Flu, of all things. 4 Favorites 4:37 pm NATALIE – is locked in her bedroom finding the “cure” in Flowers for Algernon majorly unlikely. Lame choice, English teacher. 4 Favorites 4:59 pm GABE – loves nights like tonight w/ the whole fam around the TV. My sister Natalie’s upstairs. She can stay there. 6 Favorites 5:51 pm May 7, 2009 HENRY – Thinks Natalie is so cool, Though she nixed date idea (jazz club). New date idea: Hanging in practice room. 3 Favorites 8:02 am
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NATALIE – Stoner Jazz Boy does not give up. Just hangs around practice room. Wanted to go "catch some jazz." Who talks like that? 3 Favorites 10:45 am NATALIE – is “hanging out” with Stoner Jazz Boy. Won't let me practice. Plays his "jazz". Good player, tho. 4 Favorites 2:13 pm HENRY – thinks she's totally falling for me. Totally digs my playing. Coming over to my house later. Sweet. 4 Favorites 2:56 pm HENRY – In a world full of poisoned oceans, war, death and disease, one thing I know…I might be perfect for her. 5 Favorites 6:43 pm Hear “Perfect for You” - http://tr.im/kM4O 4 Favorites 6:45 pm NATALIE – Stoner Jazz Boy just dropped me off. He’s all right. :-) But what's with the rugby shirt? 4 Favorites 7:36 pm DIANA – Happened to be passing upstairs window, saw Natalie and some boy. Swapping spit on the porch. WHAT? When did she get a boyfriend? 3 Favorites 7:48 pm GABE – Mom – spying on her own daughter. Mom – not listening to me, her son. 5 Favorites 8:00 pm May 8, 2009 DAN – just swung by home to drop off Di’s prescriptions. She was staring at the unplugged TV again. Maybe it's meditation? 3 Favorites 10:46 am DIANA – *sigh* Everything fine. Just...fine. I hate fine. I miss the highs and lows. I miss my life. 4 Favorites 1:17 pm Hear “I Miss the Mountains” - http://tr.im/kM5I 4 Favorites 1:18 pm GABE – Proud of Mom tossing her pills away. She can be herself again. Brave of her. 2:08 pm
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DAN – is flipping through Architectural Digest. Diana downstairs. Natalie out with this new boy. Harry? Herbie? Something like that. 4:47 pm NATALIE – doesn’t want to go see Star Trek. Highly loserish. Stoner Jazz Boy’s suggestion. Bah. 6:04 pm May 9, 2009 DAN - Bright day, perfect for yardwork. Diana’s new pills are working...It’s gonna be good good good! 9:27 AM DIANA – is feeling charged up & fantastic. Disinfected the entire house, rewired the computer, and has a yen for roof retiling. 10:15 am GABE – Mom’s been bustling recently. Go mom! :-) 11:55 am HENRY – Learning a Bach piece, to show Nat I can. So many notes. Can't get my mind off Nat. Does she think of me? 1:13 pm NATALIE – has decided to call Stoner Jazz Boy by his real name: Henry. 1 RT 2 Favorites 2:06 pm HENRY – @ Natalie, LMAO! 3:35 pm DAN – driving about town: Home Depot, the Green Nursery. No frantic calls on my cell. 4:29 pm Hear “It’s Gonna Be Good” - http://tr.im/kMhx 3 Favorites 4:29 pm DIANA – just dug an old apron out of the cupboard. Lovely bright floral print. Let’s wear it. It's HAPPY! 3 Favorites 6:48 pm DAN – is happy Di is cooking his favorite dinner: swordfish with roasted potatoes. 7:03 pm NATALIE – doesn’t like when guys press to come inside! 10:00 pm
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HENRY – @ Natalie, Sorry! Just wanna meet the folks! :-) 11:37 pm May 10, 2009 GABE - is wishing mom a Happy Mother's Day! 12:25 pm HENRY – driving Natalie home soon after a day at my place. The Bach was okay, but I’m still down with my Hubbard. 3 Favorites 2:31 pm GABE – pretending he doesn’t see mom baking his cake… ;-) 3:56 pm NATALIE – can’t believe Dad invited Henry in. Is he trying to humiliate me? 4:46 pm DAN – is pleased to meet his daughter’s new friend. Extra spot at the dinner table. Maybe Diana knew Harry was coming? 3 Favorites 5:51 pm DIANA – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GABE! Happy Birthday to Gabe! :-) 1 Retweet 3 Favorites 7:04 pm GABE – Thanks, mom! You’re the best. 1 Retweet 5 Favorites 7:51 pm NATALIE – MOM off the deep end. Brings out a cake for Gabe. In front of Henry. This is f*cked. 1 Retweet 4 Favorites 8:36 pm DAN – has to remind Di that Gabe isn’t here for his “party.” 1 Retweet 3 Favorites 9:03 pm Hear “He’s Not Here” - http://tr.im/kMix 3 Favorites 9:03 pm HENRY – is WHOA! Maybe I shouldn't've come in after all. 1 Retweet 3 Favorites 9:30 pm NATALIE – @ Henry, NOW do you see why you don't come to my house? 1 Retweet 2 Favorites 10:01 pm DAN – thinks it’s time for a new appointment with Dr. Fine. This'll all be okay.
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10:33 pm DIANA – flushed her meds. We have the happiest septic tank on the block. 4 Favorites 11:01 pm DIANA - doesn't want to go see Dr. Fine again. Through with Dr. Fine. 3 Favorites 11:38 pm Hear “You Don’t Know” - http://tr.im/kMj3 6 Favorites 11:39 pm May 11, 2009 DIANA –is reading today's obituaries...feeling jealous of the dead. Dan doesn't understand. 11:08 am DAN –I am the one who knows her. I am the one who cares. Why does she act like she's angry at me? What did I do? 3 Favorites 1:10 pm GABE – sits with mom as she looks out the window. 3 Favorites 2:43 pm DIANA – My husband doesn't get me. My son does. He reminds me of Dan, way back when… 5:07 pm Hear “I am the One” - http://tr.im/l2Iw 5 Favorites 5:07 pm May 12, 2009 DIANA – Doesn’t think nuking last night’s left over chicken beyond edibility is as funny as it sounds. Must hide evidence from Dan. 1:48 pm DAN – Just called to check in on Di. The new doctor search for her continues. :-/ 2:53 pm HENRY – hanging out after school at Natalie’s place. 4:34 pm HENRY –Voila! A bong out of an apple. I'm the MacGyver of pot. 1 Retweet 7 Favorites 5:23 pm DIANA – is singing Gabe his favorite song from when he was a baby. Haha! I love it. 5:48 pm
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NATALIE – omg… Mom singing to my brother again. Completely ignored me when I walked in. Of course. 1 Retweet 3 Favorites 6:08 pm NATALIE – can’t stand this. Gabe's Superboy and I'm just invisible. ARRRGH! 2 Retweets 6 Favorites 6:52 pm DIANA – @ Natalie, don’t you know I love you…as much as I can? 1 Retweet 3 Favorites 8:14 pm NATALIE – @ Diana, Thanks mom. I feel that much better. Oh, and I hate my brother. 3 Favorites 8:46 pm Hear “Superboy and the Invisible Girl” - http://tr.im/lb93 4 Favorites 8:47 pm GABE – understands that parents have their favorite child. Totally normal. So I'm mom's? So what? My sister needs to relax. 4 Favorites 9:35 pm HENRY – is totally glad he's an only child. 1 Retweet 4 Favorites 10:31 pm NATALIE – @ Henry, Pass me your stupid apple bong, MacGyver. 1 Retweet 5 Favorites 10:53 pm May 13, 2009 DAN – spends hump day in blueprint hell at the office. Never mind the issues at home. 10:19 am HENRY - munches on a Grilled Cheese while helping Natalie choose music for her recital. 1:54 pm NATALIE – wonders if Stoner Jazz Boy is for real. Why hasn't he freaked out yet? Maybe just supremely baked. 1 Retweet 3 Favorites 4:20 pm DAN – suggests depression chat rooms. Helpful in coping and finding suggestions. Plus neat graphics. 5:16 pm GABE – is :( about mom going to new doctor. Boo Dad. When will he give it up? 3 Favorites 5:39 pm
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DIANA – checked out those depression chat rooms. What a bunch of wet blankets. 6:02 pm May 14, 2009 DAN – found a rock star of a doctor for Diana. Thanks for the suggestion, Carla, Jolie and Marion! 4 Favorites 2:45 pm DIANA – @ Dan, Three people at work know I'm nuts? Thanks a ton, HONEY. 3:31 pm GABE – thinks his mother is totally fine and wishes dad would LAY OFF. He's the one who's obsessed. 5:30 pm NATALIE – doesn’t want to admit, yes she’s touched by the CD you gave me. 3 Favorites 5:51 pm HENRY – @ Natalie, Consider me your bass line keeping you on beat. :-) 5 Favorites 7:49 pm NATALIE - @ Henry. Lose the metaphors, SJB. 3 Favorites 10:59 pm May 15, 2009 DIANA – sits annoyed in waiting room. Not sure about this new Dr. Madden today. Okay, here goes… 11:06 am DIANA – Whoa! Rocked by new doctor. Out of breath. Freaky. Tingly. Like when I was front row for Bon Jovi in 1987. 11:43 am DR. MADDEN – Diana Goodman. Has been diagnosed bipolar but also presents with delusional episodes. 1:27 pm DIANA – is filling Dr. Rock Star in on Gabe – his school work, how he helps me cope, how he just turned 18… 4 Favorites 2:45 pm GABE – won’t move away from home. He’ll stick right by mom’s side. 5:38 pm
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Hear “I’m Alive” - http://tr.im/ltCN 3 Favorites 5:38 pm NATALIE – Week in Review: Mom living in therapy. Dad chipper as a Xanax ad. Too much brother talk. Thinking about mom’s pills. 4 Favorites 8:32 pm May 16, 2009 HENRY – is resorting to Twitter, Natalie, since you’re ignoring my texts… 2:18 pm NATALIE – @ Henry, UM, I’m practicing for my recital on Tuesday. Will call later. 6:26 pm DAN – Dr. Madden suggests hypnosis might help Di be able to confront underlying issues. 4 Favorites 8:27 pm May 17, 2009 NATALIE – is in the practice rooms. My fingers are tingling through this sonata. Still nervous about Tuesday’s recital. 8:36 pm May 18, 2009 DAN – driving Di to Dr. Madden’s. Cool story on NPR. Even adults are Twittering now. It's true! 9:57 am DIANA – is drained from the hypnosis. Not quite like the movies. No swinging watch. Dr. Rock Star just talks...and I go under. He's magic. 3 Favorites 1:57 pm HENRY – is in the practice room listening to Nat. Starting to like classical. Beethoven did coke. It's true, I read it on Wikipedia. 1 Retweet 5 Favorites 3:31 pm DAN – feels worried… Di keeps coming home in tears. Shouldn't therapy make you feel better? :-( 6:11 pm GABE – doesn't like this doctor mom's seeing. He thinks mom should let me go. Mom listens. I feel like...falling. 9:54 pm Hear “Catch Me I’m Falling” - http://tr.im/lHOx
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5 Favorites 9:55 pm
May 19, 2009 DIANA –Brought up Natalie. Dr. Rock Star surprised. Why? I love her. I do. We're just...different. 10:52 am GABE –thinks all this is none of the doctor's business. Our family is fine. We can take care of things ourselves. 3 Favorites 11:36 am HENRY – is making pit stop at the flower shop. What flora is a good pick-me-up? (Besides the obvs, people.) 4 Favorites 4:16 pm NATALIE – Recital today. No mom and dad. Big fucking surprise. Staying calm with a little medical assistance. All will be fine. 3 Favorites 8:43 pm HENRY – What is Nat doing? Is she messed up? You don't improvise at a classical recital. Do you? And not with rock riffs, for sure. 3 Favorites 9:14 pm NATALIE – Uh. Yeah. I fucked that one up. Who cares? Mozart sucks balls. 4 Favorites 10:06 pm May 20, 2009 DAN – Applause, applause to Natalie for yesterday’s concert. I’m sure it was awesome. 11:59 am NATALIE – @ Dan, You’d have enjoyed it more if you and mom actually made it there. 12:21 pm DIANA – has thought about it and is ready to let Gabe go. I think. No, I am. I am. 3:25 pm GABE – isn't going anywhere. Staying with mom. She's the only one who gets me. 4:34 pm GABE – Mom is really hurting. And it hurts me. There has to be something I can do. 4 Favorites 5:54 pm May 21, 2009
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DIANA – is packing up Gabe’s things. The music box—we played it when he was a baby. I'd dance him around the room to stop him crying. 1:41 pm Hear “I Dreamed a Dance” - http://tr.im/m0TD 3 Favorites 1:41 pm DAN – hears his wife rustling downstairs. Giving her space. This is a good step for her. 7:30 pm GABE - wants mom to stop crying. Dad just leaves her there. I can help her get to a better place. 4 Favorites 8:12 pm Hear “There’s a World I Know” - http://tr.im/m0Up 3 Favorites 8:13 pm DIANA - knows what she needs to do. 5 Favorites 9:54 pm NATALIE – txt from Dad. Mom in the hospital? What the fuck? And why is he TXTING me? Shouldn't he CALL? 3 Favorites 10:58 pm May 22, 2009 DAN –Won't be in to work at all today. Family emergency. Everything's fine now—just need to clean up. 3 Favorites 2:03 pm HENRY - wishes Nat knew that I'm here for her. That's what bf's are for. She won't even call me her bf. Calls me "this guy she knows." :-( 3 Favorites 5:23 pm May 23, 2009 DAN - @ Natalie, your mom's in for a new treatment. ECT. 12:57 pm Hear “I’ve Been” - http://tr.im/m8Xi 5 Favorites 12:57 pm NATALIE – @ Dan, looked up ECT online. That's bullshit! People, back me up here. 3:04 pm HENRY – @ Natalie, um, don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia. Just sayin'.
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5:44 pm DAN — It's the best course of treatment for the state she's in. Right? Someone help me out here. Should I sign the consent form? 3 Favorites 6:44 pm May 24, 2009 DAN — has decided to sign the form. 3 Favorites 6:07 pm NATALIE @ Henry, Let's go out. Now. 9:53 pm HENRY — @ Natalie, On a Sunday night? 10:22 pm NATALIE — @ Henry, Now. 3 Favorites 11:39 pm May 25, 2009 DAN – wonders where his daughter is spending Memorial Day. Is this Henry a good influence? 3 Favorites 12:25 pm NATALIE – @ Dan, Compared to what? 3 Favorites 1:14 pm DAN – @ Natalie, Okay, that’s fair. 1:56 pm DIANA – the nurses here are so nice. I feel so guilty they have to do so much for me. But, you know, I'm strapped to my bed. 1 Retweet 4 Favorites 6:34 pm GABE - hates this fucking hospital. Wants to get mom out. This place scares me. 4 Favorites 7:50 pm May 26, 2009 GABE –can't deal. If this shit goes the way I think it might go, I could be out of here. 9:40 am DIANA –Doctor Rock Star almost seems sad. Didn't know he had emotions. Wants me to try ECT. 11:28 am
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GABE – wants his mom to NOT do this. Mom, are you listening? IT CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE. 6 Favorites 4:48 pm NATALIE –would like to know WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? Dad wants Mom to do ECT and it's bullshit. 3 Favorites 6:01 pm DIANA – is having second fucking thoughts. Didn’t I see this movie with McMurphy and the nurse? And didn't the good guys fry in the end? 4 Favorites 6:07 pm Hear “Didn’t I See This Movie?” - http://tr.im/mu5X 3 Favorites 6:07 pm DAN –Will get Di to sign the form. I can’t get through this alone. I need her home. 4 Favorites 6:18 pm GABE - She's doing it. She's really doing it, starts tomorrow. And everything changes. 7:36 pm Hear “A Light in the Dark” - http://tr.im/mu6u 3 Favorites 7:37 pm End of Act 1. 7:46 pm R u enjoying our Twitter performance? Visit http://tr.im/mu75 to learn more about the live performance on Broadway and to watch video. 9 Favorites 7:47 pm May 27, 2009 The Twitter Performance: Act 2 3 Favorites 10:17 am GABE - is packing my bags. One thing to do before I go… 10:17 am NATALIE - Mom's old meds all over the counter. Do kids really take this stuff? What does it do? 3 Favorites 12:40 pm DIANA –So far so good. Breathing deeply, as instructed. Doctor Rock Star talking low...sleepy…
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3 Favorites 3:47 pm DAN - is going home. Natalie on her way out. Since when does she go out on a weeknight? 4 Favorites 8:49 pm NATALIE - feels better than I've felt in a long time. 10:47 pm HENRY - American Idol is like Aunt Helen. Obnoxious, stupid, drives you nuts, but entertaining, and u miss her when she's gone. Nat calling. 5 Favorites 10:53 pm NATALIE - has strapped on her boogie shoes. Ready to roll. 3 Favorites 11:15 pm HENRY – When did Natalie become a party girl? 3 Favorites 11:23 pm May 28, 2009 DAN – thinks the ECT is going well. Keep fingers crossed. 5:42 pm DIANA – this seems to be going well. This treatment. Um. ECT, yes, that's what it's called. 5:52 pm Hear “Wish I Were Here” - http://tr.im/mJ0t 4 Favorites 9:09 pm NATALIE – is swirling around the club. Total head trip. Plug me in, turn me on, flip the switch, I’m good as gone. 4 Favorites 11:29 pm HENRY – @ Natalie, WTF? Grabbing my coat and finding you. 11:56 pm May 29, 2009 DIANA - is done with treatments. Dan coming to take me home. Home? 4 Favorites 12:23 pm DAN – WOW! Di looks radiant. :-) :-) 2:20 pm NATALIE - is trying to get her shit together. Mom's coming home. Don't want Dad thinking...whatever.
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4 Favorites 2:23 pm DIANA - wishes she remembered a little more. Like this lovely home. And this girl who's apparently...my daughter? 1 Retweet 2 Favorites 10:32 pm WTF?!?!?!?? 5 Favorites 10:47 pm HEAR "Song of Forgetting" - http://tr.im/mRo7 5 Favorites 10:49 pm HENRY – Natalie totally avoiding me. Gets to class late, leaves right at bell. 3 Favorites 10:59 pm NATALIE – @ Henry, Sorry man, I’ve been crazed. Things at home, and all that. 11:02 pm HENRY – @ Natalie, have you thought about the Spring Formal Dance? 11:46 pm May 30, 2009 NATALIE – @ Henry, I don’t do dances. 12:08 am Hear “Hey #1” - http://tr.im/mRpb 3 Favorites 12:09 am HENRY - is laying low today, watching some baseball. Mets and Marlins. What is a Marlin? Swordfish? Or something else? 5 Favorites 3:18 pm DAN – wonders if there’s a place in Heaven where memories go to die… 3 Favorites 5:29 pm DAN – has pulled out every album, 2 decades of photos to jog Di’s memory. 6:30 pm NATALIE – @ Dan, Dad I’ve got piano lessons. Do the memory exercises while I’m not there. 7:54 pm May 31, 2009 NATALIE – thinks school dances are for herd mentality posers. 4 Favorites 12:23 pm
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HENRY – @ Natalie, they’re saner than clubs downtown where people get stabbed and things. 1:20 pm NATALIE – @ Henry, no one gets stabbed, and plus: no chaperones! 3:05 pm DAN – looking through photos of Natalie’s birth and the road trip… 3:43 pm Hear “Seconds and Years” - http://tr.im/mRr6 3 Favorites 3:44 pm DIANA – I don’t recognize the chubby girl in the pictures. 3 Favorites 5:46 pm NATALIE – Today sucks. Mothers should recognize you in baby pictures and I WAS NOT CHUBBY! 1 Retweet 4 Favorites 7:55 pm DAN – BREAKTHROUGH! Fantastic news. Di remembers the year of too much lithium! Which was actually two years, but whatever. All good! 9:11 pm Hear “Better Than Before” - http://tr.im/mRsv 3 Favorites 10:27 pm June 1, 2009 DIANA – Pictures really worked. I'm starting to remember. Bits and pieces. Like postcards from someone else's life. 3 Favorites 10:36 am DIANA – Something's missing. Tugging at me. What is it? 3 Favorites 1:10 pm GABE – is packing his duffel bag to head back home and visit mom. Think she misses me. 3 Favorites 2:46 pm Hear “Aftershocks” - http://tr.im/n4y7 3 Favorites 2:46 pm HENRY – is planning to pick up Nat for dance Fri @ 8. 4 Favorites 4:39 pm NATALIE – is NOT in the mood for the Spring Dance this week…
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4 Favorites 5:07 pm HENRY – Two possibilities. a: Nat ready Fri @ 8. b: Henry's heart broken. 1 Retweet 5 Favorites 6:06 pm NATALIE — @Henry: Fail. 6:13 pm Hear “Hey #2” - http://tr.im/n4za 6:13 pm DAN – is catching up on reading. Something light. Gaston Bachelard. Very happy Di’s doing better. 10:13 pm DIANA – feels like some Christopher Columbus sailing out into my mind with no map of where I’m going, or of what I’ve left behind. 4 Favorites 11:04 pm Hear “You Don’t Know (reprise)” - http://tr.im/n4zU 3 Favorites 11:04 pm June 2, 2009 GABE – is with mom. She's listening to my old music box. From when I was born. People say you don't remember your first months...but I do. 5 Favorites 12:58 pm DIANA – loves this beautiful melody. Amazing how music helps you remember. 3:28 pm Hear “How Could I Ever Forget?” - http://tr.im/ncxz 4 Favorites 3:28 pm DAN – should have tossed that damn music box. It's too soon. Why go all the way down memory lane if it's just a dead end? 4:00 pm Hear “It’s Gonna Be Good (Reprise)” - http://tr.im/ncyr 3 Favorites DIANA – @ Dan: Why do you put up with this? Day after day? No one has a gun to your head. 5:09 pm Hear “Why Stay?/A Promise” - http://tr.im/nczl 6 Favorites 5:09 pm
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GABE – is back home for good! 8 Favorites 5:58 pm Hear “I’m Alive (Reprise)” - http://tr.im/nczC 6 Favorites 5:58 pm DIANA – Gabe is back. I feel like I should be glad. But I'm terrified. 6 Favorites 6:06 pm June 3, 2009 NATALIE – Dad smashing things. Mom going back to the doctor. When I go to college, I'm telling them I'm an orphan. 1 Retweet 4 Favorites 11:56 am DIANA – turns out Doctor Rock Star is just another liar like all the rest. Fuck. He was so cute. 5 Favorites 1:44 pm Hear “The Break” - http://tr.im/njc4 4 Favorites 1:44 pm DR. MADDEN – Medicine isn't perfect. But it's what we have? 3:33 pm DIANA – @ Dr.Madden: Is it? Is it all we have? There has to be another way. 3:54 pm DR. MADDEN – @ Diana: I'm as frustrated as anyone by the limitations of medicine. But those limits are expanding every day. 6:05 pm Hear “Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I’m Falling (Reprise)” - http://tr.im/nl79 3 Favorites 6:05 pm HENRY – Boss tux jacket: $20 at Goodwill. Corsage thingy: $10 at Safeway. Knowing your date might be dumping you forever: Priceless. 1 Retweet 6 Favorites NATALIE – @ Henry, Still at doctor with my mom. Stop txting me emoticons. So annoying. 6 Favorites 8:39 pm HENRY – @ Natalie, Sorry. I just love the little sunglasses guy. He means "cool." 5 Favorites 8:56 pm June 4, 2009
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DAN – spends his days planning houses to be built. Spends his nights watching his fall apart. 3 Favorites 11:04 am HENRY – guesses his date to the Spring Formal will be a bong. Luckily there is a selection to choose from. The Egyptian one is my fave. 8 Favorites 11:28 am DAN — gave Nat $ for a dress. Think she should go to the dance. Life has to get back to normal. 4 Favorites 3:13 pm NAT — @ Henry, I bought a dress. 3 Favorites 9:39 pm HENRY — @ Nat, Shut up. Shut. UP. Woo and, um, hoo! 3 Favorites 10:07 pm NAT — @ Henry, You Must Chill. I can always return it. 4 Favorites 10:20 pm HENRY — is chilling, as instructed. 4 Favorites 10:39 pm DAN — that Harry seems like a good kid. Patient. Dutiful. Honest. 5 Favorites 11:00 pm
June 5, 2009 DIANA – Everything is completely fucked up. And I haven't felt so clear in years. 4 Favorites 10:26 am DIANA – wants Natalie to go to the dance. Time for her to think of her own happiness. 4:20 pm NATALIE – @ Diana, It’s not happiness. It’s Henry. 3 Favorites 4:30 pm HENRY – @ Natalie: Hey, I read that. 5:24 pm Hear “Maybe (Next to Normal)” - http://tr.im/nA9p 3 Favorites 5:25 pm HENRY – at the dance. Alone. Looks of pity from Student Council. Hey, at least I'm not on Student Council! 5 Favorites 7:15 pm
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HENRY – Jaw dropping, heart leaping, Natalie’s walked into the dance like a vision in blue. 7 Favorites 8:09 pm NATALIE – OMG, that frilly blue tux? What decade is he in? Lucky he's adorable. 7 Favorites 8:13 pm Hear “Hey #3/Perfect for You” - http://tr.im/nAa3 4 Favorites 8:14 pm June 6, 2009 NATALIE – has confession. Enjoyed dance. And not just in anthropological fascination kind of way. Actual fun was had. 9:54 am HENRY – Total actual fun was had yeah baby yeah what a night woo and hoo!!! 4 Favorites 11:22 am NATALIE – @ Henry, There's more to punctuation than a bunch of exclamation points. 1 Retweet 3 Favorites 12:35 pm NATALIE – has another, more alarming confession: Possible love for Henry. 8 Favorites 4:56 pm HENRY – You are an island of peace truth coolness in a hot sea of suck. 8 Favorites 5:57 pm NATALIE – You are the worst poet in the world. And again, punctuation. And xoxoxo. 4 Favorites 6:49 pm DIANA – So often we keep doing the wrong thing because we're not sure if something else is right. But don't you have to try? 8 Favorites 7:47 pm Hear “So Anyway” - http://tr.im/nAaz 4 Favorites 7:48 pm DAN – is all alone tonight. 3 Favorites 9:10 pm GABE – @ Dan, not all alone. I'm here, Dad. Why won't you even look at me? 5 Favorites 11:30 pm Hear “I am the One” (Reprise) - http://tr.im/nAb6 4 Favorites 11:32 pm
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June 7, 2009 NATALIE – is happy mom is safe with the grandparents, although going home has never solved MY problems. 4 Favorites 10:51 am HENRY – @ Natalie, That’s what you have me for. 4 Favorites 11:43 am NATALIE – @ Henry, You’re my favorite problem. 6 Favorites 12:15 pm DAN – is visiting Dr. Madden, to ask about Diana. And about...Gabe. 3 Favorites 12:56 pm GABE – Talking with Dad again, for the first time in a long time. Will stay here a while, but not forever. Have to move on eventually. 4 Favorites 2:57 pm DAN – hoping things will get better. Things need to get better. 3 Favorites 3:52 pm NATALIE – believes they will. 3 Favorites 5:14 pm DIANA – knows in her heart they will. 3 Favorites 5:20 pm GABE – knows they already have. 4 Favorites 5:30 pm Hear “Light” - http://tr.im/nAbA 5 Favorites 5:34 pm The End 6 Favorites 5:39 pm
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Appendix 2- Broadway Grosses Week ending
# Performances
Gross
Attendance
% Capacity
05/10/2009
8
$278,881
5322
86%
05/17/2009
8
$310,451
5320
86%
05/24/2009
8
$337,306
5557
90%
05/31/2009
8
$357,119
5680
92%
06/07/2009
8
$363,464
5357
99%
06/14/2009
8
$437,252
5840
95%
06/21/2009
8
$450,901
5935
96%
*Data provided by the Broadway League