By: Charles Bowen Tuning To Reviews, Tunes, And Travel Tips
To get started, visit the site at Broadway.com
Even when you're a long way from Broadway, you suddenly have connections
in the theater world. Whether you're working up a package of travel stories
about dinner-and-a-show weekends in the big city or covering stage
productions that are traveling to your area, the Web stands ready to prompt
you.
And don't let the name of this week's featured site, Broadway.com, fool you.
This site actually covers live theater from Broadway and off-Broadway to
regional and local productions literally around the world. In fact, it has listings
and show times for more than 1,900 venues, as well as online theater
ticketing, news, and reviews.
The content includes theater in the top 100 U.S. markets as well as key global
markets, including London's West End. It also offers interviews, box-office
results, show tunes, cast and crew credits, visual excerpts, show synopses, and
casting news.
To use this powerful resource, visit the site at http://www.broadway.com,
where a lively introductory page is topped with breaking news, from Tony
award nominees to what stage stars are appearing on 'Late Night with Conan
O'Brien.' Take your time on this top page, because it is filled with buttons and
hyperlinks to useful inside features. Some can help you with facts and figures
about shows or give you 'color' for a show story, while others are options you
might want to share with readers as interesting resources they'll want to
explore on their own.
On the screen are icons that can be clicked to reach:
* 'The Buzz.' This leads to an entire screen of news and rumors, with the top
10 linked headlines of the moment as well as insider columns by writers such
as Liz Smith, Ken Mandelbaum, Sandy Kenyon, and Mark Shenton.
* 'The Shows.' Click this for a heads-up on some of the hotter shows opening
and, more importantly, the site's 'Show Search' feature, which enables you to
find show times on productions in London, New York, and across the United
States in what must be the most comprehensive coast-to-coast listing online.
* 'The Stars.' This connects to a regularly updated page of features on current
hotties on stage. Of interest to your readers, perhaps, is the site's 'Ask a Star'
feature, which enables visitors to e-mail questions for specific stage
performers.
* 'Broadway Multimedia.' Ever wish stage productions had previews the way
movies do? Here they do. The site maintains an interesting collection of show
clips from new productions. If you're looking for that 'insider's touch' for
your story about what's new on Broadway, try out a few clips to sample the
mood and tone of the show.
* 'Showtunes.' Here you can browse or search songs by show or composer,
hear sound clips, and even order CDs.
* 'Community.' Broadway.com has many interactive areas. In addition to
'Ask a Star,' messaging with critics, and opportunities to write your own
reviews, the site has active chat rooms and message boards on various theater-
related topics, all accessible from here.
* 'Boutique.' This leads visitors to commercial areas, where you can buy
everything from T-shirts to hats to mugs to posters.
* 'Ticketing.' Note this option for travel features related to New York. It
enables online purchasing of tickets for Broadway and off-Broadway
productions, and also provides background on shows to determine which are
the best fit for the people in the travel party.
* 'Showtimes.' Here's an easy shortcut to the site's main feature, its coast-to-
coast list of productions around the country. Select a city from the resulting
list, and the site presents links to the shows, their venues, and their times.
Other considerations in using Broadway.com for your editing and reporting:
1. A 'My Broadway' section on the introductory page enables visitors to
customize the site for specific options and receive a regular electronic
newsletter by e-mail.
2. Generally, reviews of new shows are linked from the introductory screen,
though you may need to scroll to the bottom of the page to find them.
3. The site is a subsidiary of Hollywood.com, a commercial movie and
entertainment resource that provides data about the movie industry, including
classic films and new releases.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bowen writes columns, articles and books from West
Virginia, and is host of the daily Internet News syndicated
radio show (http://www.netnewstoday.com). charlesbowen@compuserve.com
(c) Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher
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