Stagebill

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

History

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

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

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

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stagebill
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Free magazines
Magazines established in 1927
Magazines disestablished in 2002
Magazines published in New York City
Theatre magazines