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Last-Minute Theatre Gift Ideas
00:12:42
Any and all feedback is appreciated:Grace Aki: grace@broadwayradio.com | @ItsGraceAkiMatt Tamanini: matt@broadwayradio.com | @BWWMatt Patreon: BroadwayRadiohttps://www.patreon.com/broadwayradio For a transcript of this episode,
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Transcript13 lines
- [00:16]
A
Hello everybody and Merry Christmas Eve. I am Matt Timmin and I am joined by Grace Aki. Merry Christmas, Grace.
- [00:25]
B
Merry Christmas. That's crazy.
- [00:28]
A
I know. I don't understand. I don't understand how this year has gone by so quickly. But if you are like me and are also confused as to where time went, there's a very distinct possibility that you might not have all of your Christmas shopping done. So Grace and I are here to throw out a couple last minute options for theater fans in your life. Some of these will be very obvious, but maybe you need a little bit of a refresher. Some of them will be a little bit more obscure, so hopefully they can give you some creativity points as well in your gift giving. Grace, why don't you start us off? What do you have as a last minute theater related gift that someone can still get just a few hours before Christmas Day?
- [01:14]
B
Well, it would not be instantaneous, but if you wanted to late order something, I feel like scenery bags is the way to go. Full disclosure, I know and love their team dearly. Like Jen and Katie are friends, but they did just release this like Julia Lester like bow collection from when she was doing. I can get it for you wholesale at Classic Stage and it's really pretty and I want one personally. So if I'm on your list, go ahead and do that. But I just love what they do with the upcycling of costumes and set pieces and step and repeats that didn't get used. Like so much goes into landfills that you would not believe in working on Broadway. And what they do is incredible. They upcycle it, they turn it into something that can be wearable and then that then also goes back into charity work. So it's, it's an amazing business. But I, I have to say that scenery bags is the number one thing that I would get. You're a theater person.
- [02:07]
A
That is a great one. You know, I think to me the obvious answer here is oh, get them tickets or something. But that can be really hard. I struggle with this because I like giving experiences, Grace. But it's so hard when you're buying stuff for people like, oh, you don't know if they've got a work thing planned or a school thing planned or vacation or if they don't really like going on certain nights of the week, that can be really difficult. So I will tell you that Tele Charge offers a gift card. This way you are giving the gift of live theater, but you are letting the person that you are gifting it to determine the Logistics, the winds and where's and what's of it. So it might not be the most like, oh my God, I can't believe you got me this kind of gift in the world. But it is a really, really useful way to make sure that people are being able to see the theater that they want and when they want to see it and how they want to see it. Because oftentimes the shows that I want to see are maybe not the shows that my friends and family want to see. So I think a Tele charge gift card is very good. I tried some of the other. Obviously I think you can get one from SeatGeek as well. They have a couple Broadway houses with the Ambassador and Jude Jamson tie in Broadway Direct. I did not see one for. So you just kind of have to look out for that. Ticketmaster probably does as well. But if you want to go old school theater, Tele Charge is a, is a very good one as well. Grace, what else do you have?
- [03:38]
B
Yeah, I like that. I like the, I guess future date of ticket. I was going to go more like nonprofit entire season. Like if you, if you know that a person really can go and likes certain shows. Like I'm thinking of like getting being a season ticket holder for Roundabout, being a season ticket holder for mcc. You know, there are, there are tons of nonprofit theater companies, especially in New York, but also throughout the country that you could just be a subscriber for. I have friends that are now in D.C. and so they're subscribers at the Kennedy center, things like that. But yeah, I just feel like that's such a great way to say, like throughout the year you're going to be supporting the arts. And I really like that.
- [04:20]
A
And what's great about those types of subscriptions too is that they are incredibly flexible. Like you say, I'm gonna get the tickets for the second Thursday of the run, but then on the fourth show of the year you're like, ah, I've got a work commitment. Those companies are incredibly willing and able to move your seats if you contact them, if you're a season ticket subscriber, because that is how they stay in business. So I've, I mean, heck, I was a subscriber to MCC for a season, to Atlantic for a season. And anytime, like I was able to figure out my schedule, I was like, oh, I can't come this day. You can move it. Or a lot of times the subscriptions are often just flexible. Like you come in and pick your dates. So that's a great one. That also Kind of gives you the flexibility of, of deciding when and what you want to go to. Mine. I have two that are going to kind of overlap. Both Broadway HD and National Theater At Home actually do allow you to gift a subscription. National Theater at Home allows you to gift a year subscription for 130 bucks. Broadway HD allows you to do one month for $20 or a year for $200. The amount of things that both of these services have is kind of incredible. National Theater at Home, we talked earlier this week about or last week. By the time you hear this, that Waitress is going to be streaming on National Theater At Home. But then you've got like Prima Facie, you've got Vanya with Andrew Scott. You've got Macbeth with Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma. You've got People, Places and Things with Denise Guff. So many incredible things. You got Angels in America with Andrew Garfield. There's just so much great stuff on there. All, almost all of it is plays. Lots of classics, lots of Shakespeare, but also a handful of new stuff as well. So definitely check that out. And then obviously Broadway HD just has a ton of musicals, almost all of the NBC live musicals, but also some other great stuff, some smaller things that were filmed both in the US and in the uk. They have some really interesting things that were done during the Pandemic that I watched then I think are really interesting. They have like a first first date and a title of show in there that was filmed during the Pandemic that I thought were really cool. And they've also got stuff like the 25th anniversary of Phantom on there, the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables. They've got concerts, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. Just a ton of really interesting stuff. So if your people on your list love theater and maybe especially if they're younger people and are trying to build up their knowledge base of what theater has to offer, and they're kind of like the insatiable theater kids who always want to be watching something theater related. Both of these services are very, very helpful and they have new stuff and they're always adding things. So a gift subscription to either National Theater at Home or Broadway HD would probably go a long way. Chris, anything else on your list? What else are you thinking?
- [07:30]
B
Well, because you said that I do want to shout out something. I don't know if you even know about Matt, but maybe I'm crazy. Do you know about Marquee tv?
- [07:38]
A
I'm familiar with it, but I don't know a ton about it. Yeah.
- [07:41]
B
So Marquee TV is what I feel is like the ballet theater version of Broadway hd, but for the uk and it's a subscription service, like. But it's incredible at home streaming of shows. And you can watch, like, Royal Shakespeare companies like Henry V, you can watch Uncle Vanya, you can watch Richard ii. Like, you can watch so many things. And it's not just theater. It's got ballet, it's classical stuff. So if you have somebody in your life that likes streaming theater, but they've gone through all the things that Matt just talked about, there's jazz, there's opera, there's shorts. I learned about them this year. They also have documentaries. It's really amazing. I watched this thing on Degas. It was really, really cool. So if that is something that you're also into and staying at home, if you're not always out to go see more theater, this is a really great option. It's called Marquee tv.
- [08:33]
A
Something that is similar to those where it's like, the great gifts for people who are theater lovers who just try to get as much content as possible, but maybe you want to stay away from the streaming side of things. Is the Broadway Book Club. What this is is they send you a box of scripts four times a year, every quarter. And this is from the Broadway Licensing Global Catalog. And you can get a box of three scar. Three scripts for $30 a box, five scripts for 3625 a box, or seven scripts for 50 bucks a box. And they are curated by different people, usually playwrights. And they can have different themes as well. You can do, like, stage frights for, like, Spooky Season or black voices or women's voices or Tony winners or things that are great for college theaters or band books. There's these different ways that you can customize which type of box that you want. The Shark is Broken. Grace is. Is one of them that is part of the. The Broadway Book Club that has a special edition designed specifically for this. So it's a really great way to kind of see what's new, but also mix in some classics as well. So you can subscribe and save up to 45% right now. So Broadway Book Club, that's bwaybookclub.com if you want to check that one out. Anything else that you're thinking about for special gifts. Grace.
- [09:57]
B
That'll do it for me.
- [09:59]
A
All right. My last one is something that can be done pretty quickly. It depends on how quickly you hear this and get this in. But going to Cameo. Cameo Has a ton of Broadway people on there. I'm just scrolling through right now. You've got Jordan Fisher, Michael Urie, Patrick Page, Jackie Hoffman, Erica Henning, Jen Colella, Kevin Chamberlain, Samantha Pauley, Susan Egan, George Salazar, Liz Calloway, Justin David Sullivan, and the list goes on and on and on and on and on. A lot of these have 24 hour turnarounds, especially around the holidays. So they are ready to do them if you pump something in there. There's also Broadway plus, which is kind of a similar thing. You can do those types of things on Broadway plus, but they also have like one on one virtual classes. They've got master classes, they've got VIP experiences. They also do like meet and greets in person, private dinners. All of those things that you can probably still do on Christmas Eve and have something to give to your person. Cameo might be cutting it a little bit close just because of how late in the game it is, but with Broadway plus, you can book something and be like, here, I got you a one on one acting the song masterclass with whoever your favorite artist is. Just looking at it like right here, I can see like Shireen Ahmed is in there, Christine Alabado, Lauren Allred, Christy Altomare. Just great people. So if this is something that you have somebody in your life who wants to be a performer or really loves a specific actor or actress, checking out these types of things would be great. All right everybody, that is our suggestions for last minute gifts. But let us know on social media what your favorite theater related gifts were. I am giving some theater related gifts, of course, as I always do, and I am incredibly excited about that. But always what really makes me the most excited, Grace, is just being able to share my love for theater with people that I love and being able to see them grow in their love for theater. So have a happy holidays. Have a whatever your holidays are. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever you're celebrating this time of year. We hope you have a great holidays. You get great gifts, you give great gifts and you more importantly spend time with the people that you love. It.