Stage and screen star Mickey Rooney passed away this weekend at age 93. Variety put together a superb obituary for the actor that details his life in the spotlight. We also wanted to share this video of Rooney playing Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream as well as this quote from the man himself:“You've got to recognize, there will never be another you. It has nothing to do with ego; it happens to be the truth. There will never...

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• Words are powerful, but when you use the wrong words to describe your business you might as well be speaking nonsense. Goldstar CEO Jim McCarthy explains why words like "guest" aren't the right way to go in live entertainment.• The Royal Opera aims to grab a younger audience by slashing prices and performing a risqué show for opening night. And that's only the beginning …• Earlier this week, we chatted with artistic director Jack Reuler from Mixed Blood...

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Who doesn't love a little free publicity? That's exactly what The Lion King production in Australia got when the video below went viral.To celebrate the launch of the show in Brisbane, cast members sang "The Circle of Life" on the airplane back to Sydney. You can feel the energy and even if it was preplanned, the video doesn't feel that way. It's fun to watch and easy to see why everyone's sharing it.

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You hear it everywhere -- the grocery store, subway stations, the doctor's office -- smooth jazz or classical music, derisively referred to as "muzak." You probably just tune it out most of the time, but apparently there's a very real reason it's playing, at least in certain places.Some experts believe playing classical music not only creates a soothing ambiance, but also drives away vagrants and vandals. A recent story on WQXR shed some light on the practice, and writes...

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Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about ticket sales marketing and the importance of knowing when to kill a program that's just not working. To help you evaluate whether a marketing program is successful -- or if it needs cancelling -- we've put together four posts that'll walk you through the process. Take a look:• First, a reality check: If a marketing campaign is working, then you should be able to see the results pretty clearly.• But, how do...

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No one ever wants bad reviews, but in the live entertainment industry there's always the possibility that an audience won't respond to your show the way you would like. And then, what do you do? Ignore the comments, or use them to build a better event?A great example of doing the latter is haunted house/immersive experience The Purge: Fear the Night from Blumhouse Productions, makers of horror films Paranormal Activity and Insidious. The initial idea was a free-roaming house...

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David Belcher at The New York Times recently reported on the trend of opera houses performing American musicals in addition to traditional opera.Not only is it a way to add additional options to a company's repertoire, but it could be the "gateway drug" that brings in a new audience and gets them hooked on opera.It seems fair to say that an opera company will put a unique spin on Oklahoma! or The Sound of Music and that could be...

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Now that you're convinced you need to "get 'em while they're young," the trick is figuring out just how you're going to get them. Disney and Dreamworks have done a remarkable job creating movies that appeal to both youngsters and adults, but how does that translate to live entertainment?Utah's Deseret News looked into just that in a three-part series on children's theater. They asked a few local experts what's worked for them and came away with some great advice...

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Following in the footsteps of the New York City Opera and Opera Pacific in Orange County, the San Diego Opera will be calling it quits at the end of the 2014 season.Ian Campbell, the company's general director, told the Los Angeles Times that ticket sales had been declining as well as donations, primarily because of death and the economic downturn.A follow-up piece by the Los Angeles Times expressed surprise (and a little outrage) at the closing, using San Diego's...

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