NEW YORK, Dec. 10 — The web site BroadwayLiving.com celebrated its one year anniversary this past week on December 5th. The Broadway themed site uses videos, podcasts, articles, an interactive blog and other media to feature the lives and stories of people who work in the theatre industry.
The site is the brainchild of two Broadway actors: James “Chip” Leonard (Les Misérables) and Roger Seyer (Les Misérables, Miss Saigon). Between the two, they have over forty years of experience as professionals in theatre.
“When Roger and I were out on the National Tour of Les Misérables, I approached him about doing some sort of project together once we got back to New York,” said Leonard. “We both liked the idea of a web site with multi-media features but we weren’t sure what we wanted to do with it or what form it might take.”
Seyer remembers, “One night we were out having beers with some of the people from the company and a couple of the local stagehands, and the group started to exchange ‘war stories’ of their experiences in the business. Chip turned to me at one point and said, ‘This is it! This is what our web site should be about.’ I just started laughing because I knew he was right. We didn’t wait to get back to New York. We started working on developing the site the next day.”
In their first year the two actors have interviewed nearly a hundred actors, stagehands, dressers, musicians, management and more. “We definitely wanted this to be about everyone who works in the industry and not just the actors,” Leonard said. “The web site is about the people and not necessarily the shows they are doing. The actors usually get the attention but anybody who does this for a living knows that any show that makes it to Broadway is a major team effort.”
“We think the web site is for anybody who’s a fan of theatre,” said Seyer, “but people who are in the business, or one day hope to be, might find it of particular interest. When you hear that somebody working on Broadway is from your hometown or a town very much like it, or went to the same college as you, you feel a personal connection. And I think that that personal connection only helps to enhance the live theatre experience.”
Here are a couple of things you might want to know before you go. You will want to have a high speed internet connection to take full advantage of the site. Also if you don’t have a QuickTime 7 player on your computer you’ll need to download one before you’ll be able to view the videos. But don’t worry because you can download one for free through the web site.
Go to www.broadwayliving.com to hear “the stories of the people who live it.” In addition to the numerous features on the site, you also have the opportunity to “Join Us” to gain access to additional exclusive content not available on the regular site.
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