Theatre PRs — or publicists, as they call them on Broadway - play an even bigger role in managing the media there they do over here. And they have wider responsibilities to do so - it’s their job, for instance, to keep the programmes (Playbills) updated, which - since they are printed weekly - is a constant task. So while London theatre PR offices are typically a handful of people, at the most, if not one-man (or woman) operations, New York’s biggies - in particular, the two mega-agencies, Boneau/Bryan-Brown and Barlow-Hartman - seemingly have armies of publicists and assistants; and do an amazing job at it, too.
But now this behind-the-scenes function, which is already accorded a place on the title page of the Playbill and poster, is not only moving into the spotlight but above the marquee itself, with the news yesterday that a Broadway house is being named after a Broadway publicist for the first time, with the brother and sister-in-law of the late Sam Friedman using funds from a foundation they established to donate a substantial sum of money to Manhattan Theatre Club to re-name their Broadway house, the Biltmore, in his honour.
There’s nothing new to rich people buying and selling honours - just ask Tony Blair - but on Broadway, the commercialisation of the naming game is taking on new levels.
There’s already the Hilton (formerly the Ford, itself a commercial naming) and the American Airlines Theatre (formerly the Selwyn). And then there are the “vanity” naming of two Shubert houses after two of their long-serving executives, Gerald Schoenfeld (what used to be the Plymouth) and the Bernard B Jacobs (the Royale).
And as part of the deal at the Biltmore, now soon to be the Friedman, two of his long-time associates, Shirley Herz and Bob Ullman, will have a lobby in the theatre named after them. The West End hasn’t quite caught this bug yet, though bars at the Piccadilly and Apollo Theatres are now named for American Airlines, so it may yet catch on.
So I’m starting to wonder where it could lead. While Cameron Mackintosh has already honoured Ivor Novello and Noel Coward in re-naming the Strand and Albery in their honour, could Wyndham’s, currently being refurbished under his auspices, soon become the Nick Allot Theatre? And let’s not stop there: we could also have the Peter Thompson Bar, in honour of Mackintosh’s long-time PR; the Sue Uings box office; the Anthony Pye-Jeary leaflet rack; the Thomas Mann souvenir brochure counter; the Howard Harrison lighting box; the Uncle Bob West stage door; the Rosie Runciman archive corridor; the Michael Le Poer Trench photographic display and the Trevor Jackson gents.
And let’s spread it across the West End. Ambassador Theatre Group could happily re-name a theatre for Rosemary Squire. The Howard Panter power handshake could be offered to customers as they arrived. Really Useful Theatres could name their (lack of) air conditioning in honour of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The box office would, naturally, become the Edwin Shaw.
And I just can’t wait to see the name Andre Ptaszynski over the entrance to Drury Lane (at least the front entrance is large enough to fit all the letters in, though whether customers who try to book tickets for it on the phone might have difficult pronouncing it). The Nimax group - whose name is itself already a tribute to co-founders Nica Burns (Ni) and Max Weitzenhoffer (Max) - the collapsing seats in the Vaudeville naturally have to be called the Charlie Spencers; and the quotes boards, soon to start quoting the public instead of critics, the Scacchi’s.
Over at the National - now renamed the Hytner — we will get the Michael Straughan box office (we do anyway, but let’s make it official); the Lucinda Morrison information desk; the Angus MacKechnie Theatre Square forecourt; the Bob Crowley flytower; the Tom Morris Green room and the Nick Starr stage door.
This could be fun. We could even go further afield — how about the Susannah Clapp “found” space for the location of the next Punchdrunk show? At Chichester, we need to have the Ruth Mackenzie champagne bar - and they can raise a toast to her with every drink served for securing the funding the theatre now has. Forget Samuel French Ltd - who is he, anyway? - let’s call it the Vivien Goodwin Bookshop. Suggestions for more on a postcard, please… or rather, post them below!
A few years ago in Edinburgh, when the Assembly Rooms was in dire crisis and offering to name anything and everything on the premises in return for donations, I made a bid for the underside of one of the tables in the club bar, but it wasn't accepted.