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When Advance Entertainment's Fred Schnitzer met with the producers of Cabaret and Burn This, their enthusiasm for his innovative company had him walking on air. But he soon came down to earth when, because of scheduling or resistance by theater owners, they opted not to use his ticket service.
Tiny Advance Entertainment has spent the past year trying to persuade Broadway to try a new approach to selling tickets: telemarketing. But the company's struggled because Broadway, despite nine dark houses and attendance that's dropped nearly 3 million since its peak in the early 1980s, remains resistant to aggressive marketing.
Broadway blockbusters like The Phantom of the Opera, with its $17 million advance, are getting the press buildup, but such productions color the theater scene far rosier than it really is. "Advance Entertainment is trying to give plays, those that aren't megahits, enough advance audience and revenue so if there are mixed reviews, the word-of-mouth will keep the play around," says Mr. Schnitzer, who co-founded Advance Entertainment New York with Joanne Zippel.
Part of the theater world, particularly off-Broadway, lauds Advance Entertainment for mounting one of the most innovative, if unproven, efforts to sell tickets.
"It's actually trying to sell a show," says Robert Donnalley, a producer who used Advance Entertainment to sell seats for his play A Shayna Maidel. "And the key in any show is to get people in during the beginning of the run."
There are a few other Broadway innovators. This week, the producer of Carrie will demonstrate Teleticket, a computer system whereby Broadway tickets, hotels and air fare can all be booked and packaged. In addition, for the past five years Broadway's Circle in the Square...