Stagebill
{{Short description|American theatre magazine}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
Stagebill was a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Most copies of the publication were printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's program. It was launched as a direct rival to the highly successful monthly Playbill. But after five years of head-to-head competition with Playbill, Stagebill became insolvent and was acquired by its rival which also kept the Stagebill trademark.{{cite news| first=Robert| last=Hofler| url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117868231.html?categoryid=15&cs=1| title=Playbill corners legit market| work=Variety| publisher=variety.com| date=9 June 2002|access-date=November 14, 2013}}
History
Stagebill was launched in 1927 as a direct competition to Playbill, a highly successful publication.{{cite news|author=Philip Kennicott|title=Act II, Scene I: Stagebill Exits Limping
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2002/07/21/act-ii-scene-i-stagebill-exits-limping/3132fc6e-3453-4f0a-b67d-8c644c139d58/|access-date=15 June 2022|work=The Washington Post|date=21 July 2002}} Playbill concentrated on Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, while Stagebill positioned itself as a publication focused on concerts, opera, and dance in venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.{{cite news|title=Ask Playbill.com: Playbill® and Showbill®
|url=http://www.playbill.com/features/article/112023-ASK-PLAYBILLCOM-Playbill-and-Showbill|last=Pincus-Roth|first=Zachary|work=Playbill|date=18 October 2007|access-date=November 14, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914160319/http://www.playbill.com/features/article/112023-ASK-PLAYBILLCOM-Playbill-and-Showbill|archive-date=14 September 2013}}{{cite news|author=Edward Rothstein|title=Concert-Program Magazines Getting New Faces|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/20/arts/news-of-music-concert-program-magazines-getting-new-faces.html|access-date=April 1, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=August 20, 1981}}
B&B Enterprises, Inc. acquired Stagebill in 1969.{{cite news|author=Linda Winer|title=Stagebill: Still in the wings|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1975/04/09/page/50/article/stagebill-still-in-the-wings|accessdate=April 1, 2017|work=Chicago Tribune|date=April 9, 1975}} The company owned the magazine until 1994 when it was acquired by K-III Communications based in New York City.{{cite news|title=K-III acquires Stagebill|url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/06/06/K-III-acquires-Stagebill/4485770875200/|accessdate=April 1, 2017|work=UPI|date=June 6, 1994}}{{cite news|title=K-III Appoints Darcy Miller Donaldson Publisher of Stagebill|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/K-III+Appoints+Darcy+Miller+Donaldson+Publisher+of+Stagebill-a018548830|accessdate=April 1, 2017|work=PR Newswire|date=August 5, 1999}} In the 1990s Shira Kalish was the publisher of the magazine.{{cite news|author=Patricia Riedman|title=This magazine page is going, going, gone|url=http://adage.com/article/news/magazine-page/994/|accessdate=April 1, 2017|work=AdvertisingAge|date=April 19, 1999}} She was succeeded by Darcy Miller Donaldson in the post.
However, by the late 1990s, Playbill was extremely profitable; Stagebill was not, losing millions of dollars annually by 1998.{{cite news| first=Chris| last=Jones| title=Stagebill is sold to rival Playbill|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2002/06/10/stagebill-is-sold-to-rival-playbill/| work=Chicago Tribune| date=10 June 2002|access-date=November 14, 2013}} To increase revenue, Stagebill entered Playbill{{'}}s turf. Its first major attempt was in 1995 when The Public Theater defected to Stagebill. A bigger rift came in 1997, when Disney contracted Stagebill for its big musical production The Lion King at the newly reopened New Amsterdam Theatre.{{cite news|first1=Claude|last1=Brodesser|first2=Oliver|last2=Jones| url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117492046.html?categoryid=15&cs=1|title=Melodrama at Met| work=Variety|date=9 March 1999|accessdate=November 14, 2013}} The main point of contention in the latter case was control over advertising content. Playbill is distributed free to theaters relying on advertising revenue that is completely under its authority, whereas, per company policy, Disney required a program without cigarette or liquor ads.{{cite news|first=Jonathan|last=Mandell| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06EED71E3DF936A1575BC0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3|title=Theater's memory bank expands|work=The New York Times|date=25 August 2002| accessdate=November 14, 2013}} In response to Stagebill's upstart incursion, Playbill began to produce Showbill, a sister publication that conformed to Disney's advertising requirements for all publications distributed in its properties. Playbill responded further by producing publications for classic arts venues, aggressively courting many venues that were once Stagebill clients like the Metropolitan Opera, the Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic.
With a more aggressive policy of acquiring publicity for more performing arts venues, Playbill broke from its typical format and began publishing completely customized programs in the vein of Stagebill. This, coupled with continuing fiscal troubles of Stagebill, led to the end of it as a publishing entity. Stagebill became insolvent in summer 2002,{{cite news|author1=Michael Phillips|title=New play magazine fills Stagebill void|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2002/08/27/new-play-magazine-fills-stagebill-void/|access-date=December 22, 2016|work=Chicago Tribune|date=August 27, 2002}} and in June 2002 it was acquired by its rival Playbill which also kept the Stagebill trademark.{{cite news|authorlink1=Robert Simonson|author1=Robert Simonson|title=Playbill Acquires Publishing Rights to Rival Stagebill|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/playbill-acquires-publishing-rights-to-rival-stagebill-com-106349|accessdate=December 22, 2016|work=Playbill|date=June 7, 2002}}
References
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Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States
Category:Magazines established in 1927
Category:Magazines disestablished in 2002
Category:Defunct magazines published in New York City