Rodgers' Romance at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA

Theater: Act II Playhouse, Ambler, PA
Show Title: Rodgers' Romance
Opened: June 13, 2007
Seen: June 20, 2007
Reviewer: Charlie Seymour Jr
Submitted: June 20, 2007

I made a promise to my staff NOT to take on ONE more project - believe me, I won't be reviewing theater.

It's not that I don't have opinions about how theater should be performed. It's not that I fear reviewing productions (Holley Webster did it for YEARS even as she published Stage, the monthly newsletter with theater listings and audition notices). It's not that I'm uncomfortable writing.

Truth is: I have ENOUGH things to do with StageMagazineOnline.com and need to keep my focus on selling empty seats for our Member Theaters and giving our Individual Members the Theater Community Connected By The Internet they keep requesting!

But in this case, I wanted to share some thoughts.

Act II is a delightful venue in the beautiful small town of Ambler in the Philadelphia suburbs. It was MUCH easier to get to than I had remembered and MUCH closer to Rt. 309 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It was VERY easy to get to and the parking behind the building makes it easy to park, get a bite to eat before a show, or a drink after.

I met with DMK, the Managing Director before the show (which he conceived, created, directed, and stage managed… I guess he likes to be busy!). We chatted for 79 minutes about marketing, creating value in a theater, selling seats, selecting productions and then going out and getting an audience, and much more that will affect all the theaters I work with here.

And he has some very creative ideas which he and I will be sharing with you over the next 12 months. To say we had high energy flowing in their very comfortable lounge area (above the lobby) is an understatement.

And then I met Stephen Blumenthal, the Producing Artistic Director (and founder of Act II). I knew a fair amount about his background because we feature Steve as a Legend in Theater in our recorded interview section on our site, but I wasn't prepared for his strength, energy, and charisma with his audience. They love this guy… and I can see why.

As I get invited to see more of our Member Theaters, I'll share more information with you. It's clear that Steve and DMK have some terrific marketing plans for next season (and we've already seen other Philadelphia-area theaters "borrowing" some of their ideas when it came time to market their own productions).

Together we can sell all those seats: our audiences are hungry for great theater, so let's sell it to them!

Charlie Seymour Jr
Founder / Chief Marketing Director
StageMagazineOnline.com