Souvenir Programs Vs. Playbills

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 4:20pm

Once upon a time, I thought souvenir programs sold at shows were ridiculous. My logic was, "Why should I buy one when I get a Playbill for free?"

Lately, though, I've been taking a serious interest in them. I love their full-color photos, glossy material, and production fun facts. Of course, the three I have (A Christmas Carol, Nice Work, and Waitress) I purchased at a discount.

Do you think souvenir programs are worth their normal price? Any favorites? In your opinion, how do they compare to Playbills?

[Justin D]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 4:24pm

regarding the cast bios and who is on, playbill is usually more accurate than the program inserts

But you cant beat the photos, I always buy one if available. can;t say what are my faves, but I can say what are come clunkers, Book of Mormon and Hairspray come to mind. Their layouts are terrible and the pics aren't all that great.

Overseas (London more recently) have just been combining the two with one program (souvenir brochure) that has includes all of the usual 'playbill' info about the cast and production credits.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 4:32pm

When I was younger, I loved them.....but I realized I never looked at them much after a week or so....so for me, it's a waste.  My kids have no interest.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 4:52pm

I only have a few that I've gotten from the Broadway Flea Market. It's mostly for the productions I've found the costumes and sets to be impressive to look back on like Shrek, Kinky Boots, Pippin, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. I like the Spamalot one, but I mostly bought that for Sara Ramirez pictures. :) 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 4:52pm

Yeah, the souvenir books are for pictures only, most of which you can find on the internet nowadays. I don't buy them.

The Playbill (or equivalent), I save.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 5:06pm

My dear friend is OBSESSED with collecting these.

I can see the appeal but I don't share his love (the free Playbill is enough for me).

[Kad]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 5:25pm

I no longer save my Playbills, except for productions that have some sort of sentimental value. I was stockpiling them and ultimately they were taking up too much space. At some point, I just saw them all as so many useless magazines.

The London programs are useful- often with essays about the production, production photos, etc. In that same vein, I love Lincoln Center's programs. They have meticulously researched and cited essays about the production's topics or themes, plus essays from the director or writers, as well as a lovely cover.  

Updated On: 5/5/17 at 05:25 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 5:30pm

Personal to Kad: just because you are one of my favorites, I'm going to share that someday you will be my age and think something like, "I know I saw Nancy Opel" in something, but I can't remember what."

That's when those old Playbills become useful.

On the other hand, I should confess I can't get my car into the garage.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 5/6/17 at 9:02am

I used to buy the program at every show i went to. It started getting too expensive. Last one I got was the Miss Saigon revival. I only got it because it was sitting on my seat opening night. I do keep all my playbills though. 

[gleek4114]

Posted: 5/6/17 at 12:29pm

I'm usually more of a window card person in terms of buying merch. I'll buy a program if:

- for some reason a poster isn't available. 

- if I'm seeing a touring cast and the producers have gone out of their way to have a new one designed with that cast (I love that I have a program full of photos of Jackie in If/Then). On this occasion if they also have a poster, I might splurge and get both.

 

I also keep the playbills as well. I'm in it for posterity. In 20 years it would be nice to look back and go "Oh I saw so and so in the ensemble/as an understudy before they got famous". I've been seeing shows since 2010, and it's already happened more times than I would've thought.

[WestCoastActor/Director]

Posted: 5/6/17 at 12:34pm

I have been collecting the souvenir problems for many many years. Before the Internet they were only way you'll get a collection of these wonderful photos to remember the show by. Now the photos are pretty easy to come by. I remember when LP albums came out and many musicals would have a open up LP cover with tons of photos. I used to cherish those.

I have realized however that my collection has become huge and I can't keep buying these all the time. So now I only buy them once in a while if the show is one of my very favorites.

One of the other issues is they don't have them early on in the run of the show.  You can usually order these but then you don't get the cast picture bio insert. Or if you do it's with the current cast not the people you saw. I remember getting the Pippin insert and it was Tovah instead of Andrea Martin who I saw.

The other issue with these souvenir programs is for touring productions. Some of them only feature of the original Broadway cast. Occasionally there are some, usually that mega hits, that have photos from the original Broadway cast, tours  and maybe other sit down locations.