son of a gun and singingbackup, thank you both for those links and info! I've made a donation button link from Greg's web site for the BILLY ELLIOT show team.
In the Heights - signed posters and playbills. Scarves knitted by castmembers. Paper cubes made out of playbill inserts.
Equus - also signed posters and playbills. Not sure if they're doing this every night but on Sat. night, they auctioned off a signed My Little Pony and it went for $900!
Equus items are unfortunately, in my opinion, way too much. Complete cast signed posters are $250 (the most expensive BCEFA item out there) and signed playbills that are signed by only Daniel and Richard are $100 (yes you read that correctly). With the current state of the economy, I personally feel that those prices are too high. I splurged and bought the poster because now the only people that sign after the show are Daniel and Richard. I figured that the posters for this show would be closer to $100 or maybe even a little over...never ever expected $250.
Any show that is not in previews will participate in BCEFA...so the new bigger shows like Shrek and Billy Elliot will not be participating until the spring. As far as prices go, signed posters for the other shows are probably between $40-60 with the few exceptions like Little Mermaid which was $75 and In the Heights which was $100. I hope Young Frankenstein doesn't continue to sell their posters for $100 since Sutton, Megan, and Andrea have left...who knows.
I also thought the EQUUS windowcards were really high priced. I expected about $100. Also, I dont know how other posters feel, but sometimes after an intense show like EQUUS or SEAGULL, it really breaks the mood to for the actors to go right into the hawking of merchandise. I sometimes feel like a stage manager or chorus should come out. Seeing Daniel Radcliffe acting like Vanna White and bouncing around while I was still reeling from the show was a little disconcerting. I would have walked out (for those of you who would tell me to just leave) but I couldnt get out-it was too crowded and I was too close to the front of the theatre.)
It's not that I so bothered by it, but it certainly interrupts some of the more intense, visceral responses to theatre that are there when you go out and wander into the street after a performance still with your suspension of disbelief intact.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
Sunday matinee at Equus...only the poster and the playbill were available.
They take turns with the pitch...no one has to do it that doesn't want to. Didn't bother me at all...kind of lightened things up before heading out actually.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
There were no signed Seagull posters the night I was there-only signed Playbills for $50. I didnt even see windowcards for sale at the Kerr.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
Hairspray has a lot of great stuff. Signed posters, signed autograph books, signed hairspray bottles (which were adorable), and jelly bracelets. There may have been a couple more items, they had quite a few things on sale. Also, the best part was that everything was reasonably priced. The majority of the items were $20 and under.
Equus was still selling them at the same price as of this past Sunday matinee. I don't know why their stuff is so much, how many posters can they sell at $250? If it had been $100 or maybe even $150 I'd have bought one, but as it was I was so annoyed at the price I didn't even put any money in the bucket on the way out as I would normally have done (I'll still contribute, just at another show with less ridiculous prices).
I'm not sure what signed stuff, if any, Spamalot is selling, but on the days they do something (I was there Sunday night and they weren't collecting at all) you can get photos with some of the cast. I heard the cost varies depending if Clay is doing them or not ($20 when he's not there, $50 or $100 if he is).
I didn't see anything on Saturday, but I also wasn't looking very hard.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad