[title of show] is a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical.  It explores the difficulties of creating art in a commercial world.

In the show, composer Jeff Bowen and book writer Hunter Bell chronicle the creation of their musical, its entrance into the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival, its 2006 Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre, and its 2008 Broadway run at the Lyceum Theatre.  During each production of [title of show], the musical was updated to include event from the previous run.

The [title of show] Show
After the Off-Broadway run, Hunter and Jeff announced that [title of show] was going to Broadway on YouTube.  Through a 14 episode web series, the cast documented their quest to bring [title of show] to Broadway.  The series allowed fans to follow the story of the musical from the Vineyard to the Lyceum, introducing transmedia narrative to the theater.  Check out the Pilot Episode below.

The [title of show] Show follows the same format as the musical; the theme song Hunter and Jeff compose in the first episode appears at the beginning of the second episode.  The series also exposes the back stage conversations of the filming process.  Episode 3 begins with footage captured when the camera was left on at the end of the second Episode 2.  In another episode, the cast discusses what to do for following episode.  The first episode is reenacted in the Broadway incarnation of the musical.

Nine People’s Favorite Thing
[title of show] also reached out to fans on YouTube to collaborate on a music video.  600 fans were each assigned one word from a song in the show and took a picture illustrating the lyric.  Watch the video below to see the final video!

[title of show] has very committed fans that helped to spread the word about the The [title of show] Show and the Broadway transfer.  Popular shows like Wicked have dedicated fans that collaborate on message boards and write fan fiction.  Could you see Wicked elaborating on the back-story of The Wizard of Oz through digital media?  What other productions could use transmedia narrative?