Come Fly Away
Twyla Tharp’s “Come Fly Away,” her musical created to Frank Sinatra, began life at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta as “Fly Away,” where it received such an enthusiastic reception that a team of Nederlanders flew down to see it for themselves and immediately decided to bring it to Broadway. The original producers were nervous about getting too much national press and losing any opportunities if it should come to New York. Knowing Twyla’s magnetic draw, I believed otherwise, and prevailed. We received mountains of national coverage including a full page article in the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and a glowing front page review from Charles Isherwood, in addition to one in the Wall Street Journal, among others. And then to herald its Broadway opening, we got a front page, another top of the fold Arts & Leisure story, a Time Magazine story, an AP piece, large stories in The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine stories, the cover of Dance Magazine. The Friday night of one of the final previews, one of the producers waved an advance copy of the coming Sunday Arts & Leisure section from The Times with a top of the fold, front page story on the show. “If you hadn’t argued with me in Atlanta, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” he said. It was one of the most important compliments that I have ever received from a client.
Country: USA
Years: 2009
Art form: Broadway
