Pollstar (11/18/19) Speer, Deborah

Many popular entertainment properties originally created for one medium are being adapted for other platforms, like the hit Canadian TV series "Schitt's Creek" repurposed as a live stage show. Other properties making transitions to live spaces include the podcast "2 Dope Queens" and the cartoon "Scooby-Doo." The "Schitt's Creek: Up Close And Personal" production is selling 4,147 tickets on average and grossing $300,903 per show. The "2 Dope Queens" stage show at New York's Kings Theater also proved a hit, and general manager Tyler Bates says the format of the podcast "was standup meets the two [performers] being hilarious and having a guest person that they interviewed." The high-tech "Scooby-Doo" show will incorporate animatronic puppets, three-dimensional mapping, projections and holograms produced by the Monlove production design company. Monlove founder Ella Louise Allaire says the technology allows the show to have 20 distinct sets, "and to take the audience on the journey as well." Meanwhile, innovations in computer, TV and cinema sound systems mean sound significantly differs across venues, and live productions must account for this difference. "With live, you're dealing with front-of-house sound and, depending on what the venue is, you're constantly battling with the equalization within the facility — whether it's a room or an arena," notes The Recording Academy President Harvey Mason Jr.

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