Just spent a week in New York City on a Road Scholar educational program about Broadway Theater.
In addition to talks with multiple production personnel and an actor, we saw live performances of The Lion King, Ragtime and a show in preview, Marcel on the Train. Disney’s Lion King is in its 25th season, the longest continuous performance on Broadway. An example of an innovative, instant and long standing theoretical success.
The 40 authorized Broadway stages are the peak of the theater industry in America, a business that achieved national standing around the turn of the century. I believe there is much to learn from Broadway success that is relevant for coops.
Key Success Factors For Broadway and Credit Unions
While credit unions in consumer finance and theater’s live entertainment serve very different needs, success in both fields depends on the same three factors: collaboration, community and creativity (innovation).
From high school class plays to college drama departments to the professional stage, every theatrical production is an extensive collaboration of individuals with diverse skills. American University’s (AU) theater department’s recent production of Oklahoma showcased this artistic foundation.
It had eleven leads or main roles backed up with male and female dance and singing ensembles of twenty members. With the six orchestra members, the total performers seen by the audience was 37.
However the list of the creative and production teams was just as long. In addition to director and choreographer roles, there were individuals responsible for Solo Tap Choreographer, Vocal Coach, Fight Director, Intimacy Director, Scenic Design, Wardrobe Crew, Stage manager and two dozen more artistic support positions.
In our New York course, we learned that concept to stage can take anywhere from four to eight years for new shows such as Hamilton or Operation Mincemeat. A revival will require a year or two depending on the production changes.
At every phase of development, the people behind the scenes far outnumber the performers on stage. And that doesn’t include the business, university or 501 C3 non profit organizations backing the artistic undertaking.
A Community Enterprise
To mount a live theatrical performance requires an artistic community plus an external audience (market) hat will be interested in the play’s themes and become supporters.
Oklahoma was Rogers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration. It premiered in 1943 at the height of WW II. The musical was set in 1905 right before Oklahoma achieved statehood. The musical reflects a moment when community was essential for survival. Daily life required cooperation, shared labor and mutual dependence.
One song that illustrates the tension between individual and community well being is The Farmer and the Cowman. It includes this democratic assertion, I don’t say I’m no better than anybody else; but I’ll be damned if I ain’t just as good.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31BI33T9yTI)
When Oklahoma first opened the the public was living in an era of uncertainty and collective sacrifice. Oklahoma offered a vision of America built on shared responsibility and thriving community interaction, not personal dominance.
The third factor in theatrical success is creativity. While the public in the Tony awards will celebrate an individual’s role, the final result is always a collaborative effort that has resonated with a community of followers and critics.
A theatrical success is timely, with events and characters that resonate in the present, as well as timeless appeal across generations. Oklahoma captures the buoyant optimism that is America in its opening song, O what a Beautiful Morning. It includes a memorable phrase of boundless hope: all the sounds of the earth are like music.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks5TgRRhqvw)
Relevance for Credit unions
Both cooperatives and theater emerged as industries around the turn of the twentieth century. One spoke to the need for economic justice; the other to the growing search for a national artistic identity.
Both of those needs are present today, if not more so. The same organizational capabilities that created these successful enterprises are still essential today:
- How are the many elements of internal and external collaboration brought together?
- What is the community whose needs are the focus of your efforts?
- Is the message timeless, created for the present but also expressing enduring values?
Credit unions and theater come in many sizes and complexities. Both are much more than businesses pursuing financial sustainability. They uniquely rely on and energize local communities. In an era of social divisions and individual isolation, Oklahoma shows us how community is formed, challenged and celebrated.
In Saturday’s final performance, the audience of AU students, friends and family, applauded and screamed with joy for what they had experienced. From a play created three generations earlier. And whose message is ageless.
In the show’s finale you can feel once more the exuberance of this unique creative collaboration. Here’s hoping your performance today will leave your audience feeling as good!