Broadway Producers Launch On-Demand Streaming of Stage Shows

Two Broadway producers have launched BroadwayHD, an on-demand service that will stream recorded theatre productions as Netflix and Hulu have been doing for broadcast media, according to Variety.

The service was created by Tony Award-winning Broadway producers Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley.

The initial 100-plus offerings include Broadway productions of Romeo and Juliet, starring Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad; Jekyll & Hyde, starring David Hasselhoff; and Memphis, with more to come. Many in the initial lineup are from Broadway Worldwide's Direct From Broadway library and from London shows, which are recorded more frequently than Broadway or Off-Broadway productions.

Viewers can pay to watch a specific show, or can buy subscriptions by the month or by the year.

Lane told Mashable.com that there are no plans to compete directly with running shows. "We don’t want to, and we’re not going to be able to, compete against the actual experience, the communal experience of sitting in a theater and laughing with a group of people and seeing live performers onstage. But you can get a sense of it [with BroadwayHD] because you are seeing it in real time. It’s not a movie or a TV show, it’s real actors on stage, sweating and spitting and dancing their hearts out."