Growing up in Massachusetts, Broadway press agent Caitlin Brightman wasn’t a theater kid. She and her mom would take trips to see Broadway shows, which was fun, but Brightman’s plan was to study business.
Then a local theater company reached out and said they needed someone to direct a show for kids. The success of that first show, “High School Musical Jr.,” had the kids asking what was next. It was a lightbulb moment for Brightman, who turned that one-off into a summer theater camp.
Soon, she was off to UMass Amherst to study business, but the classes only taught her that she didn’t care about business, except her summer business with local theater kids.
“I was like, ‘Well, I really do like business when it’s related to theater. I love running this theater business,’” she said. “I was, like, ‘Hmm, I wonder if I could do more of that.’”
That led to two part-time summer internships on Broadway, at Jujamcyn Theaters (now Ambassador Theater Group or ATG) and at the cabaret club 54 Below. She later interned at 101 Productions, a Broadway general management company, handling budgets and contracts, with an entirely different perspective on the business side of the business.
Connections there led her to join Broadway press agency Vivacity Media Group, founded by Leslie Papa and Whitney Holden Gore. Brightman is a publicity manager.
Caitlin Brightman’s a Broadway believer
Having made that pivot to making Broadway business her business, Brightman is all in. Her enthusiasm is infectious, a smile rarely leaves her face when she’s talking about the work she does.
“I’ve been very lucky that most of the shows that I’ve worked on I totally love,” she said. “So I’m just emailing and calling people and being like, ‘I love this show and you should love it, too!”
It’s a good thing she believes in the product.
“I always say if I did PR for cars or something I don’t care about, I think I wouldn’t be as good at my job because I wouldn’t care about what I’m trying to sell them on,” she said. “Because I’m already sold on (Broadway), I’m like, ‘You should be sold on this, too!”
3 big nights on the Broadway press rep’s year
A Broadway press rep’s year is full of big nights, Brightman said. The biggest are opening nights, the Tonys, and the competitive Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where only a few Broadway shows earn the chance to perform for a huge TV audience.
One of the most hectic days is the day of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The process begins long before November, when press representatives reach out to parade planners and begin to lobby for their shows to be among the three or four shows included in the parade. Brightman said she worked on one show that landed in the parade: “How to Dance in Ohio” in 2023.
Parade day starts early.
The cast and crew wakes up around 3 a.m. to get to their theater to get in costume and wigs. Then they take a bus to a sort of campus of trailers near Macy’s, creating a Broadway village.
One of Brightman’s many jobs that day is to make sure that everyone is where they need to be. Having to get dressed and have hair and makeup before the practice times.
It’s a hectic, exhausting day, but “you’re not doing it alone,” she said. “It’s knowing that you have good people around you who all know what’s going on, and at the end of the day, it’s not like heart surgery.”
Another opening, another show
A few days before a show opens, they “freeze” the show. This means that no more staging, music or script changes can be made. Once the show is frozen, press agents begin to invite critics and journalists to press performances before opening night. The reviews appear the day after opening night.
Opening night is a red carpet, a performance and a party. The press reps coordinate the red carpet and make sure party guests are seen to. They manage both the media and the logistics to ensure that it runs smoothly. The Vivacity team oversees the physical setup, making sure that every detail looks right.
Among Vivacity’s recent openings: “Every Brilliant Thing,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Titanique,” and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).”
Tonys are all about the carpet
By comparison, the Tony Awards are a lighter lift for press reps. It’s a TV show and the show’s director is in charge.
“So the Tonys is really hectic because we have so many people who will walk the red carpet and that is bigger than any opening night at the red carpet,” Brightman said.
“The Tonys carpet is huge because there’s just so much media that wants to cover it. It’s all the megastars who are there, so they want to be there. So that is really busy in that sense.”
A big Brightman Broadway show …
The Broadway Banner asked Vivacity’s Caitlin Brightman what makes a great Broadway show.
“I am a sucker for a big musical number. I love shows that are big and fun. I don’t love plays, honestly… I think the best shows are when you leave and you have something that you’re dying to talk about. Sometimes people think that for a Broadway show to be good it has to be really profound, but I left the Britney Spears Musical and I wanted to have a dance party.
“The best shows leave you feeling something, whether it’s joy and you want to go have a party with your friends and dance all night or I am leaving and I’m thinking I have a new perspective on life and looking back at my life and the people I love in a new way. But yeah something that makes you feel something and maybe has a big dance number in it.”
Contributing: Athena Caasi, Khloe JeanBart and Dasiel DeJesus
Leave a Reply