AllThingsD » Broadway

You Can Handle the Truth: Aaron Sorkin to Appear Onstage at D10

Kara Swisher — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:30:44 +0000

Add another speaker to the stellar list for the 10th D: All Things Digital conference, which is taking place in a little more than a month: Aaron Sorkin.

For those who have followed the long and award-filled career of the well-known playwright and Hollywood writer, it’s an astonishing litany of success — from “A Few Good Men” to “The West Wing” to “Moneyball” — filled with more unusually clever lines than anyone has ever penned.

But, most famously for tech, Sorkin also wrote the screenplay (and also won an Academy Award) for “The Social Network,” about the rise of Facebook and its unusual co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The film caused a lot of controversy in Silicon Valley over its depiction of Zuckerberg as an evil genius of sorts, of course, but few can argue that it was not a corker of a movie.

We are excited to talk to Sorkin about that experience, as well as his take on the state of entertainment in the digital age. He’s about to debut a new HBO show in June called “The Newsroom,” set behind the scenes at a cable news show. It deals with the massive changes roiling through the media industry and it begins, natch, with a viral video.

Sorkin is also set to make his Broadway debut as a librettist for the upcoming musical “Houdini.” And he’s also working on another new movie, based on a book about the downfall of Sen. John Edwards, which he’ll adapt, produce and direct.

Sorkin will be joined at D10 — which will be held in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., just south of Los Angeles, at the end of May — by a litany of major players in tech and media, including: Apple CEO Tim Cook, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz and many more.

And we still have more speakers to come, but until then, here’s the famous line from “The Social Network” — something about a billion dollars:

Mike Bloomberg Sings! With Help From Nick Jonas. (Video)

Arik Hesseldahl — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:30:56 +0000

The text message was rather urgent. “Get in your tux and get your butt down to the Hilton right now. I’ve got an open seat at my table.”

Quick as a wink, I got in my tux and hailed a cab for midtown Manhattan. That message from a friend who shall not be named was how I ended up crashing the 2012 Inner Circle Show, an annual New York ritual where members of the city’s press corps put on an impressive musical roast of the local, regional and national political elite since 1922. It’s a big black-tie affair, and an invite is not easy to get.

The highlight of the night is always the Mayor’s Rebuttal. Last year, Mayor Mike Bloomberg flew around the stage as Spider-Man, taking advantage of the infamous buzz that plagued that Broadway show back then.

As you’ve probably figured out, Mayor Mike doesn’t do anything small. Being the 20th-richest person the world — worth some $22 billion via his majority ownership of the financial data and media company that bears his name — has its perks. One of them is the ability to hire the cast of a hit Broadway show to help make you look good on stage. (Full disclosure: I worked for that company for about a year before taking this job.)

This year, Bloomberg hired what must have been the majority of the cast of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” including its current headliner, Nick Jonas, a.k.a. “the cute Jonas Brother,” and also longtime Hollywood actor Beau Bridges.

Naturally, there were a lot of references to local political chatter. In the skit, Bloomberg bans coffee at City Hall — a reference to his administration’s war on nasty food ingredients like trans fats and salt — touching off a drama among city employees. He also quizzes the presidents of Cornell and Stanford University on their knowledge of New York — a quiz Stanford fails, prompting her to walk out. It’s a reference to a real-world competition between the two to develop a technology hub on Roosevelt Island, and yes, Stanford really did walk away. And of course there were plenty of references to Lady Gaga, whom Bloomberg famously kissed on New Year’s Eve.

Below is a six-minute highlight reel of Bloomberg’s production, which ran a good 30 minutes or more. The fun lasted well into the wee hours this morning. Hilton security guards shut down a crowded after-party in a penthouse suite at about 2:30 am. (I crashed that, too, again with the help of the friend who shall not be named.) One wonders if Bloomberg can be coaxed into a reprise when he hits the stage at our D10 conference in May. We can at least hope!

BoomTown Visits AOL's NYC HQ on Eve of Spinoff: CEO Tim Armstrong's Fabulous Cheekbones and More!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:38:11 +0000

BoomTown is in Manhattan today and my No. 1 stop had to be the AOL HQ downtown.

The iconic Internet company–which has gone through more lives than a dozen cats–is poised tomorrow to officially spin off from Time Warner (TWX) in yet another episode of the longest running corporate soap opera on the Web.

Less than a decade ago, AOL was the most powerful Internet property in the world, its dominance culminating in a merger with the media giant that was touted as the next big thing.

Well, it was certainly a thing.

As everyone knows, the union did not turn out well, and now, after years of struggling within Time Warner, AOL is being let free to resume its journey alone.

It will start trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “AOL.”

I am about to head out to a party for AOL on Wall Street tonight and will also be there when AOL rings the opening bell in the morning, after which investors will cast their vote on its fate. (I’ll post on all that next.)

Until then, here is a video tour I did this afternoon at AOL HQ on Broadway, including an interview with CEO Tim Armstrong–whose Don Draper executive cheekbones are admired by partners and rivals alike–as the former Google (GOOG) exec heads into the big day:

[ See post to watch video ]

Apple Builds Massive Glass Jai-Alai Court in New York

John Paczkowski — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:16:37 +0000

When it opens Nov. 14, Apple’s new Upper West Side store in Manhattan will be the company’s 280th worldwide, but it won’t be the newest store in the Apple empire for long. The company plans to open 40 to 50 more in 2010, some in locations like London, Paris and Shanghai.

A few of these will be what Apple (AAPL) refers to as “significant stores,” outlets that are striking in both appearance and location. With its 45-foot tall stone walls, vast glass ceiling and beacon that some say is “brighter than anything on Broadway,” the Upper West Side store certainly qualifies as that–as does Apple’s newly opened store at the Louvre in Paris.

Given their architecture and locales, these “significant stores” come with some equally significant expenses. But evidently, they’re worth it. According to Ron Johnson, Apple’s senior vice president of retail, annual revenue per store is now around $26 million. Altogether, Apple’s stores posted revenue of $1.87 billion in the September quarter, nine percent more than last year and their highest level ever.

[Image Credit: Matt Buchanan/Gizmodo, Flickr]

"Come to Think of It, eBay"–Is That a Killer Ad Motto or a Desperate Plea for Attention? (Plus Old Commericals!)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:10:59 +0000

BoomTown–fresh from slapping around six graders caught in a Bing stupor and commenting on the use of restaurant-seeking vampires by Microsoft (MSFT)–is also not quite sure what to think of another new advertising campaign from an Internet giant.

This time, it is coming from eBay (EBAY).

With the tagline, “Come to Think of It, eBay,” the ads start today, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, to “boost its standing as a holiday shopping destination.”

Interestingly, the new marketing campaign in print, television and online–the first for the Web commerce giant in 18 months–has been crafted by San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which has also just nabbed the lead role in the $100 million advertising campaign by Yahoo (YHOO).

Goodby, owned by the Omnicom Group (OMC), is known for its innovative ideas and has done such memorable campaigns as the Slowsky turtles for Comcast (CMCSA), the weird folk of Emerald Nuts, owned by Diamond Foods (DMND)–as well as campaigns for tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Netflix (NFLX).

Still, Goodby might be getting a little too cute here, because “Come to Think of It” could remind consumers exactly how much they have forgotten about eBay.

At best, “come to think of it” is a double-edged sword.

In a good scenario: “Come to think of it, I really haven’t listened to my ‘Frampton Comes Alive’ album in forever and I really want to hear it again.”

In a bad scenario: “An old girlfriend of mine is trying to friend me on Facebook–but, come to think of it, she was pretty freaky and I am very scared she found me again.”

You get the idea! Come to think of it: Play at home!

Actually, according to the Journal story, Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay’s marketplace operations, is pushing a different meaning of the phrase: “to shift the buyer perception of what eBay is today.”

The San Jose, Calif.-based company has to shift perceptions since it has seen its core marketplace business suffer, even as it has advertised less.

Here’s a video of one of the new ads, as well as some past ones–all of which include an unusual amount of Broadway-style singing, dancing and egregiously fabulous frolicking for a company led by then-CEO Meg Whitman.

But, come to think of it, Meg: Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

And, I could not resist adding at the end Weird Al Yankovic’s funny parody song about eBay, with video clips synched.

Enjoy:

“Come to Think of It, eBay”:

[ See post to watch video ]

“On eBay”:

“That’s on, eBay”:

“Do It, eBay”:

“Found It on eBay” by Weird Al Yankovic:

Boylemania, Part II: TV to Internet to TV to Internet…

Kara Swisher — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:00:13 +0000

Susan Boyle’s sensational television singing performance jumped from that medium to become a viral Internet hit, fueling more television that is, of course, headed to the Internet again.

Who says old and new media can’t work together?

For example, one of many online now, here’s the 47-year-old Scottish woman–who bowled over everyone watching the TV show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”–in an interview on “The Early Show” on CBS (CBS) yesterday morning.

Try to ignore the cloying discomfort of the interviewers, who don’t know what to make of the antimedia stylings of Boyle, who can nonetheless sing like nothing else.

She does just that in the first clip, aiming to please dopey CBS talking heads in a song she is going to have to sing a zillion times from now on.

And then, in the second, she got to chat via phone with Broadway legend Patty LuPone, who first sang “I Dreamed a Dream.”

Of course, LuPone watched Boyle’s rendition via Google (GOOG) video service YouTube, and Boyle was genuinely thrilled to be talking to LuPone.

The YouTube official version of the original TV performance is now at 15.6 million views.

Here are the CBS videos:

Watch CBS Videos Online