High School Musical - The Concert to go on tour
The Disney Channel`s ‘High School Musical’ has already conquered TV and music, and now it is expanding to yet another medium. The film`s cast kicked off a full-scale North American tour Nov. 29 at San Diego`s ipayOne Center, and nearly every show has sold out in advance, according to AEG Live senior vice president Debra Rathwell, whose company is producing the 40-city trek.
The ‘High School Musical’ soundtrack has been the top seller of 2006 so far, having shifted 3.3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. As such, it was no surprise the ipayOne Center was “staffing up opening night as big as we`ve ever staffed for merchandise,” GM Ernie Hahn says.
High School Musical: The Concert was booked by Creative Artist Agency`s Jeff Frasco, who also booked fellow Disney act the Cheetah Girls` current arena jaunt. He says Disney has recently found a profitable synergy among its TV network, record company and radio station.
Those tools will all be used to promote the High School Musical tour, says Chip McLean, senior vice president of business development/business affairs at Buena Vista Music Group. The company teamed with the Disney Channel to produce a ‘Disney 365′ promotional program featuring the cast rehearsing for the tour, which will air in early December. “It`s a program largely based on letting people know we`ve got the tour coming to their town,” he says.
The Disney Channel is working with TV affiliates in local markets for tour contests and promos, he adds.
AEG Live is also tapping into Disney`s promotional arms to market the tour, for which tickets range from $35 to $55. And while the target audience is 6- to 14-year-olds, newspaper ads are being utilized to draw in parents who could also potentially attend, Rathwell says.
