Diana Blauvelt, a community college professor in northern New Jersey, has seen the Broadway show Kinky Boots at least 25 times. But she had never gone backstage or met the cast until last month.
After receiving a behind-the-scenes tour from Carrie St. Louis, the actress playing the character Lauren, the way Diana approaches Broadway shows has been forever changed.
“My feeling is that if you do it once, it’s like getting on a roller coaster: You have to do it again,” she says.
Blauvelt’s experience was made possible by Broadway Plus, which provides customers with VIP experiences for the hottest shows in New York.
Founder Nathaniel Hill has identified a gap in the market for customized vacations, especially amid the rise of social media and the popular desire to showcase unique trips.
“Seeing a show is awesome, but I work with a lot of tourists, and they’re only in New York for a short period of time,” he says. “I just thought there was a demand for more.”
Hill is using his connections with the New York theater world to offer a range of customized backstage experiences for clients through Broadway Plus, along with the granting of wishes for Make A Wish Foundation kids.
Through the Broadway Plus website, customers can book a meet-and-greet experience with Vanessa Carlton, who’s starting in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical this summer, for $500 per person (including tickets). There’s also a Rock of Ages offering for $299, a Chicago VIP experience for $400, and a Disney on Broadway private tour for $300, which involves a behind-the-scenes look at the New Amsterdam Theater, the Disney headquarters on Broadway and current home to Aladdin. Prices all include tickets to the respective shows. “If you look at what the face value[s] of tickets are, it’s not much more, and you’re getting so much more than just the show,” Blauvelt says. For instance, a Friday night orchestra level ticket to Beautiful costs about $150.
But the website offerings are just the beginning—you can request a custom experience for a different show not listed on the website. Using his contacts in the theater business, Hill says he can most often make it happen—for a price, of course.
“Ninety-five percent of the tours are private to the family that is doing the experience,” he says. “My whole business is making people feel really special and amazing.”