Like Me – The Social Media Musical: crowd funding its way to Broadway
Two British writers are intending to take their social-media themed musical all the way to Broadway with the help of… social media.
The Indiegogo fund-raising campaign aims to raise $32,140 to fund an Investor Showcase in New York
Garry Lake (Music & Lyrics) and Jon Smith (Book/Libretto) are the writing team behind Like Me – The Social Media Musical a four-hand, full-book musical that tackles the topic of social media head on. Funny, touching and timely, Like Me shows how reliant we’ve all become on social media and how we live our digital lives often in stark contrast to our real world personae.
In what is both a social experiment and a funding lifeline, the two British writers have self-funded script development of the show with five development workshops in both the UK and United States, culminating with a sell-out performance at London’s Waterloo East Theatre in April 2015. With their hopes now very much set on Broadway, the duo have turned to social media and crowd-funding as a way to garner exposure for the material and raise the funds required to mount a showcase in the heart of New York’s theatre district.
Asked about the campaign Jon Smith commented, “Crowd-funding is an exciting way to raise capital and generate exposure for creative projects. Rather than approaching corporates or established producers and persuading them to commit large amounts of money to a project, which often becomes marred in negotiations, contracts and red tape we wanted to appeal to actual theatre goers who would be interested in seeing our show.”
Like Me – The Social Media Musical is the first musical to explore the worldwide phenomenon of social media.
To learn more about this exciting, current and topical new musical, the Investor Showcase on Broadway and the Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign… click through to the campaign
Garry Lake added, “Breaking in to Broadway with new writing is never easy, but our crowd-funding campaign, along with our website and our established social media presence will show future investors that the project already has a large following who are prepared to make a personal investment in this show – not just a ‘like’ but an actual cash investment. These contributors aren’t just potential future ticket buyers – they’re super fans and champions of new writing. With that sort of commitment and passion channelled on social media, exciting things happen.”
Like Me will be presented on Broadway to an invited audience of potential investors and production partners, July 2015. During its development history from song cycle to full-book musical, in both London and New York, the show has attracted the performing talents of CRYSTAL MOSSER, MIG AYESA, DEONE ZANOTTO, CHARLIE LEVY, REBECCA FAULKENBERRY, TRACY MCDOWELL, OLIVER THOMPSETT, RACHAEL WOODING, ASHLEIGH GREY, CARL MULLANEY, LUCIE JONES, SARAH FRENCH-ELLIS, JACK SHALLOO, GEORGINA HAGEN, JAKE SMALL and ROSS WILLIAM WILD.
CREATIVE TEAM
Music & Lyrics GARRY LAKE | Book/Libretto JON SMITH | Choreographer REBECCA HOWELL | Musical Director JAMES DOUGHTY | Stage Designer HOWARD LLOYD | Sound Designer GARETH TUCKER | Casting Director WILL BURTON
Indiegogo Campaign: http://igg.me/at/likememusical/x/8823043
Twitter: @likeme_me
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/likememusical
Web: www.likememusical.com







