{"id":7387,"date":"2016-09-09T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=7387"},"modified":"2018-08-08T12:05:55","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T16:05:55","slug":"the-pr-man-of-hamilton-sam-rudy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2016\/09\/09\/the-pr-man-of-hamilton-sam-rudy\/","title":{"rendered":"The PR Man of ‘Hamilton’: Sam Rudy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of creativecommons.org.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam Rudy sat in the second row of New York\u2019s Public Theater, waiting for the show to begin. The head of Sam Rudy Media Relations, a company that has overseen productions such as \u201cAvenue Q,\u201d \u201cThe Last Ship\u201d<\/span> and \u201cRodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s Cinderella\u201d had been invited there by producer Jeffrey Seller to review a production that needed publicity help<\/span>. <\/span><\/i>The production, in its second week of previews, was a musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rudy said he knew he wanted to be involved as soon as he heard one of the musical\u2019s opening lines, \u201cHe got a lot farther \/ by being a lot smarter \/ by being a self-starter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI started thinking, \u2018They didn\u2019t say that in the 1700\u2019s?\u2019\u201d Rudy said. \u201cI thought, \u2018Something that was that clever and catchy and in the 21<\/span>st<\/span> century vernacular is going to be terrific.\u2019 I still have that [thought], a year and a half later.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since moving to New York City after college \u2014 a goal he\u2019d had since age 11 \u2014 Rudy has used his passion for theater to build a press company with a stellar list of Broadway credits. He developed his passion for theater in college, where he worked in stage management and was elected president of a collegiate theater group for students outside of the theater department. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI got turned on by the camaraderie,\u201d Rudy said. \u201cWorking with people interested in theater and performing arts is exciting. Creating something over and over again and being in the room when people experience it is a beautiful, wonderful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After several summers working on press campaigns for the professional theater program, Rudy made the move to New York City where he worked with his mentor, press agent Shirley Herz, for 20 years before founding his own firm 15 years ago. Today, Rudy said, Broadway\u2019s brand is stronger than ever. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBroadway is what everyone wants,\u201d Rudy said. \u201cIt\u2019s an ultimate achievement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Working with \u201cHamilton,\u201d Rudy has had a front-row seat to the production\u2019s unprecedented success with both fans and the press. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou always hope that your show has an appeal that reaches past the arts and culture pages, so you\u2019re trying to get people from other sections to cover it,\u201d Rudy said. \u201cWith \u2018Hamilton,\u2019 it\u2019s all there: the page, the stage, the ideas, the presentation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As the show passes the one-year mark on Broadway, Rudy said that its initial interest has done anything but die down as it prepares to launch a production in Chicago in September, with a national tour scheduled to begin in 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLots of our day is telling people we don\u2019t have tickets for them,\u201d Rudy said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing lots of scheduling to make a new push for Chicago and make sure that [the Chicago cast] names are being promoted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside the theater community, Rudy said the show\u2019s broad wingspan has allowed it to form unique partnerships, such as a \u201cHamilton\u201d day with the U.S. Coast Guard to celebrate Coast Guard Day on Aug. 4 and a 100-page special edition of Newsweek about Alexander Hamilton titled \u201cThe Man and the Musical\u201d launching Sept. 24. <\/span><\/p>\n

For students and practitioners, Rudy said that in this \u201ccomplex, multi-faceted job\u201d it\u2019s crucial to build trusting relationships with the members of the press and be able to work with deadlines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou need them to work with you,\u201d Rudy said. \u201cDon\u2019t lead them down a dead end. Writers are always on deadline, which means sometimes we have to rush.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rudy also noted the importance of creating an open dialogue between producers and management to make a production commercially appealing while remaining true to the artist\u2019s intentions. These dialogues provide a great opportunity to form relationships with playwrights over the course of one\u2019s career, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic relations will sit down with the artist and say, \u2018Tell us the story you want us to tell,\u2019\u201d Rudy said. \u201cIt\u2019s helpful for us and them to have this dialogue. It\u2019s a set of conversations and exchange of ideas about what the play is and how to get people to see it. Reviews don\u2019t sell tickets anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

For public relations students across all disciplines, Rudy said that opportunities for writing and internships are important. However, he noted that for anyone interested in theater or performing arts, Broadway provides a prime opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Drew Pendleton is a senior at The University of Alabama (UA) majoring in public relations and Spanish. He is currently the editorial director for <\/span><\/i>Platform Online Magazine<\/span><\/i><\/a>, the freelance editor for Mosaic Magazine and the director of media relations content creation for Capstone Agency, the university\u2019s Student-run Firm. He serves as the publications committee leader for UA\u2019s PRSSA Chapter. Connect with him on Twitter <\/span><\/i>@drew_pendleton<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>LinkedIn<\/span><\/i><\/a> or by email at <\/span><\/i>ampendleton1@crimson.ua.edu<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Rudy sat in the second row of New York\u2019s Public Theater, waiting for the show to begin. The head of Sam Rudy Media Relations, a company that has overseen productions such as \u201cAvenue Q,\u201d \u201cThe Last Ship\u201d and \u201cRodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s Cinderella\u201d had been invited there by producer Jeffrey Seller to review a production that needed publicity help. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2558,2557,40,2570,2569],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7389,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7387\/revisions\/7389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}