‘Positively Cable' Joins Cable's Fall Connection
Rare Second Helping Of Musical Comedy Geared to Cable
by Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 8/21/2009 1:46:10 PM
Cable's Fall Connection in Denver just got more entertaining.
Positively Cable, the musical revue featuring cable-industry parody songs, put on annually by the Denver chapter of Cable Positive, will return with a special edition Sunday night, Oct. 25, right after the start of the CTAM Summit.
You might say, so what, that's staged every fall. Well, not this year. This year a new show was put on in June because it was unclear there was any room in the Cable Connection: Fall calendar for a chapter event.
Positively Cable: the 2006 crew
Sean Strub, the new Cable Positive CEO, came to the Denver show in June and
loved it. "He went back and started talking to the other associations involved
in the Fall Connection and, lo and behold, there was space for us," Jane
Shanley, a longtime organizer of Positively Cable, said.
"Positively Cable demonstrates so clearly how all parts of cable industry work together to benefit communities across the country in the fight against HIV/AIDS," Strub affirmed. "I saw the show for the first time in June, and was amazed at the passion and creativity that went into the productionIt is a 'must-see' for the Fall Connection week."
Strub, by the way, knows from musicals: he produced the off-Broadway hit The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me.
It also slots in nicely in the Sunday the CTAM Summit starts.
"After reading about all the fun at the annual Positively Cable event -- everyone wants to see it," CTAM CEO Char Beales said. "Now they can, as part of the multi-organization Fall Cable Connection. The best part is that it's immediately after the CTAM Summit Welcome Reception, so it's a perfect, bundled entertainment opportunity."
The cocktail hour starts at 6 p.m.; curtain rises at 7:30.
The show is challenging. There are songs to write, and a book to tie it all together. A Denver "corporate theater" troupe, Rave Reviews, provides four actors who do most of the heavy lifting on stage -- they have to be available. Industry executives must volunteer to take part in the on-stage revelry and come to rehearsals.
Sponsors are even trickier matter. The show, at the Seawell Ballroom at the Denver Center Theater Complex, will cost a bit more than usual, and it's hard to hit sponsors up for a second time in just four months, though several are returning. Interested companies should go to Positivelycable.org Web site, Shanley said.
The theme this time: "An engineer, a businessman and a programmer walk into a bar." To make it simple, songs will be reprised from 15 years of Positively Cable.(One sure to make a return is "525,600 Meetings," in honor of the week of events.)
To make it complicated, there will be more songs than usual, in shorter versions.
Also, organizers are hoping to up the quantity of supporting players, drawn from Denver's cable operator, programmer and vendor ranks, to 25 from the usual 16, to take some of the load off the Rave Reviews singers and to spread the work around generally.
Executives are being sought for "cameo" roles related to favorite songs, Shanley said.
Tickets are free to those who register for the 2009 Fall Connection summit: RSVP during the conference sign up.
"It's going to be a real fun, light-hearted event," Shanley said.
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