First launched in August 2015, Facebook Live allows users to broadcast up to four hours of live video from anywhere in the world to Facebook.

The world of theatre, from college programs through to professional theatres and theatre-based sites have been using the technology as a promotional tool, and a means for providing audiences with theatre content in the form of interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and red carpet coverage.

The possibilities for Facebook Live and theatre are still being explored, and one imagines the legal and financial implications will need to be further investigated. While a full-scale professional musical has yet to be broadcast on the medium, questions about about payments to cast and creatives for broadcasts, how the footage will be used in the future, archiving, and what happens when we make theatre content freely available all need to be addressed.

Another issue with Facebook Live is finding the content. Unlike YouTube which uses algorithms to suggest more content, Facebook Live streams stand alone. Unless you know who to follow, or where to look, content can be difficult to discover.

Facebook allows users to take videos down once they have been streamed, so unless the stream is documented in a news article or blog, the stream can be easily lost from public knowledge. Unless companies are preserving live streams for their own archive, we may also face a the historical record being lost, much like early television.

Below is a sample of Facebook Live streams from the world of musical theatre:

Backstage and Behind-the-Scenes Access
In December 2016, An American in Paris became the first Broadway show to livestream on Facebook Live. During intermission of the Wednesday matinee, leading lady Leanne Cope answered questions, introduced cast and crew, and gave viewers a brief look behind the curtain. According to Playbill, the livestream was watched live by over 540,000 viewers

NBC used the medium to give viewers additional content during Hairspray Live!. The Facebook Live stream provided a multi-camera behind-the-scenes look during the broadcast, hosted by popular Glee star and musical theatre alum Darren Criss.

Broadway music label Ghostlight Records have used Facebook Live as a promotional tool, inviting audiences to experience first-listens of cast albums with the cast online. Ghostlight have so far hosted three Facebook Live events for Broadway cast recordings, including Bright Star, A Bronx Tale, and Falsettos. Falsettos was also filmed live during its run and is available on BroadwayHD.

Have you ever wondered where Oscar Hammerstein II wrote his music? In October this year, The Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theater Education Center launched Live from Oscar’s Living Room as a means of sharing the center with people before it is officially opened. The videos are filmed in Hammerstein’s former living room, and are candid and delightfully homespun.

Red Carpet and Curtain Calls
Over the past couple of years, theatre news sites Playbill and BroadwayWorld have been using Facebook Live to stream red carpet arrivals on the opening night of Broadway shows.

Theatre lovers can also occasionally tune into Broadway curtain calls. In July 2016, the curtain call of Hamilton was streamed on Facebook Live to mark the final performance of original cast members Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., and Philippa Soo. In October 2016, the curtain call of the 30th anniversary gala performance of The Phantom of the Opera was livestreamed around the world (the video is no longer available on Facebook, but is viewable on YouTube). A similar event was held for the 30th anniversary of the Broadway production in January 2018.

Awards
Theatre award nights have also used Facebook Live to reach new audiences. The National High School Musical Theatre Awards, better known as the Jimmy Awards were streamed in June 2016, and the Olivier Awards, the British equivalent of the Tony Awards, have been made available to international audiences via Facebook Live for the past two years. 

Concerts
Popular NYC cabaret haunt Feinstein’s/Below 54 have been using Facebook Live to stream segments from their concerts. Most recently, the venue livestreamed segments from chanteuse Andrea Marcovicci’s farewell concert.

Coming up on January 21, 2019, Let Freedom Ring!, a free tribute concert honoring the life of Martin Luther King Jr., and starring Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, will be available to view on Facebook Live. The concert will also be available on YouTube and from the Kennedy Center website. ​

We might not be watching full-length musicals on Facebook any time soon, but the medium is providing an interesting means of exploring the world of musical theatre from a new angle. You can receive notifications of Facebook Live streams by liking or following your favorite performers, companies, and shows on Facebook. Will you be tuning in?