Next Up: Geritol And Depends Product Placement

Advertising has invaded the sanctity of the theatre:

Inspired by filmed commercials inflicted on captive moviegoers, the ad industry has come up with a new way of annoying audiences: pitches acted out at live productions.

In a nationwide first, a live ad hit the stage last night at the Orpheum Theatre right before the 8 p.m. performance of “Stomp.”

“Can we get a break somehow?” said Julie Chabot, 42, of Brooklyn. “It’s outrageous. When you go to a play, you don’t expect people selling you something.”

The ads were three-minute pieces encouraging tourism to London:

Jackie Green, a “Stomp” spokeswoman, said the show was making no dough from the ad, which was being staged because “Stomp” creators Steve McNicholas and Luke Creswell are Brits.

“People think, ‘Oh, they’re going to be doing breakfast commercials next,'” said Green. “This is a one-off for us. We have a connection to London and that was the reason for doing it.”

The Times ads (heh) some more details:

No, to answer your question, there is nothing sacred. The advertisement, which is itself advertised as the world’s first live theatrical commercial, is a creation of Visit London, a tourist organization. There have already been performances of the live commercial on stages in Dublin and Hamburg, said Ken Kelling, Visit London’s communications director, and there is to be another on Friday in Pittsburgh. “They’re a captive audience,” Mr. Kelling said. “They can’t switch channels or change over or walk out once the thing is started.” He said that he did not think this would open the door to live ads for detergents and soft drinks, and that Visit London had no plans to continue the ads after this Friday in Pittsburgh.

. . .

Last night’s ad began with a woman onstage putting the audience on notice that they would in fact be watching a commercial, “brought to you by Visit London.”

The audience, mostly foreign tourists and students from a Brooklyn school, clapped and kept chatting.

The cellphone rang in the audience and the mother-daughter scene followed, with an almost-inaudible daughter, onstage, recommending London attractions. And the British actress Parminder Nagra (Dr. Neela Rasgotra on “ER”) stood up for a cameo appearance.

Next, the audience was treated to an onstage couple on their London honeymoon discussing “a stroll along Shaftesbury Avenue,” in the West End.

A disembodied voice chimed in: “Whatever you like doing, you’ll love doing it in London.”

And . . . scene.

“It took a long time for everything,” said a Dutch-born New Yorker, Daphne van der Meulen, 29. “I think you can see from the people that it didn’t really — how do you say it? — didn’t really hit.”