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Kee** the Celebrity Flame Flickering: Reality Television Celebrities on Broadway and Fan Interaction Through Digital Media

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Abstract

The abundance of celebrity journalism and the ubiquity of the Internet and social media has altered the terrain of the arts and entertainment industries. Celebrities who are cast in Broadway musicals interact with audiences in ways never before seen and mediated access between fan and celebrity is nearly limitless. This chapter investigates the tenuous merger of Broadway culture, reality television, and the Internet, as exemplified in the careers of competitive talent-based reality television series winners Laura Osnes and Bailey Hanks. Following an examination of celebrity and reality television, the chapter examines how Osnes turns the primarily pejorative patina of reality television celebrity into Broadway stardom, and utilizes social media savvy to maintain her celebrity following. Despite similar origins, Hanks fails to strike a similar chord with Internet audiences and is unable to garner the same celebrity or Broadway opportunities as her peer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York City, NY, USA

    Emily Clark

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  1. Emily Clark
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Correspondence to Emily Clark .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Theatre and Dance, State University of New York at Fredonia, Fredonia, New York, USA

    Jessica Hillman-McCord

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Clark, E. (2017). Kee** the Celebrity Flame Flickering: Reality Television Celebrities on Broadway and Fan Interaction Through Digital Media. In: Hillman-McCord, J. (eds) iBroadway. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64876-7_10

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