The current stars of Jonathan Larson's tick, tick...Boom!, Molly Ringwald and Raul Esparza, were among the Off-Broadway shows whose casts joined in the Sept. 25 singing of "New York, New York" for a television ad whose aim is to encourage the attendance of Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in New York City. Radio commercials featuring the voice of The Producers stars Nathan Lane and Broderick, and a television spot in which every actor in every show on Broadway would stand in the middle of Times Square and sing "New York, New York" are a part of the advertising campaign was devised by Nancy Coyne and Drew Hodges, two old hands at selling theatre, reported the Times. One of the first ads centered on the famous "I Love New York" slogan, which places a heart in place of the word "love," but now reading "I Love New York Theater."
