ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
While a blizzard raged outside, musical theater fans from around the world were geeking out in a midtown Manhattan hotel. They were there for the first ever BroadwayCon. Last weekend's event was a play on Comic-Con. It was a chance for people with the same passion to get together and dress up as their favorite stage characters, and it was a chance for the industry to cement its relationship with a younger audience. Reporter Jeff Lunden went to see if it worked.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: I remember being 14 years old and standing out in the cold at the stage door of "Pippin," waiting to get Ben Vereen's autograph on my playbill.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "PIPPIN")
BEN VEREEN: (Singing) We've got magic to do just for you.
LUNDEN: More than 40 years later, I still have it. I was thinking about that seeing lots of young people, many in elaborate costumes, geeking out over their shared love of theater. Many bought a T-shirt that said there's a place for us. Ten points if you know it's a Stephen Sondheim lyric from "West Side Story."
LIZZIE MATTHIAS: I think it's a really cool idea to have, like, so many Broadway fans together and, like, we can share what we love.
LUNDEN: Lizzie Matthias is a 14-year-old from Grand Rapids, Mich., and she was dressed up like her favorite character from "In The Heights." She came to BroadwayCon to get together with two friends she met on Instagram, 13-year-old Jack Abrams from Los Angeles and 14-year-old Tali Natter from New York City. I asked them what they were hoping to get out of BroadwayCon.
TALI NATTER: I think just meet more people like us who understand why we are obsessed.
LIZZIE: Yeah.
TALI: Yeah. And meet all the stars, and learn more about this thing that we love so much.
ANTHONY RAPP: This is the thing that social media can and should do, I think, is bring people together and not just have them staring at their screens, you know, like a zombie.
LUNDEN: Actor Anthony Rapp, one of the original stars of "Rent," is co-founder of BradwayCon.
RAPP: If this can bridge all of those worlds and bring people together and celebrate community, that's exactly what we want to do.
LUNDEN: And what brings people together better than sing-alongs?
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) Let me be your song, I just have to forget -
LUNDEN: Those are fans of the TV show "Smash," about the making of a Broadway musical.
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) Pretty women blowing out their candles.
LUNDEN: Two young men with bloody prop razors singing a duet from "Sweeney Todd."
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) I am not throwing away my shots -
LUNDEN: And, of course, the "Hamilton" fans, hundreds of them, knew every word of "Hamilton." That was one of the highlights for 13-year-old Jack Abrams.
JACK ABRAMS: We were chosen to sing with all of these other fans up on a stage and it was really cool, and seeing how so many people do the same thing as us and we're not the only ones.
LUNDEN: What Jack Abrams has found at BroadwayCon is his tribe, and that may well a good sign for the future of this living, breathing art form, especially since the average Broadway audience member now is 44 years old. Melissa Anelli, co-founder of the event, told me who had signed up.
MELISSA ANELLI: We are about 80 percent out-of-town, close to 80 percent female, and half of our attendees were between 18 and 30.
LUNDEN: And the marketing seems to have worked on that demographic, especially an elaborate opening ceremony which was kind of a mini Broadway musical.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) I want to be at the Con where it happens, the Con where it happens, the Con where it happens.
LIZZIE: I'm Lizzie. My favorite part was that they, like, did a parody of a "Hamilton" song, "The Room Where It Happens," changed it to "The Con Where It Happens." It made me so happy.
LUNDEN: She was also happy getting autographs and picking up lots and lots of merch. But clearly, the best part was seeing the actors from Broadway shows, especially "Hamilton." Lin-Manuel Miranda, the musical's creator and star, treated the audience to a freestyle rap.
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: (Singing) Every day at BroadwayCon is a blessing. Thank God for paper and shots, beat-boxing lessons.
LUNDEN: It was all too much for the three young people I met at the beginning of the day, who were now joined at the hip. Again, Tali Natter.
TALI: Lizzie over here was sobbing the entire time. It was just so surreal because we all look up to those people. We watch every YouTube video, every interview, we do everything possible. Like, they were right in front of us. Like, yeah, it was insane.
LUNDEN: And me? Well, I'm really too old for some of this stuff. But I've got to admit, my 14-year-old self got a little bit excited when Ben Vereen stepped onstage at the finale of the opening ceremony. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) BroadwayCon's the best. BroadwayCon's the place for you. Welcome to BroadwayCon.