SiliconBeat

On a brief sojourn to New York City over the Independence Day holiday we had a chance to see the second preview of a new musical set to open at the Lyceum Theater on the Great White Way tonight called [title of show] that got where it is in no small part thanks to the Web.

At the risk of turning you off, it’s sort of a mash up of legit theater and reality TV, but not the cheesy kind where audiences pick the leads for Grease. It is totally scripted but spins its tale out of the real life effort of two guys to write a Broadway musical and, with the help of two ladies, bring it to life.

The show is the self-fulfilling prophecy of their intent, and entrepreneurs of all stripes will appreciate the struggles that are its story, as much as Broadway mavens will enjoy the send-up and homage to one of America’s few native art forms.

Ultimately, any team of people working together to create something from scratch will be able to relate. Along with the people who care about them.

The show’s success so far owes a debt to some distinctly Silicon Valley Web 2.0 creations. In fact, their marketing decision to post a a video on YouTube announcing that the show would be moving to Broadway, with no such deal in place, is a tribute to vapor ware over the years, tech products promised long before they materialized. Shooting of the video is incorporated into the plot of the current show, which has morphed as it has traveled from workshop to off-broadway to its opening tonight.

To read more about it, check out this piece in Sunday’s New York Times.